Touring by Brompton.

This is a my beautiful Brompton. I bought it second hand from Ebay and paid more than I really wanted to, but it was nearly new and many accessories were included.

Despite its small wheels, which many erroneously think are a serious downside, it is nimble, fast and easy to ride.

I plan to ride this compact and versatile machine from Tel Aviv in Israel to Dahab in The Sinai. It will be a journey of 350 miles through deserts, empty roads, along the Dead Sea, over the border at Taba then through the Wadis down to Dahab.

I have made some modifications to the Brompton, such as changing the standard saddle to a Brooks leather saddle. Adding some carbon fibre bar ends to allow a change of grip and a Topeak seat post mounted rack to hang panniers from. The standard rack is far too low for my Karrimor panniers, but hanging them from the "upper rack" solves this problem and allows for more storage and gear carrying.

As many of the parts on this bike are non standard, I will have to carry some essential spares. I figure these should be:

Tyres

Innertubes

Spokes

Brake cables

Gear cables

Brake shoes

Frame clamps

This may seem like very few spares, but having experienced first hand the ingenuity and "make do" abilities of the cycle shops in that region, I am sure that if other things break, someone will be able to hammer, weld or fabricate something to get me going again.

Failing this, DHL can get a spare part parcel to most places on the globe within a reasonable amount of time, although admittedly, at a price.

Tools shall comprise of:

A Topeak multitool

A Leatherman

An adjustable wrench

Puncture kit

Pump

Again this may seem like precious few tools, but the advantage of a folding bicycle is the ability, if disabled, to fold it up, pack it away and get on local transport to the nearest town with a cycle workshop.

My model of Brompton, the S6R has only 6 gears, but I feel too much emphasis these days is put on having as many gears as will fit the frame. It really isn't always necessary.

A good spread of gears is all that is needed in most cases. My Brompton has a 3 speed hub gear with a 2 speed dérailleur.

This gives 6 very evenly spaced gears with no duplicates which is common with 21 or more dérailleur gears. Less stress is imparted on the chain too, as dramatic front to rear chain angles are avoided.

With the optional 44 tooth chain wheel (12% reduction on the standard chain wheel) the gears in inches are as follows:

1st - 26.4"

2nd - 35.6"

3rd - 45.3"

4th - 55.9"

5th - 71.3"

6th - 87.6"

I've not had a hill beat me yet with this set up. With a limited range of gears, I think that lower gears are far more important than higher ones. My rule of thumb is this:-

Can you comfortably pull one of your high gears fully loaded continuously?

If yes, then set the gearing to have one higher gear than your "all day gear" as top, the rest are for up hills or starting off.

There is one modification which I am sorely tempted to do for the trip. I think I'd like to convert my S Brompton:



to a P Brompton:




I have checked to see what this entails and it wouldn't be too costly.

The Handlebars can be changed quite easily, but the next job is the folding stem. This is because the P stem is shorter than the S stem. The four control cables will also have to be changed as they need to be slightly longer. I think about £150 should do it.

The advantages are as follows:

A variety of handlebar positions

The ability to use the Brompton front touring pannier (much larger than the S pannier)

A more upright riding position when required

Also I think they look quite radical

After searching online for stories or information about touring on a Brompton and not finding much out there, I started to wonder why not.

Is it because the Brompton is wholly inappropriate for touring? Or perhaps there is a small wheel prejudice out there, or could it be as simple as the potential stranding in a far off country with no easy access to essential custom spare parts, especially in "off the beaten track" countries?

I'm still not sure, but in my mind the perceived disadvantages are outweighed by the main big advantage.

The Brompton fold.

While cycle touring with my father in France some years ago, we stopped for the evening at the only available hotel in this small town. I established that they indeed did have an available room only to be told that the bicycles could not be brought into the hotel!

This wasn't a 5 star establishment, far from it. It was a very small tatty place and it was at the very end of their season. "Do you have a garage or storeroom to keep the cycles in?" I asked. The reply was a definite no, they would have to be locked up in the street! We ended up cycling miles out of town to search for alternative accommodation.

Imagine, given the same circumstance, simply folding up your trusty mount, popping it into the very lightweight Brompton cover and triumphantly carrying it in as hand luggage.

I can also imagine other scenarios such as jumping (with the Brommie) on a train, a bus or cadging a lift in even the smallest of cars if the need arose, such as a breakdown, illness or even safe motorised conveyance through an area which could be dangerous by bicycle.

UPDATE!

I have just upgraded my Brompton by replacing the bottle dynamo with a SON hub dynamo. This gives more available power with less rolling resistance, not to mention no slipping in the rain.

I have also changed the standard steel seat post with a titanium one. The weight saved by fitting the dynamo hub and this exotic seat post is about 220 grams, not much, but far better than the upgrades adding weight.

Upgrade Stage 2.

I have today ordered the "P" upgrade parts. A new stem, the P bars, 4 control cables and the foam grips. It all came to £137 from www.evanscycles.com, there's a lead time of 3 weeks, but there's no rush. It will be nice, when fitted, not to have to lean so far forwards unless I want to.

I can now reconsider my luggage provision.

Chris from

http://chrisrust.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/brompton-folding-bike-seven-league-boots/

gave me some invaluable information about the seat post rack I was considering using. He pointed out the error of my ways and suggested the Brompton Touring Bag.

This is a 28 litre bag that fits in front of the handlebars mounted to the frame. With the current "S" type bars this big bag fouls the brake levers, but not with the "P" conversion which leaves the levers higher and out of the way.

Check out his blog, there's a load of great info there.

Oh where does this all end? A Rohloff hub gear? I wish.

I found myself in Dahab last year for a month, teaching freediving (another passion of mine) visiting friends and generally hanging out. It had to be done, I had just been made redundant after 22 years of working in The City (London's financial area) so figured I needed a treat.

Anyway, my friend and fellow freediving instructor Richard, introduced me to his bike. I'm not sure what make it was, but was this bike specc'ed out well. A SON dynamo hub, Busch & Müller lights, disc brakes, sprung forks, hand built wheels (by Richard) and a Rohloff 14 speed hub.

The perfect go-round-the-world-bike. He also fitted a Bob Yak trailer for his ongoing travels from Dahab.

Well I recently read that the trouble with the Rohloff Hub gear is that when you fit one to a bike, you want all your bikes to have one too. At £850 a time, it can get expensive! It doesn't stop there, I believe the rear triangle of the Brompton has to be quite modified to make it fit, so maybe I'll just stick with the 6 speeds for now.