Monday, 18 November 2024

Shrinking Wheels - Experiences with a Brompton



Ever since my move to an upstairs flat with no external storage space
for so much as a dustbin, let alone a bicycle, I had been conscious that
when my twenty-year-old bike finally finished wearing out - a process
accelerated by having to stand outside in all weathers - the replacement
would need to be a folding bicycle. Probably a Brompton, despite the
price tag, because for me cycling is a primary means of transport rather
than a leisure pursuit, and they were the most 'serious' small-wheeled
machines on the market.

I even went to the lengths some years ago of borrowing a Brompton from a
fellow-member of MCC to gain experience of how they handled
(surprisingly well once you overcome the tendency to wobble due to a
long handlebar stem), and practiced carrying it up and down the steps at
South Merton tramstop (very hard work).  The main motivation for
continuing to keep my old bicycle going was the fact that it wouldn't be
possible to transfer the rear-axle trailer hitch for my very expensive
imported Swiss trailer.  However, as I was using the trailer less and
less --not least because keeping it in a small upstairs flat involved
disassembling and reassembling the whole thing every time I wanted to
get it out-- I eventually decided to give up on it when I needed to take
off the rear wheel to fit a new inner tube.

Having duly sold off the trailer for a tenth of its purchase price, I
failed repeatedly to get the bike working again properly despite
expenditure on a series of new parts, and the question of buying a
replacement became urgent.  It was clear that a basic Brompton was going
to be lacking in most of the features that I was used to relying upon,
such as dynamo lighting and cargo carrying capacity; the new models no
longer came with 3-speed gears, which was what I favoured for ease of
use and maintenance, so this meant that I needed to look through the
second-hand machines on offer to try to see what spec I could get within
a reasonable budget.

I spent a week scouring eBay to get an idea of the going rates, and
decided on a private ceiling of £650.  Being located within London was
an advantage, as it meant that there were far more machines available to
collect within an accessible radius. I definitely needed some kind of
carrying capacity large enough to store my leather shoulder bag, and
though I had given up on the idea of getting a dynamo I needed some kind
of lights if at all possible.

That narrowed it down to just three possibilities, of which one was
actually a 5-speed derailleur model.  One of the others sold
unexpectedly overnight before the end of the auction, so I hastily
increased my bid on the final option and was very relieved to secure a
grey 3-speed Brompton from East London for a total sum of £620. This
included a maximum-size front luggage bag -- my trial had taught me
that, unlike most bikes, Bromptons actually ride better with the main
weight over the rather skittish front wheel -- a set of LED lights, and
an extraordinarily heavy D-lock, plus the spare standard-length seatpost
which the previous owner, who was over six feet, had replaced with an
extra-long one.

It took me an hour and a half to get over to Peckham by train.  It took
rather less than that to cycle all the way home again, including a
certain amount of getting lost.  The vendor very kindly swapped out the
seatpost for me on the spot and had the lights charged and ready to use,
which was just as well since by the time we had finished with the
seatpost it was already dark; mercifully the front bag proved to be big
enough to hold my large and heavy leather satchel as I had hoped.

He assured me that I would find the bike very fast off the mark at
traffic lights, but in fact that hasn't been my experience at all --
doubtless because I am far smaller and less muscular than he was!  The
Brompton is definitely not a lightweight machine: 'luggable' rather than
'portable', never mind the considerable weight of the lock and bag.
However, I've always been used to riding a heavy bike, and it's nothing
I can't handle on the road. Lifting it up stairs, on the other hand, is
a definite challenge.

On the other hand, even if it doesn't accelerate notably fast, I get the
general impression that the Brompton is quite a nippy little beast, and
it seems to handle hills perfectly well.  I was assuming I would need to
swap out the unisex saddle, but while the lack of springs is
disconcerting (every bump in the road feels like an incipient puncture),
the narrower seat is actually perfectly comfortable for a female rider.

Having the front bag as the widest part of the bike is an improvement on
panniers, because you can easily see whether you can fit through gaps or
not.  However it does carry quite a bit less than my old bike, and next
to nothing if the bag is being occupied by my satchel.  I invested in a
rear rack as an upgrade (and one of the new roller wheels lost its tyre
within a few weeks of use, but that's another story) simply so that I
could strap the satchel to that and bring home more than a couple of
tins at a time.

My old bike was supremely un-theftworthy, and indeed had been
accidentally left unlocked in public on several occasions. Meanwhile
Brompton lore is that "you never let the bike out of your sight" but
fold it up and trundle it with you everywhere... which is all very well
if 'everywhere' is limited to the supermarket or your office commute,
but rather impractical if your bicycle is your sole means of access to
the cinema, swimming pool or museum.  Hence the need for the massive
lock.

After a month I still struggle with the fold/unfold mechanism, and have
so far discovered multiple ways to get it wrong and mash up the
paintwork or drop the chain in the process.  A '3-speed' Brompton with
its tensioner cog might as well have a derailleur from the point of view
of extra noise, cleaning and friction, and the process of lugging the
bike downstairs, laboriously assembling it, fitting the lights, and
packing the bag adds five minutes or so to every journey -- the main
selling point of a Brompton is the ability to take it on a train and
into the office with you, and I never do either. But of course the other
selling point is the ability to take it indoors up a narrow staircase
and store it in a confined space, and that was the bottom line so far as
I was concerned.

In terms of price I think I got a good bargain, given that lock, lights
and bag probably amounted to around £200 of extras and it was extremely
useful to have them all from the start. I was told that the bike was
five years old when I got it, and expect to be riding it for another
fifteen or so on past precedent; by that point I may no longer be strong
enough to lift it!


 - Harriet Bazley

Dockless Hire Bikes (Lime, Forest)

 

The massive growth of dockless hire bikes in London can't have escaped many people's notice. The proliferation of these bikes is testament to their usefulness and popularity as a transport mode!

Hire bikes have opened up cycling to new demographics - to people who don't have space to store their own bike, or don't want to risk theft of their own bike when it's parked in a public place. They are very useful for people who live in areas with poor public transport, who would otherwise have a long walk to a train station or a slow bus journey. As cyclists, we know that cycling is usually the fastest way to get around London.

The hire-bike user demographic appears younger and more ethnically-diverse than the general cycling population.

As with any innovation, as well as benefits there have been some teething problems. There is no shortage of opponents citing stories of badly-parked and inconsiderately ridden bikes.

Badly-parked bikes can be a problem. They can obstruct pavements and clutter public areas. To some extent these issues are historic: operators now require users to take a photo of their parked bike at the end of the hire; bad parking will attract a surcharge and persistent bad behaviour may lead to a user being banned. At popular destinations such as stations, the number of parked bikes can be a problem, but this is largely because the Council has failed to provide parking bays to accomodate them. We've found Merton Council documents going back to 2018 that recognised the need to provide for dockless bike parking. Yet in 6 years there's been almost no progress. (To be fair, some other boroughs are no better, and there really needs to be a pan-London approach, rather than a patchwork of different rules for each borough.) 
A further issue for which the Council bears responsibility is the failure to reach agrement with Lime. Other boroughs were quicker off the mark. Because Lime bikes are geo-fenced to certain areas of the borough, this results in bikes being abandoned by users at the geo-fence (i.e. boundary) who can't go any further towards their destination. This situation is really in no-one's interest.
We certainly need the Council to step up and address the need for parking. Generally, the most sensible location for parking is on-carriageway. Indications are that the Council is aiming to implement 300 marked bays, and 150 or so should be funded next year. However, marked bays are expensive to plan and install, 300 seems nowhere near enough - there are around 1400 streets in Merton - and the rollout will take years. Convenience is a key benefit of hire bikes, and taking away convenience and usability is not likely to improve the actual parking situation. A pragmatic, mixed approach of formal bays where needed and  less formal on-highway parking seems a more cost-effective and timely approach. Such an approach can be incremental and evolve over time.

Thinking about inconsiderate riding - the evidence is mainly anecdotal, and we have not seen reports of a significant uptick in pedestrian collisions involving hire bikes. There's little doubt that the lack of good cycle infrastructure doesn't help matters and users may be taking to pavements at times out of fear of road danger. And we should not forget that motor traffic is the major danger to all, evidenced by the tragic death of a Lime bike rider in Wandsworth recently.

One thing is certain: it would be wrong to take access to hire bikes away from people who have few alternatives: who don't have access to a car, have nowhere to safely store their own bike, and who have poor public transport options. We hope the Council takes an enlightened approach and embraces hire bikes as a high-value, low-carbon addition to the transport mix.