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Like many successful companies, Brompton folding bicycles of London England was born of thoughts of, “I can do it better.” Founder Andrew Ritchie (pictured with an early production model) was introduced to the Australian Bickerton folding bike model by chance one day and began work on what would become the Brompton bicycle, deciding upon the signature method of folding the rear wheel under the bike with the first prototype. A mechanical engineer by schooling, at the time Ritchie was working as a landscape gardener and in short order had converted most of his small flat located above Brompton Rd to serve as work space. After a few stops and starts, full-scale production began in the mid-eighties. The story is truly that of the perseverance that is present in so many entrepreneurs.
The Brompton design follows practical use first, fueled by the small quarters and extensive public transit system of London. England has a certain appreciation for small wheeled bicycles, with more than a few people quick to recall that the world speed record is held by a 20″ wheeled bicycle. The collective wisdom is evident, the Brompton rides decidedly “like a bike” for lack of a better description. The merits and drawbacks of small and large wheels alike can be argued into the late hours, but when folded compactness is a main design criterion, small wheels win every time. The Brompton design folds easily with just a few fluid movements, and thanks to the 16″ wheels ends up a quite compact package.
Bucking industry trends, Brompton manufactures it’s bicycles by hand in London, and goes so far as to custom manufacture many of the small parts like pedals, shifters and brakes levers on each bicycle. The overall goal is quality of bike and quality of ride, something Brompton ensures by keeping as many of the operations under its own roof as possible, with a direct connection between the design team and the people creating the bicycles on the shop floor.
Read on for Part 1 of the Brompton Folding Bicycles Factory Tour…
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Quality control really is of upmost concern at Brompton, as evidenced by their in-house QA team and rigorous standards. Normal bicycle frames are aligned as best as possible during manufacture and then cold set within a given tolerance, for the sake of argument say 2mm right to left / up or down to ensure the bike rides straight and handles just-so. Since a Brompton frame is made up of three parts, making each frame part to a 2mm tolerance would add up to +/- 6mm as a complete bike. The means that each frame component is held to a tighter tolerance than usual, checked and rechecked with an array of custom measurement jigs and magnetic field examination apparatus. Given parts, such as hinge plates, are each checked multiple times during the process to make sure they are aligned properly to last a lifetime. |
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The main frame and stem of all Bromptons is made of cromoly steel, as is the rear triangle and fork of the vast majority of them save for the highest end titanium versions. All of the braze work is done in-house, at the hands of folks who’ve worked their way up the line to work the torch themselves. Much of the work is completed on one-of-a-kind jigs as shown, created through some 25 years of subtle refinements to the same basic bicycle design. Throughout the process each frame component or sub-assembly is marked for accountability and further quality control, so even if years down the line a defect is found there is a method to trace back its history as it was being born. Between the business and production areas, some 100+ people are employed at the Brompton headquarters with a seemingly single focus on maintaining quality, and a small warranty claims office. The sales reps and some of the office employees have experience with every stage of production, spending some time at every station during a few week rotation to better learn the product. |
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Each rear assembly has a built-in pump bracket, the finishing touch on the many pieces that come together in this part of the bike. Aside from the actual extrusion of the tubes, every part of the rear triangle is bent, formed or machined in-house. After going through the QA department shown above the triangles be sent out to a local powercoat studio. |
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Look for Part 2 of the tour to follow with a look at some of the heavy machinery involved and the custom bits that make a Brompton a Brompton.
Nice coverage of their operations. There was an excellent writeup on Cozy Beehive on the design history of the Brompton. http://tinyurl.com/bn9jxe
Makes for good reading, both.
Fantastic article! What inspired UV to do an article on Brompton?
I recommended these & another competing folder to friends & coworkers who were panicking under $4 gasoline (the horror!). So far no takers. When gas came down I thought for sure it was over. Now, I’ve reconsidered. In my plan to show them the alternatives, I am going to bring a Brompton or a Dahon into work & demonstrate their intrinsic coolness.
You say the Brompton uses cromoly steel. Brompton themselves advertise they use “high tension steel”. In America, the term high tension steel indicates a rather low spec steel like 1010 or 1020 (the Schwinn Varsity was fabricated out of high tension steel.) Does high tension steel mean cromoly in UK English, or is Brompton really using gas pipe?