Category: My Brompton

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Gear Luggage My Brompton

Wire Basket for my Brompton

I love my Brompton luggage, but sometimes its full service, wind-sail nature is too much.  So I picked up a wire basket.

I attached it to my modded S frame, using black cable ties.

Then I headed off to the grocery store.  Empty, the basket was hardly noticeable; at least, I didn’t notice it.

I stuffed the purchased goods into a nylon shopping bag I always keep in Bail’s under-seat bag, and rode back.  No wind-sale effect, even with the goods packed up.

I’m going to like this basket for short errands.

As I was unfolding Basil, preparing to leave the grocery, a fantastically-well-dressed femme d’un certain age zipped past me, smiled hugely, and said “You look so sharp!”  I went home and took a picture of my garb.  It’s not every day one is so handsomely complimented while wearing a watermelon helmet!

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My Brompton Tours, Trails & Group Rides

We Ride the West Side Greenway

Basil and I finally got a chance to cycle on the West Side Greenway, but not without a false start.  We started at 181st Street, and headed toward the river.  See the bicycle on this sign? And the arrow under it?

It leads to a dead end.  Basil and I turned around, and went the opposite way.  A block or two up, we found the pedestrian/cycle crossing above Riverside Drive, and were on our way.

We soon passed under the George Washington Bridge.

We quickly left the bridge behind.

Manhattan on the left, New Jersey on the right.

At 132nd street, Basil posed in front of the most wonderful grocery  store of all:  Fairway.

We passed this pretty little marina.

Is it art if it also serves another purpose? Steel girders have a beauty all their own.

These structures made me think of barns.  Maybe it’s the circle at the roof peak, or the red trim.  I think they are a sanitation station.

We passed the USS Intrepid at 46th Street

and, oddly, these horses, not long after.  Why would officers be on horses in this traffic-heavy area? It’s another New York mystery.

We discovered where the “Violation Tow Service” is, at 38th, but,happily, this isn’t something a bicycle rider needs to know.

Originally, I’d planned to ride down to the WTC, and take the subway back, but the day was so beautiful that I decided to cycle back.  Since I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have, we only rode south as far as 34th Street or so, at which point we turned around.

This behemoth is at Riverside Park South.  Was it once used to unload cargo?

It’s easy to forget how close traffic is, since it’s not terribly obvious for most of the ride.  This spot looked quite bucolic until a bus flew by above Basil.

Stone arch, 104th Street.

And steel arches, at 135th.

Soon we spied the George Washington Bridge again.

We got closer.

It’s really just a huge erector set!


Tucked under the bridge is an adorable Little Red Lighthouse, once immortalized in a children’s book.  Literature may have saved this lighthouse from extinction.  Never doubt the power of the written word!

New Jersey, with tree, just before the bridge.

Under the bridge.  Basil’s posing downhill here, but we were on the way up, by foot.

I was so disappointed that I couldn’t manage this incline . . . but as I was photographing Basil, an athletic type came by on a drop bar racer, at about 2 miles an hour.  (I felt better when I saw how he was struggling.)  However, he did make it up all the way on his wheels.  He traversed  the slope — zig-zagging his way across the bath in nearly horizontal lines up to even out the climb.  Brilliant!

Once we passed the bridge, the incline wasn’t as steep.

The trail passed through this stone arch.

Then it curved around and we looked back at the bridge.

Basil takes a break.

Suddenly, it’s obvious that you’re back in the city.

Here we are:  Up the ramp, over the bridge, and we’re on our way home.

By foot, I’m afraid, since I’m not cycling in Washington Heights.

The Greenway, though, in winter?  It’s perfect!

1/7/2013 – Edited to add photo of ramp, which I somehow left out (?!).

 

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My Brompton

Indeed

The text on the mural says “Un  Sueño Dulce”.

No better one.

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My Brompton

Basil, Loitering

That’s all:

Just Basil. waiting for the train, and another adventure.

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My Brompton

Basil Gets a New Tire

I took Basil into NYCeWheels via the subway and a cross-town bus.  He fits very nicely on the M79, thanks to a cut in the seat row, mid-bus.

Here he is, turned around.  You can see a little better, here, how he just fits up next to the back of the conventional seat in front.

I got to the shop just as Peter was arriving, and he kindly let me in and took Basil’s information.  I mentioned my surprise at having gotten a flat on such a new Marathon, and suggested that I’d like to replace it with a Marathon Plus, in the rear only.  Peter said that if it was defective, they’d certainly replace it at no charge, but that the shop doesn’t carry the Marathon Plus tire, since they’ve had such good luck with the Marathons. Peter warned me, too, that Basil wouldn’t leave with the beautiful metal valve stems he had arrived with; they don’t stock those, either.

I had anticipated losing the delightful transparent cap, and had already removed it.  I admit that it was a bit of a blow to realize that Basil’s rear tire would, henceforth, have a black rubber valve stem, and a more conventional cap.  I’ll save the original in case there’s an opportunity in the future to spend unnecessary dollars on a metal valve stemmed tube.

When I returned to pick up Basil, Alex informed me that they had pulled a nail out of the side of the tire.  That was a shock . . . but I guess I can’t exactly complain about a Marathon failing to stand up to a nail.  I’d apparently missed it when crossing a wooden bridge with gaps between the boards. In truth, it probably never occurred to me to watch for a hazard other than those gaps..

There had been a small  manufacturing defect on the side of the tire — unrelated to the flat — and NYCeWheels were kind enough to replace it under warranty, which I appreciated.  I bought an extra tube, though, since obviously flats can, and will, happen.  Basil was returned to me in perfect shape to begin the next phase of our riding history.

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My Brompton Tours, Trails & Group Rides

We Go to New York

My wounded Basil and I hopped a train to New York City to take care of his flat tire and his 300-mile-or-so, 90-day-or-so, check-up.  We took off on a lovely foggy day.

I’d actually had Basil for only 60 days, but, as the mileage was on target, this worked out well.  As usual, on an Amtrak train, Basil and his T Bag  tucked in nicely at the front of the car, with me close by.

I love fog and mist, so this was an especially fun ride for me.

A  SEPTA train passed us on the way.  The destination LEDs flipped between the actual destination and “Happy Holidays”, which I tried, but failed, to capture.

The city was truly “socked-in”.

I don’t think I’ve ever come into the city when visibility was so poor.  Fog is s little less romantic on this scale, but, even here, I still enjoy its fuzzy wool-ness.

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My Brompton

Basil Gets a Flat

This bucolic scene was the start of what was meant as a long, satisfying ride:

Fewer than three miles later, I rode over a wooden bridge, and apparently missed something crucial.  Barely off the bridge, I felt a “thump, thump” that I remembered from flat tires when I was a child.  Close inspection revealed a totally air-less tire, and Basil’s valve stem at a crazy angle:

It was the rear tire.  Oh, drat.  I’d have fixed a front tire on my own, but the rear?  Basil had barely 300 miles on him, and a 6-speed BWR gear hub.  No way was I going to tackle that fix on my own.

We waited for rescue by Mr. Diarist:

I couldn’t see any reason why my super Marathon tire should have deflated.  I felt a bit deflated myself.  As soon as we got home, I made arrangements for Basil’s 90-day check-up, and made plans to take him back to the dealer for that, and the repair.

 

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My Brompton

Bompton’s Logo, Illustrated

The (excellent) logo:

And Basil, re-creating it:

OK, I know there’s no real reason to do this — except that I’ve always wanted to know how to combine several images into one.  Now I do!

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My Brompton Tips

Basil Demonstrates Folding

A Bromptons’s fold seems mysterious until you learn it well, and rather counter-intuitive, though it soon becomes second-nature.  Here’s Basil, to start (pretend his bright blue water bottle isn’t there — I forgot to remove it, at first):

To fold, I press a release beneath the rear section of Basil’s top bar, then grasp the center bar (it’s yellow on Basil) at the seat end, and flip the rear wheel under the bar.  (You want to make sure the Folding pedal is Forward, with the pedals close to parallel to the ground).  Keep those Fs together.!)

Flipping the rear wheel requires lifting Basil, and then swinging the rear wheel forward.  After a bit of practice, this becomes one fast, fluid, motion.

This flips the rear wheel upside down.  See Basil’s rear rack?  It’s now resting on the ground — and supporting Basil.  The rear rack is Basil’s “kickstand”; this is how you set a Brompton upright as quickly as using a traditional kickstand — except that it’s a lot more stable, and keeps the bike upright on more surfaces.

There’s a clamp with a twist handle near the front of Basil’s yellow bar.  (It’s visible in the image above, below, and to the left of, the blue water bottle).  The next step is to open the clamp, grasp the handlebar stem, and move the front wheel next to the folded rear wheel.

This is really the only tricky part; you want to keep the front wheel as parallel as possible to the body of the bike, in order to avoid stretching cables.  Just go slowly at first, until you “get” it; then it, too, becomes second-nature.

This step is also known as “trolley mode” or “shopping cart mode”.  If I add a basked to Basil’s mounting block, this is the fold I use when shopping.  I pop the basket on the black block that is just above his yellow bar (and just below the green handlebar stem), lower the seat, and then push Basil around the store using the handlebars.  In this configuration Basil takes up less room than most strollers.

If folding Basil completely, the next step is to completely drop his handlebars.  If you’re a hot-dogger, you just undo the clamp on the handlebar stem, and give the handlebars a shove. They will fall satisfying rapidly, and clip themselves into position next to the front wheel. It’s also possible to do this less emphatically, with the same success.

The final step is to lower the seat.  Lowering the seat locks the frame so that Basil won’t unfold when lifted.  If you want to effectively “brake” your folded Brompton, lower the seat so that the rubber stopper in the seat tube touches the ground.  If keeping your folded bicycle from rolling isn’t an issue, the seat need only be lowered most, not all , of the way, down.

There’s a nifty, built-in, grip under the Brompton stock seat.  Basil can be lifted and carried using his seat, or simply by holding him by the main bar (it’s the yellow on Basil).

That’s all there is to it.  Whilst waiting for Basil to arrive, I obsessively watched Brompton’s own instructional video; it was very helpful, both as a distraction and as an instructional guide.

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My Brompton

Reflective Sidewalls

I guess they work:

Had some flash issues with my camera recently, and this is one result.  If you’re coming at Basil from the side, at night, I guess you’ll see him!