Making our Bromptons work for us has involved some changes to the bicycles themselves, along with finding equipment and accessories that suit the way we travel.  Some have become regular parts of our setup.  Others are still being tested, and a few haven’t worked for us.  This is our working list.

What Has Worked for Us

Riding and comfort

·       39-tooth chainrings.

·       Schwalbe Marathon tires.

·       Two folding pedals on each bike.

·       A new saddle for John.

Carrying folding and parking

·       Kickstands.

·       Rinko bags.

·       Rin Project handles and straps attached to the main frame “top” tube.

·       Carabiners.

·       Rear racks, both for carrying cargo and for improving stability when the bikes are folded.

·       Front carrier-block racks.  The Vincita rack is okay, but not great.  The aftermarket titanium rack has a much larger platform on which to place a backpack.

·       Fabric water-bottle holders mounted on the handlebars.

Visibility and riding equipment

·       Brass bells.

·       WaveCel helmets.

·       Visibility flags.

·       Apple Watch.

Tools and security

·       A Park Tool pump in place of the Brompton pump.

·       Brompton’s in-frame toolkit.

·       AirTags.

·       U-locks.

·       Japanese Panasonic cable locks.

What We Are Currently Trying

·       Larger Eazy Wheels.

·       A Po Campo pannier/backpack.

·       A GoPro camera and mount.

What We May Try Next

·       A lightweight spare inner tube carried in a storage holder inside the bike’s frame tube.  The tube material, exact tube, and storage holder are still to be determined.

What Did Not Work for Us

·       An iPhone mount.

·       Detachable MKS pedals.

·       An aluminum snap-on water-bottle cage mount.

·       Closca folding helmets.

·       The Brompton pump.

Developing This Section

As we develop this section, we’ll explain what we hoped each item would do, how it worked in actual use, and why we kept it—or moved on.  For the items that did not work for us, we’ll describe the specific problems we encountered.  For items still being tested, we’ll add our conclusions after more use.