Brompton T6

My Bromp­ton T6 arrived today.

It’s good to have a gadget that gets you cov­ered in oil when you need to fix it.

A few notes:

• The riding posi­tion is a bit too upright, for some­one over six foot at least. I’m not sure how to fix this - adjust­ing the han­dle­bars so that they lean for­ward makes them foul the front wheel when the bike is folded, so I might need to invest in some small bar-​ends and adjust the posi­tion of the saddle.
• Steer­ing is a little dis­con­cert­ing - twitchy thanks to those tiny wee wheels, to a degree that varies depend­ing on your speed. The gear-​changer thin­gies are also a little awk­ward - I’m used to those push-​button ones you get on moun­tain bikes - which can lead to more wob­bles as you try to remem­ber which of the three chang­ers does what. Shouldn’t be a prob­lem after a few proper rides, though.
• The gear­ing is just absolutely per­fect for tootling about town, though there’s room at the top when you’re going quickly. (This makes me wonder about the gear­ing on fac­tory spec. Bromp­tons - the pre­vi­ous owner of this one added a double chainset.)
• Fold­ing and unfold­ing is a piece of piss. I was ini­tially stumped by the catch that holds the front forks to the frame when the bike is folded, but there’s just a little lift-​and-​shuffle knack to it. All you have to do is twist a couple of screws, and it pretty much falls into place, as long as you remem­ber that it’s the seat­post that holds every­thing in place (ie. you really don’t want to unfold the rear forks and wheel when the seat­post is down.)
• Finally, you know something’s not right with the world when it’s too bloody hot in Glas­gow for a long bike ride!

Posted at 11am on 08/09/04 by Jack Mottram to the technology category.
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Tags: cycling