Brompton

Hey, it's English. What more is there to say? The Brompton is the iconic folding bike featuring 16" wheels, compact fold, and English properness. It's the perfect companion for the commuter, student, pilot, or big/little city/town professional. Hand-made in England of hand-brazed chrome-moly steel.

I keep a Brompton in my van at all times for riding when the spirit calls me, or when the van breaks down. While not the lightest of folding bikes (Update 2024: Check out the 16lb titanium T-Line!), it does possess an amazing ride quality that defies it's small size. Riding is believing. I always have at least one demo Brompton available for test ride.

Righto!

About Brompton Bicycle

Made for Cities

• Brompton bikes are sold in 44 countries around the world and over 80% of production is exported.
• More than one million (1,000,000) have hit the roads since the first bike was made in 1975 by the inventor Andrew Ritchie.
• A Brompton bike is perfect for those that live, work or play in cities: The bike folds up to a third of its size, and weighs on average just 11kg which means a Brompton is suitable to take on all forms of transport – perfect for commuting on trains, popping in the boot of the car and taking out of the city for some fresh air, hailing a taxi when the weather changes or you want to get home late at night.
• One Brompton bike takes 6.2 tonnes less carbon than a car to make and 42 folded Brompton bikes can be parked in the space it takes to park one car.
• Brompton Bicycles home city of London has seen cycling increase by 91% since 2003. Brompton Bicycle is proud to play a part in this cycling revolution worldwide.
• There are now many flagship Brompton Junction retail stores in cities across the world, including: London, Bangkok, Beijing, Tokyo, Milan, Kobe, Hamburg, Shanghai, Amsterdam New York City, Washington DC and Chengdu.
• An independently-owned Brompton bicycle dealer is near you!... Brompton sells to a selected 1500 independent bike stores worldwide.

Made for You

• Brompton bikes are all custom-made, allowing you to choose exactly the bike that suits your needs (riding style, route to and from work, wardrobe, budget).
• A huge selection of accessories and luggage means you can add to your Brompton bike as you wish- it’s a complete transport solution.
• A global aftermarket of Brompton accessories is testament to it's appeal world-wide.

Made in London

• Brompton Bicycle is the leading bike manufacturer in the UK, with its factory in Kew, West London.
• Brompton’s history can be traced back to 1975, when the inventor and founder, Andrew Ritchie, created prototypes of Brompton bikes from his bedroom in South Kensington, London.
• Each bike is hand brazed by a skilled craftsperson at our London factory. This makes every bike incredibly tough and unique. Each brazer is trained for 18 months and has a “signature” which they stamp on the parts of the bike they work on.

How do I know which model my Brompton is?

Current model naming goes like this:

A-line - budget line, older shifter and gearing design
C-line - all-steel
P-line - steel frame, titanium fork and rear stays
T-line - titanium frame and stays, carbon fork
G-line - 20" wheel, fat tires, made for gravel! (Due Spring 2025; ask me about Pre-Order now)

But it's good to know the historical naming...

Standard Brompton models come with a standard three-digit code, which will tell you the handlebar type, the gearing, and whether or not the bike has mudguards and a rack. An example would be an S2L: S Type handlebars, two gears and mudguards.

Every Model name follows the pattern.

Letter|Number|Letter eg: S3L

The first letter shows the type of handlebar the bike has. This affects your riding position.

There is a choice of three handlebar types: M, S, and H. Using the How it works section of the website, you should be able to identify which handlebar type appears on your bike.

The number in the sequence refers to how many gears the bike has. 1, 2, 3 or 6 speed

Details about the gearing options are available in the How it works section; you should be able to tell how many gears you have by taking a look at the gear triggers (both of which are shown and explained on the gearing page).

The final letter at the end of the model code can either be E, L or R. If your bike has no mudguards it is an E version, if it has mudguards then it is an L version, and bikes with racks d mudguards are R versions.

Adding the suffix X indicates if the bike is a Superlight model.