Brompton Folding Bicycle

We couldn't be more excited to be just days away from the Brompton US Championship 2012, to be held this Sunday, June 10 in Minneapolis. You've read the basics in our previous post on the event—now for the nitty-gritty details of the weekend's festivities.

Saturday, June 9 — Let's Party!

Whether you're racing Sunday or not, you're invited to enjoy music, food & drink at our Registration and Packet pick-up Party at Perennial Cycle from 5:30–8:30pm. What to bring: cash if you'd like to dine with us, your bike (Brompton or otherwise!), and a friend. All are welcome. 

MUSIC:

Our own Jon Nielsen will be playing from 7–8 p.m.

NOSH:

Potter's Pasties food truck will be selling pasties from 5:30–8 p.m. with traditional, chicken, vegetarian Thai, pulled pork and sausage pasties and sides. Potter's will also keep you hydrated with a variety of sodas, water, ginger-mint limeade, and Vietnamese coffees. For details, view the menu here.

We'll be serving ice cream, donated by Banjo Bros., between 6–8 p.m.

ACTIVITIES:

• Fold to the Death in a Folding Duel — Challenge a fellow party-goer to a folding duel on stage.
• Time your fastest fold on stage
• Hop in the Photo Booth for a chance to get your picture taken with a limited edition tri-coloured Jubilee Brompton, designed in celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, or a limited edition Vic Lee inspired Brompton.

PRIZES & DEALS:

• Raffle prizes include Nutcase Union-Jack helmets, men's and women's Twin Six apparel, Walz caps, and other cycling accessories. There will be multiple opportunities to get your name in the hat throughout the evening.
• Perennial Cycle will be offering free registration for Sunday's event to anyone who buys an in-stock Brompton at the party.

POST-PARTY PUB-RIDE:

Following Saturday's party, we'll be heading out on a pub-ride as a group to Merlin's Rest, so don't forget to bring your Brompton, your folding friends, or your preferred bike or trike to ride with us. Sales Manager Greg Neis will be leading the ride.

Sunday, June 10 — Brompton US Championship • 2012

If you haven't already registered, there's still time to get a chance at the top prize—a trip to England to compete in the Brompton World Championship—at perennialcycle.com. All are welcome to spectate and cheer the participants on.

TIMING:

8:30–9:40 a.m. Pre-race Check-in at W 34th Street and Lyndale Ave S. Tea and Scones by A Baker's Wife provided for all registered participants.

10 a.m. - sharp - Participants will start the race with a Le Mans running start to their folded Bromptons, unfold as fast as they can, and head into the first lap of six. A UCI (International Cycling Union) representative will be present to officiate the competition. 

11 a.m. Folding Competition, open to participants and spectators alike. Race participants may partake in the Folding Competition free of charge. For $5, others may have a chance to get their names in the bracket. A prize will awarded to the fastest folder.

11:30 a.m. Awards Presentation with representatives from Perennial Cycle and John McConaghay of Brompton.

AWARDS:

Best Dressed — John Meegan of Top Shelf will judge the sartorial elegance of all of the Championship's entrants and award a custom-made shirt, created with up to 30 measurements to guarantee the perfect fit, to one man and one woman with impeccable style.

Fastest Fold — The folder with most finesse will go home with a set of Schwalbe 16x1¼ Kojaks for his or her Brompton.

3rd Place, Men's/Women's Divisions — One men's and one women's Twin Six Jersey

2nd Place, Men's/Women's Divisions — One men's and one women's Brooks B-17 Saddle (B-17 & B-17S)

1st Place, Men's & Women's Champion — A trip to the Brompton World Championship in England for the first place finishers in the men's and women's divisions

OPEN STREETS!

All registered participants and guests are encouraged to participate in the Open Streets Minneapolis event following the race. Lyndale will be open to cyclists, pedestrians, and other non-motorized modes of transport through 4 p.m. Sunday.

Carradice has been hand crafting quality cycle luggage for over 70 years in their factory in Nelson, England. Not many companies that were started in the 1930's are still in business, but Carradice is. In fact they are still in the same town and continue to be in family hands.

We import the Carradice product because we feel that it is special both in regards to design and quality. Being a single store front makes importing quite a hassle as there are a good number of details involved in getting the product into the shop (what was the tariff number and who does the check for duty go to?), but as a specialty retailer we see great value in the Carradice brand and feel that it is worth the effort.
Here is a link our Carradice product: Carradice at Perennial Cycle

Their specialty is hand crafted bicycle bags made of cotton duck that are designed for long life. These new City Folder bags designed specifically for Brompton Folding Bicycles are classic in their style and feel, though they have updated features to fit the world that we live in. All three bags are massive and loaded with features. The black and the green (referred to as "originals" as they are made of cotton duck) are identical in design and features, simply different colors. The gray Carradry is designed to be a waterproof bag, while the cotton duck models are highly water resistant. The Carradry model is slightly smaller because it does not have the two back pockets, but rather two mesh pouches. Also, the Carradry model's Laptop bag is not removable to be used as a bag of it's own (unlike the cotton duck models).

SPECIFICATIONS:

Main Compartment:
16 x 5-1/2 x 14" (1232 cu in.)

Laptop Bag:
15 x 10 x 2"

Back Pockets (on Originals):
5 x 3-1/2 x 8" (130 cu in.)

TOTAL CAPACITY:
Originals > 1492 cu in., 25 Liters

The City Folders are very easy to mount and unmount from the bike (a 5 second task). Carradice uses the front carrier block and bag frame that Brompton has designed and manufactured on the City Folder. This system is strong, light and long lasting.

The bracket that attaches to the bicycle (Front Carrier Block) bolts onto mounting holes that are on all Brompton headtubes. This means that the weight does not influence the steering of the bike. When you turn the handlebars, the bag does not turn with them.

While the original models use a pair of nice looking leather straps to lash down the top cover, they have a nylon buckle (like the Carradry model) that works as the quick buckle and unbuckle for the top (these nylon buckles are hidden under the leather straps). The leather straps are to be used to tighten and loosen the fit of the top depending on how overstuffed your bag might be.

There is a laptop bag inside of the main compartment that is nicely padded with a few pockets (phone, camera and power chord). This bag is suspended  to prevent your laptop from banging the bottom of your bag each time you hit a bump. The cotton duck models use velcro straps to attach the laptop bag. This makes removing the laptop bag a cinch and they provide a separate small shoulder strap to allow you to use the laptop bag as it's own bag. The Carradry model's padded laptop bag is the same bag, though the bag is not removable. There also is a larger shoulder strap for walking about with the City Folder (all models).

The Brompton World Championship was 10 days back on the 28th of September. I've had a chance to take a look at some of the pictures and read blogs of the event and it looks like a fun time that I'd love to participate in. While I'm tempted to think that I would one day do an insane event like the Paris-Brest-Paris (1,200 kilometer race...not in stages), I am probably more inclined to jump onboard a fun and wacky event like this.

Not to say that there aren't some people taking this event seriously. A former Tour de France rider and three time winner of the Tour of Spain Robert Herras rode hard and was the winner of his group, but the start wasn't a mass start and it turned out that the next group of riders had a speedy rider in Alastair Kay who is York Cycle Work's Premier Calendar rider. The winners podium was a chaotic place to be when Robert Herras' name was not called as the victor (oops, it seems he forgot to look at the results and walked up to the podium thinking he was the victor).

Tejkan Pettinger has a report and some great pictures on his Cycling Info blog.

Brompton Bikes have evolved into an amazing folding bike with many very practical and functional accessories. We have seen their growth as a very positive sign of things to come. Stop in and give one a ride and have us show you how amazingly small they fold in about a 10 second stretch of time (wow is right!). Learn more about the Brompton Bikes and accessories (Including the B & W hardcase) at our website.

It was early spring that we received our first shipment of 2008 Bromptons and we took them to our warehouse for some photo shooting. Very nice bikes indeed!

The 2008 Brommies are looking fantastic. Very nice paint jobs with sleek, good looking decals and a mix of very special folding features. This is the quickest AND the smallest folding bike on the market. It would be hard to check it out and not be completely wowed.

Our photo shoots are fast and furious, but we do out best to get nice shots of the actual models that we are selling. While there are many, many options from Brompton, we have very carefully selected models to sell. The choices we made are a nice balance of good quality options mixed with an eye towards getting a great value out of your money.

You can check out out Brompton Bikes HERE.

Brompton accessories can be viewed HERE.