| I looked into an electric Brompton when they first started making them but decided against it because of the teething problems they were having. So now that they have been out for a while do they still have issues? I have an old 3 speed Brompton that I may convert with a woosh kit but not sure which would be better. The cost of a new Brompton electric is quite high but I want what is the best bike to live with as far as keeping the bike user friendly, ie , folding/ unfolding. and reliability. Thanks | ||
Brompton
- Thread starter stevieb
- Start date
Good man, not a mid motor! You will mever regret that!
If you do some research on pedelec, you will quickly understand why I said that!
Best wishes for a great experience with your rear hub e-bike, though I personally have no knowledge of the Brompton range myself.
regards
Andy
If you do some research on pedelec, you will quickly understand why I said that!
Best wishes for a great experience with your rear hub e-bike, though I personally have no knowledge of the Brompton range myself.
regards
Andy
I have a recently converted, 16 year old 3 speed Brompton, its fitted with a Swytch kit.
It works and rides very well, I keep it folded up by the front door, so its easy to get out and go round the shops etc. For visting places its advantage is that you dont need to leave it outside somewhere and get it nicked, you can fold it up and push it around like a shopping trolley. Replacing the standard small wheels rolling with larger skate type wheels helps a lot here. And of course its the type of bike you can easily take on a bus or train or chuck in a car boot.
One sort of issue with the Swytch kit is that the controller\battery is on the handlebars, so you have to remove the battery pack, which is easy though, to fold the bike. I am going to try mounting the controller\battery on the front carrier block so there is no need to remove it when folding, but its likley the assist buttons will then be out of reach when riding, not sure if thats going to be an issue.
I did consider buying a new electric Brompton, but at circa £2750, they aint cheap. Sure you would get the buzz out of riding something so flashy around, but my old Bromton came up quite well after a complete strip down and clean. I did need to replace the cranks since the chain rings were worn and there were no replacements. My converted Brompton does not look so flashy as a new electric one, but I have the same thing basically and saved circa £1800.
If something went wrong with the Swytch setup, I would consider the Whoosh kit, but I would probably want to see one folded up first, not sure where the controller thats in a bag of some sort (that you need to supply) attached to the handlebars ends up.
It works and rides very well, I keep it folded up by the front door, so its easy to get out and go round the shops etc. For visting places its advantage is that you dont need to leave it outside somewhere and get it nicked, you can fold it up and push it around like a shopping trolley. Replacing the standard small wheels rolling with larger skate type wheels helps a lot here. And of course its the type of bike you can easily take on a bus or train or chuck in a car boot.
One sort of issue with the Swytch kit is that the controller\battery is on the handlebars, so you have to remove the battery pack, which is easy though, to fold the bike. I am going to try mounting the controller\battery on the front carrier block so there is no need to remove it when folding, but its likley the assist buttons will then be out of reach when riding, not sure if thats going to be an issue.
I did consider buying a new electric Brompton, but at circa £2750, they aint cheap. Sure you would get the buzz out of riding something so flashy around, but my old Bromton came up quite well after a complete strip down and clean. I did need to replace the cranks since the chain rings were worn and there were no replacements. My converted Brompton does not look so flashy as a new electric one, but I have the same thing basically and saved circa £1800.
If something went wrong with the Swytch setup, I would consider the Whoosh kit, but I would probably want to see one folded up first, not sure where the controller thats in a bag of some sort (that you need to supply) attached to the handlebars ends up.
My first Brompton went back to the factory and came back worse than before! It was one of the first ones available.
The second one worked very well but I had an unrelated to cycling accident and broke my elbow. I was concerned that the vibration would cause problems as the break was bad so as I was offered a good price for it I sold it.
When I recovered I missed my bike so much I looked at others but the Brompton was so handy…… yep…. You guessed… I bought another and, touch wood have had no problems at all.
Brompton now have an app to track ride details but more importantly, if you mount it on the handlebars, you can swipe your screen to alter the power from 0 to 3. This was promised from very early on but took them a few years to get it released.
The second one worked very well but I had an unrelated to cycling accident and broke my elbow. I was concerned that the vibration would cause problems as the break was bad so as I was offered a good price for it I sold it.
When I recovered I missed my bike so much I looked at others but the Brompton was so handy…… yep…. You guessed… I bought another and, touch wood have had no problems at all.
Brompton now have an app to track ride details but more importantly, if you mount it on the handlebars, you can swipe your screen to alter the power from 0 to 3. This was promised from very early on but took them a few years to get it released.
Having looked online I have found that electric Bromptons still appear to have issues, which is disappointing when you consider the high price .
I remember seeing a video about fitting a woosh kit on a Brompton a while back , but I can’t find it now .
Can anyone provide a link to this please?
Thanks
I remember seeing a video about fitting a woosh kit on a Brompton a while back , but I can’t find it now .
Can anyone provide a link to this please?
Thanks
See Woosh's post in this thread:
www.pedelecs.co.uk
Brompton conversion... would this Whoosh kit work?
I currently have a Whoosh BPM 350W kit fitted to a mountain bike. I'm thinking of swapping it over to a Brompton using a Nano electric 250W front wheel. For now I just want to establish if this is possible, forget about fitting and foldability. This is just an idea. I don't know much about the...
www.pedelecs.co.uk
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