Author: The Brompton Diarist

First April Progressive

We’ve already been on the second, but I’m behind on posting and racing to catch up. We met up with Tim, of the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia, on the first Saturday in April, for the first in his new series of progressive rides, beginning with 25 miles/40.2 km, and adding ten miles/16 km further each week.

Catching an early train means lots of exposure to golden light. Also, plenty of room on the train for Brompton bicycles and gear. (But of course, there always is!)

This particular ride turned out to be an excellent one for train-spotting. We rode alongside this freight train, which was passing through the city, on our way from the Amtrak station to our meeting point on the Schuylkill River Trail.

The weather is warming up, so the crowd at the entrance to the Azalea garden was larger than it has been. Tim got every one oriented as the morning mist began to lift.

On the way, we passed a regional rail train, too, just like the one we’d taken to Philadelphia, though this one was running a different route.

That nearest patch of rail was a bit disconcerting; that’s an impressive wash-out, just feet from the rail that is actually in use.

Though that’s a lovely reflection in the water.

Our destination was the Outbound Station, just off the Schuylkill Trail in Conshohocken. Coffee, treats, nice people, and lots of bicycle-themed decorations on the walls.

The wind sock outside did not cooperate. It was almost horizontal when I realized that I should be aiming my camera; this shot lacks the dramatic wind-strength illustration I was hoping to capture.

At Shawmont, on the way back, the crossing bars dropped, bells rang, and we waited for another regional train to pass.

At one time, canals were as important as trains to transport in the area. (And, at one time, trains were a lot more important, too.) We often see attempts to burnish business along the waterway, not all (or perhaps even most) successful.

Lovely, newish, canopies by the water here, but in spite of the effort, this still appears to be an abandoned building.

The tow-paths have been re-purposed more effectively, as our own excursion demonstrated.

The winds were a bit fierce on this trip. That was quite rewarding on the trip out, but Dr. Diarist and I both struggled a bit on the return. It’s good training, though, so we merely noted the conditions and carried on.

Basil and Argyll were unaffected; wind means nothing to a sturdy little Brompton. They were in fine shape, post-ride, all set to board the train home. (Those Mini-O bags are getting a workout on these rides, and what a pleasure they are! ) As a rule, Dr. Diarist and I do not wear so well, but we went home quite happy just the same.

My Brompton

Spring (Grocery) Shopping

Spring may happen! Basil and I celebrated this cheery thought by running a few errands in a (mostly) ice-free world.

We always gravitate toward the granny smith apples for an indoor shot. Wonder why? (Something about that wonderful color . . . )

Basil’s T bag was roughly half-full when I’d finished shopping: giant carton of lettuce mix (about a pound’s worth in weight); bananas; cheese; five pounds of bread flour; yeast; a pound of almond flour and a couple of other things I can’t remember.

Altogether, the groceries added up to 12 pounds/5.4 kilograms. I weighed it all when I got home, since I was curious to know what the weight was, compared to riding without any appreciable cargo. Also, this was the first time I’d hauled six pounds of various flours.

Here’s the thing about a Brompton bicycle, though: because the luggage is attached to a block on the frame of the bike, all the weight is carried there. Steering is unaffected: Move those handlebars, and the luggage has no effect at all on balance. Brilliant!

I’m not well-coordinated, nor particularly strong. If my bike used a traditional handlebar basket, I’d be lucky to be able to wrangle two pounds of cargo (less than a kg!).

Even a partially-full T bag looks ungainly — but looks are deceptive. Basil and I breezed home.

Not without stopping, however, to admire the slight hints of green which are now appearing everywhere.

Miscellaneous

Reporter Meets Bromptoneers, Survives

Post author By The Brompton Diarist
Post date April 9, 2014
6 Comments on Reporter Meets Bromptoneers, Survives

Businessweek published a terrific article about Bromptons a couple of days ago. Our own NYCeWheels supplied a loaner Brompton bicycle to the reporter, and sent him off, jet-lagged, to meet the cyclists of The London Brompton Club.

The best part? Quotes from Andrew, partner of the famous (some say “legendary”) Brompton Bumble Bee. (There’s another one at the end of the article. Read it; you’ll be happy you did!)

“We treat them like children, babies, literally,” says Andrew Barnett, one of the club’s co-founders. “I dry the bike off before I dry myself off.”

There’s a quote, too, from Peter, at Basil’s (and Argyll’s) home shop:

“The Brompton folds smaller than any of the other models,” says Peter Yuskauskas, manager of NYCeWheels. And it rides well enough to compete with traditional road bikes, he says. “It’s kind of our perfect product.”

It’s a great article, and I admit I blushed when I read this paragraph (it was almost like looking into a mirror! totally unexpected self-recognition!):

In Windsor, whenever the London Brompton Club stops, there’s just enough time for me to catch up and remove another piece of clothing. The other riders dismount and take snapshots with their bikes in the foreground, as if they are on vacation and the bike is a partner.

I don’t know, this guy sounds a little surprised. Also, he’s put “cult” in the headline, viz.: “The Cult of Brompton Folding Bikes”. Wonder what he means by that?

Errandonnee Tours, Trails & Group Rides

Whitford Station

As part of our Errandonnée explorations, Basil and I took the train to an unfamiliar stop.

Here’s Basil, all set to board the train. Is it wrong that one of the benefits of riding a Brompton is the sheer pleasure of observing, over and over, what a beautiful thing — aesthetically and engineering-wise — is a Brompton?

There’s a wonderful old trestle at this very small station. (Obviously, I’m predisposed to love metal . . . )

And, hence, a long climb up to or down to those tracks. Many of the train stations in the area specialize in inaccessibility; this one would be pre-eminent in that class.

It’s not surprising that there are no shoulders on the road; that, too, is commonplace in this area, but then there’s that sidewalk-to-nowhere at the bottom of the stairs.

Passengers who disembark on this side of the tracks find themselves stranded and facing a rather infelicitous jaunt to the parking lot, which is around to the back, under the tracks, behind the scene shown here.

Though this area isn’t very pedestrian- bicycle-, or disability-friendly, there are some compensations, like unexpected, pretty, little views of meandering creeks and small bits of untouched woods.

Basil enjoys the views, too. We spent a moment hoping this would be the last snow we’d see this year. (Fruitlessly, I might add.) Endless winter or not, it was still a lovely day for a ride, and we both went home well-satisfied.

Brompton Duo My Brompton

Spring: Skunk Cabbage Edition

Post author By The Brompton Diarist
Post date April 6, 2014
6 Comments on Spring: Skunk Cabbage Edition

In the waters and on the marshy banks of creeks in the area greenery is sprouting.

We think this stuff is Skunk Cabbage, but we won’t know for sure until we get a closer look.

This was a tough winter; the evidence is everywhere. Recently uprooted trees are lying across the streams, and broken branches, small and very large, are scattered across the landscape.

Almost exactly a year ago, I took pictures of Basil and Dr. Diarist’s mountain bike in this same area (and next to this very tree); the ground was clear then, and we had to lean both bikes next to a tree for the picture. This year, there was enough debris to keep Argyll and Basil upright even on a slope.

Argyll fell over, though, when posing for his solo shot, and his mirror buried itself in the mud and muck — loosening quite a bit in the process. I thought I had the right size allen wrench in Basil’s saddle bag, but was quite wrong.

Happily, Argyll was covertly transporting the elegant Brompton tool kit, which turns out to be as functional as it is beautiful. (More on that later; I’m a bit behind on writing about Brompton paraphernalia.)

Winter isn’t entirely over. We took the Uwlchlan Trail the other day, and greenery wasn’t all we saw. (It’s pronounced with an “ooch” as in “mooch” and then “lan”: “ooch-lan”. Or should it be “ooulch-lan”? Is it Welsh? Somehow I think it should be.)

There are still mounds of grubby snow around, looking, at this point, rather like permanent fixtures. This is residual from a parking lot near a train station. It’s going nowhere fast, in spite of the 60 F/15.5 C temperatures.

Dr. Diarist spotted a solid block of ice under the tracks. Closer inspection revealed that it was melting from within, thanks to a drain pipe located in the track bed above, from which a few desultory drops of water slowly fell.

Water can be soooo destructive. And messy; is that swath of black due to a high mineral content in the local water?

The ice pyramid doesn’t look as impressive from a slight distance; as we rode by I thought I’d see a crumpled piece of plastic out of the corner of my eye. Those fluffy white bits didn’t register as snow, either, probably because I’d long before shed my light jacket.

The trail goes past a park, then alongside a country club, and into a neighborhood, where a slightly less organic display of flora — not skunk cabbage — testifies to someone’s belief that freezing temperatures are gone for now.

It’s kind of rural-urbia in this area; Basil is checking out a field, here, that is next to a pretty ordinary suburban development.

There’s an old grist mill along the trail. Basil introduced Argyll to the pleasures of posing on top of things; they’re nicely framed in what once was either a window or an opening for a loading chute.

The ruins date from 1811. That’s antiquity for those of us here in North America. (Well, “antiquity” for a purpose-built structure that’s managed to survive.)

Southeastern Pennsylvania is dotted with similar ruins; one of the pleasures of the area is running across them unexpectedly. How better to find them than on a Brompton? (Or two!)

Argyll Gear

Argyll’s Brompton Mini O Bag

Post author By The Brompton Diarist
Post date April 1, 2014
14 Comments on Argyll’s Brompton Mini O Bag

My Mini O bag has turned out to be far more useful than I’d imagined, so we outfitted Argyll with one as soon as we could.

I emailed Brompton, hoping that they would tell me that a racing green version was in the works, but they replied promptly and told me that they have no plans to release the Mini O in “classic” colors. All those currently available wonderful colors, it seems, are strictly for the faddists!

So all-black it was — and all-black was just as difficult to find this time around as it was when I went looking for Basil’s Mini O last year. We bought this one where we found Basil’s — at Portapedal in Arizona. Donna and Al are incredibly nice people to deal with, and got our Mini Os out to us in record time, both go-rounds. (Search tip: look for an in-stock waterproof bag where there are deserts!)

However, we needed a way to tell the two Mini Os apart, since Dr. Diarist and I pack ours differently. I had a (color co-ordinated — take that, fashion mavens!) shoulder pad handy, so I slipped it over the one that came with the Mini O, and voilà, instant identification. An incidental bonus is that the new pad is just bulky enough that the strap is contained when looped through the handle — no need to detach it to ensure a tangle-free ride.

Originally, I got the Mini O because of its waterproof nature. I’ve since discovered that I favor it a surprising amount of the time. The small and low profile means that I notice no wind drag when riding, and the inside is surprisingly capacious; it’s an ideal bag for small errands. (Above is Basil’s, lightly loaded.)

I use a variety of bags and/or luggage for the many types of riding I do; so far Dr. Diarist uses only the Mini O when riding locally (at this point, his rides are all recreational). He’s been very pleased with this little accessory, which has plenty of room for discarded gloves, jackets, and the like, while at the same time, seeming to be hardly there.

Tours, Trails & Group Rides

The Weight of the World

Due to annoyingly persistent cold symptoms, and a consequent lack of sleep, Dr. Diarist and I missed not only the third progressive (45 miles/72.4 km), but the fourth (55 miles/88.5 km) and will likely now miss the fifth (65 miles/104.6 km), for which we are certainly unfit, having missed half our training sessions. Sigh.

Last Sunday, though, we were able to meet up with a batch of good cycling buddies for a shorter, but far more doable 28 mile/45 km jaunt. It was colder than expected — though expectations may have been influenced by everyone’s desire to see the end of this winter, already!

Bill and Kay kept us company as far as Betzwood, where they turned back, but the remaining four of us forged onward. I’d left my lobster claw gloves at home, but my fingers were finally warming up; I wanted more miles for my pain! Also, we all wanted coffee and/or sustenance.

At The Oaks, we encountered this structure, which gave Fearless Leader Saul (left), Fearless Leader Mike (center), and new Bromptonaut Dr. Diarist (right) a chance to demonstrate Atlas-like prowess.

Much discussion ensued regarding odd bits of rod*, with which the structure is irregularly studded. None of us were able to come up with a plausible explanation for the protuberances; uncharacteristically, I failed to snap one of the peculiarities up close. I’ll have to rectify that next time.

Our search for coffee was a bit fraught: Did you know that Subway — a much-reviled sandwich shop chain — does not serve coffee after 11 AM? (We didn’t.) I’m afraid we left without purchasing anything, desperate though we were for sustenance. We took refuge in a nearby grocery store, which, while almost vacant, offered beverages of sorts, and food stuffs, as well as chocolate, which is what I ate.

The snowy, icy, terrain of previous months is almost gone, though we did find ourselves walking alongside railroad tracks on the way there and back. The most sheltered parts of the Schuylkill River Trail are still too compromised to traverse with bikes, but, barring a new freeze, they, too, should be clear soon.

*Lest you think it odd that a bunch of cyclists stood around in winter discussing steel fabrication, let me set your mind at rest: Bantering on about engineering, construction, and great ideas involving either or both is very typical of this crowd, and a particular bonus of riding with them. Hence, not “odd”, but “standard”. (And a very fine standard it is, too.)

Argyll Gear

Argyll’s Eazy Wheels

When we placed the order for Argyll, there was some kind of a mix-up. Although we specified “rack with Eazy Wheels” (several times over), somehow the invoice was written with the Eazy Wheels notation missing. That was a shock on more than one front, since it hadn’t even occurred to me that a rack could be supplied without Eazy Wheels.

Argyll arrived with very small wheels attached to his rack. So small, in fact, that any any attempt to roll him resulted in scraping both rack and bungee. (Above, you can see the bungee squished between the rack and the floor, and dragging on said floor.) This was utterly mystifying; why supply a Brompton with wheels that acted as an effective brake (while simultaneously destroying lovely B components)?

Clearance for the front set of wheels was only marginally better. Here’s the little guy, resting on his ~~weird~~, ~~too-small~~, ~~wheels~~ ~~and~~ rack:

Zip clearance there. I wonder why?

Dr. Diarist went to New York and picked up Argyll during one of the worst storms of the season, and as a result didn’t do much in the way of exploring his new Brompton’s capabilities. He did briefly try rolling Argyll on his way to the train, but reported that something seemed to be wrong. Once he was home, the problem was obvious.

So we got things straightened out, and, shortly, a set of Eazy Wheels arrived, along with a second surprise: a bung. That’s the plug between the wheel sets, in the package below. The bung fits into the end of the seatpost and acts as a brake when the seatpost is lowered all the way — a good idea, since a Brompton with Eazy Wheels attached will roll, unlike a Brompton with what I guess are “stock” rack wheels.

Peter, of NYCeWheels, had promised that the wheels would be “eazy” to install, and he was quite right. Though rather IKEA-like, the instructions were very clear, and the assembly testimony to Brompton’s (almost) always amazing and resourceful engineering.

The only tricky bit is counting the tiny, tiny washers — they are used for spacing, and I found one hiding inside a wheel when I suspected I was one short. Taking the existing wheels off carefully counts, too, if you want to save time; you’ll re-use some, but not all, of the original hardware, to install the new set if your B comes with a rack.

The front wheels are quite straightforward — just pop them on, essentially — but some attention is required for the rear set. Counter-intuitively (and brilliantly) one rear wheel is set inside the rack, and one outside. (That’s Basil, above, illustrating the point.)

Once considered, this makes sense, as the weight of a B is slightly unbalanced when folded. The Eazy Wheel placement accounts for the discrepancy. The shot below isn’t the best, I’m afraid, but see the angle of the bungee now, compared to the first two photos in this post? Clearance! Yes!

Not everyone will want Eazy Wheels, but we will use our Bromptons in so many different modes that they make a big difference to us: Getting across a vast terminal is a breeze with a T bag on an Eazy Wheel-equipped Brompton, which pushes like a luggage cart, but with a smaller footprint. They’re also a huge advantage when shopping, making efficient work of navigating grocery aisles. And a set of Eazy Wheels can also make it feasible to wheel a Brompton in areas where a unfolded bike might be banned.

And that bung? It’s a great brake, but I’m surprised that it, too, isn’t supplied with all seatposts. With or without Eazy Wheels, I like the idea that it’s rubber that hits the ground, instead of the seatpost itself, if I run the post down too far. (Others may just learn more quickly than I to lower the post correctly!)

Events

Brompton USA 2014 Championship

Post author By The Brompton Diarist
Post date March 21, 2014
2 Comments on Brompton USA 2014 Championship

The dates and location have been announced: July 11-13, in Washington, D.C. That’s close enough that Basil and Argyll may have to consider giving it a go.

However, participation is not to be taken lightly. Proper attire is required: collared shirts, ties, jackets (flasks optional). No spandex permitted. Sequins allowed, apparently. (Who says sport can’t be elegant?)

No word yet on the venue; I’m devoutly hoping it’s going to be scenic, and not a motorway track.

Edited 3 June 2014 to insert BNC logo.

Errandonnee Events

Errandonnee: Part 3

What’s an Errandonnee? Click here!

The pick-up errand: I accidentally completed 12 errands in 7 8 categories on my previous runs — but failed to rack up sufficient mileage. That was remedied today, at the very last minute possible.

Basil and I went grocery shopping, and padded the trip with a few miles to make up my missing 10 (16 km).

Errand 13 — Category (~~6th~~ 7th, second use): Grocery Store. Cheese, lovely cheese. Oil. Potatoes. Italian meats for Dr. Diarist. Leeks, yummy leeks.

Learned/Observed: Today felt like spring, and time to say good-bye to root vegetables. Also, I’m glad cheese is a year-round food!

And that was it — thanks, MG, for another excellent event! Is there any better way to say good-bye to winter??

Mileage: 10.54/16.9 km Errands: 1 Total Categories: 1

Cumulative Totals for Errandonnee:

Total Mileage: 30.66 miles/30 miles (49.3 km/48.2 km)

Total Errands: 13/12

Total Categories: ~~7/7~~ 8/7

Edited almost immediately after publication, due to incompetence at filling out the control card. Sigh.