Brompton Speed Limits

OldSkoolKona

I broke the 35mph barrier on my Brompton at the weekend. It was downhill, on the road into Marlborough in Wilts which is a nice, well surfaced, wide road so not making any boasts on my ability to pedal the Bromton up to speed - wouldn't rate my chances coming back up the other way :shock:

Anyway, it got me thinking, for the Brompton owners out there, what's the fastest you've got your Brommie up to? At what point are the wheels spinning so fast that the bearings over cook and you do a Back to the Future style trail of flames down the road? :twisted:

wizzlebanger

88mph.

OldSkoolKona

wizzlebanger wrote:

88mph.

WTF :shock:

Now tell me that's the speed it got up to folded away on the train to work, or I'll be seriously worried!

dhope

OldSkoolKona wrote:

At what point are the wheels spinning so fast that the bearings over cook and you do a Back to the Future style trail of flames down the road? :twisted:

OldSkoolKona wrote:

wizzlebanger wrote:

88mph.

WTF :shock:

Now tell me that's the speed it got up to folded away on the train to work, or I'll be seriously worried!

Back to the Future... 88mph...
You started it

lost_in_thought

OldSkoolKona wrote:

wizzlebanger wrote:

88mph.

WTF :shock:

Now tell me that's the speed it got up to folded away on the train to work, or I'll be seriously worried!

Whoosh.

OldSkoolKona

Ah, I see, slow today. Ah the 80's, the time of great films. :-)

No, the OP was (probably poorly) worded as to what the fastest people got their Brommie up to, they're quite fun the ride at that speed :-)

andrewc3142

Well over 100mph. No real effort. In fact, very relaxing, with a bottle of wine, packet of nuts, iPod, a good book and views over the French countryside.

rml380z

andrewc3142 wrote:

Well over 100mph. No real effort. In fact, very relaxing, with a bottle of wine, packet of nuts, iPod, a good book and views over the French countryside.

...and you don't need to book a Brompton on a Eurostar train!

andrewc3142

rml380z wrote:

andrewc3142 wrote:

Well over 100mph. No real effort. In fact, very relaxing, with a bottle of wine, packet of nuts, iPod, a good book and views over the French countryside.

...and you don't need to book a Brompton on a Eurostar train!

Indeed. The main reason I have one ....

Clever Pun

Don't have a speedo on mine... pretty sure I've done at least 30mph on it

waving_sausages

38.6 mph, if my gps can be trusted, with touring bag but big hill and legs in spin drier mode

prawny

waving_sausages wrote:

38.6 mph, if my gps can be trusted, with touring bag but big hill and legs in spin drier mode

I can belive it. I bet you can crack 35 going down from the cross roads towards perry park, nutter.

OldSkoolKona

waving_sausages wrote:

38.6 mph, if my gps can be trusted, with touring bag but big hill and legs in spin drier mode

Ah, the old Brompton Spin Drier action, much better than going to a Spinning Class :-)

I suppose in a related query, how far have people cycle their Brommie? I'm half seriously considering using mine for a charity event at the end of the month, which would be 90 miles..

waving_sausages

Bang on right prawny, there's no way i'd be near that speed without that hill i dread to think what speed you get upto down there?!

OldSkoolKona - The longest I've been on mine is a 60 mile round trip with an average speed of 18mph, which at the time I was a bit disappointed in. As long as you take it easy you could do 90, I find very little difference between my brompton and mtb. I'm sure people do much long distances than that, in fact I'm pretty sure someone did the London Edinburgh London audax on a brompton! Go for it I say

OldSkoolKona

'tis decided - shall be doing Lap the Lough on the Brompton after a few promises after a pint or three. 8)

So in preparation, I've fitted it out with clipless pedals and I've cycled the full way to work the last two days. To be honest its not that much slower than the slicked up mtb commute (admittedly about 5 min slower than on the road bike) and its fun flicking it about, particularly clipped in. The really low centre of gravity makes trackstanding while sitting very easy! :twisted:

Just have to get it packed into the suitcase for the flight to Northern Ireland :-)

CiB

OldSkoolKona wrote:

I suppose in a related query, how far have people cycle their Brommie? I'm half seriously considering using mine for a charity event at the end of the month, which would be 90 miles..

There were plenty at the start of the Dunwich Dynamo the other week, ~120 miles. Not sure how many made it to the finish but I'd be amazed if it wasn't pretty much all of them.

marcusjb

CiB wrote:

OldSkoolKona wrote:

I suppose in a related query, how far have people cycle their Brommie? I'm half seriously considering using mine for a charity event at the end of the month, which would be 90 miles..

There were plenty at the start of the Dunwich Dynamo the other week, ~120 miles. Not sure how many made it to the finish but I'd be amazed if it wasn't pretty much all of them.

I've done DD on mine - biggest challenge (S-Type) is lack of hand positions - had a few problems with numbness.

LEL (London-Edinburgh-London) has been done on a Brompton in 2009 (1400km)!

OldSkoolKona

I've a few minor adjustments to make, but looks like it will fit in the case without a problem