Barranquilla

OP forgets that there was such an asian Brompton (NEOBIKE), It was cheaper, made in Asia and made out of aluminium.. and if you read the wikipedia page you see how that ends up.. A British Build steel bike is What Brompton is, don't change something that works.

George3

"Don't change something that works."If we had followed that philosophy, then we would still live as cave-men in the stone age. The introduction of the Dahon Curl suggests that is possible, to produce a compact folding-bike, that can compete with the Brompton, without legal copyright infringement of the Brompton design.

Barranquilla

Let me start by saying I agree for Dahon, however to Brompton as a company I think there business model now is good. As far as that cave analogy goes, I could argue that cave people were malnourished, died young, had very high child mortality rates and didn't yet have bikes reason enough to fix their broken system

berlinonaut

This is true. There's the Brompton, didn't need Dahon to prove this. It just took Dahon more than 15 years and countless announcements of the model until you could really buy it. It is however still not out on the streets...

That yet has to be proven on the road. The Brompton in it's current form started selling 1987, so 30 years ago. Dahon needed more than half of that time to copy it (starting to count from the first public announcement of the Curl in AFAIK 2000 - therefor probably copying started even earlier). The Brompton Mk1 (designwise not too different from the current one) started selling in 1980 - before Dahon was even founded. Brompton as a company and the basic concept of the bike are more than 40 years old. Therefor it had really long time to mature - which it did, year by year, enhancement by enhancement.

From what you can see today despite the long copy-process there are still some major downsides even on a basic level with the Curl, compared to the Brompton:

- no hub dynamo possible (due to 55mm OLD)
- no front luggage
- max handlebar height even below a Brompton M-type (despite having a telescopic stem)
- currently only available with three speeds
- folding seems to be more complicated - despite Dahon claiming the opposite. (steps necessary in additon to the Brompton: take out seatpost, lower stem, turn handlebar)
- etc. etc.

Plus at least here in Germany Dahon's reputation in terms of service and availablity of spare parts couldn't be worse. The exact opposite of the Brompton. Still at least the list price of the Curl is on level with the Brompton (again in Europe) - doesn't sound like a setup for success.
So they invented a challenger by cloning the original - time will tell if it will be a serious competitor as well. If it will ever be I suppose it will only be through a discounted initial buy-price and definitively not through longtime quality.

Well, this is probably dependent from whom you ask. Brompton's patents expired long ago. In terms of copyright or visual similarity an innocent viewer would probably consider them very similar. Nobody can tell what a judge would say as nobody seems to have asked one. But Neobikes got sued for their Brompton-Clones under brand-names like "Merc", "Flamingo" etc. when trying to sell them in Europe just ten years ago.

And - aside from copyright - it seems a bit of a capitulation that the bike that Dahon invents for the company's 35th birthday is basically a copy or clone of a 40 year old design of a competitor - and at the same time Dahon irritatingly claims in the (childish) kickstarter campaign for the curl to be the oldest company of it's kind in the world...

foldingdroid

A husband-and-wife, friends of mine who owns Bromptons told me that they feel bad if someone will come up with a Brompton competitor bike or Brompton look-alike with a cheaper price because they paid a lot for the 2 Bromptons.

Winfried

They shouldn't worry for a while, considering the Curl…

• still isn't actually available (let's wait for Eurobike in August)
• has quirks (no front luggage, not enough speeds if they live in hilly areas)
• isn't very competitively priced

… and no one in their right mind should buy a 1.0 folding bike. Let others be unpaid beta testers.

fietsbob

Saw a one off frame, that Milian parts a company selling aftermarket Brompton parts got made..

the hinges were left out.. a weight savings.. but kept the elastomer suspension, & rear fold..

CHenry

Suggestions for improvements? As others said above, a 135 mm rear dropout width and an Alfine 11 option, an all-titanium frame and a carbon bar and stem, hydraulic disc brakes.

fietsbob

OK you can start that company..

George3

All patents have a limited legal time period. Time will tell, if the Dahon Curl will be a commercial succes. And if not, then Dahon (as well as other companies) may develop other models in the future, that can compete with the Brompton on price, quality, functionality and service. Mass production, robotisation, outsourcing and scientific market research will probably play an important role in those future developments IMO.

George3

Another rust failure of a Brompton.

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=43390.0

berlinonaut

Jesus Christ - stop whining! And stop continuously making false claims! This is very obviously not a problem of rust but a problem of overloading the little wings in folded state. Either by dropping the folded bike or by sitting on the folded bike. And as is obvious in the picture the brompton is equipped with skateboard-wheels instead of the Brompton wheels. It is a well-known fact for years that the use of skate-board wheels fosters this kind of damage as the wheels are harder and do neither damp vibrations nor a fall of the folded bike. In other words: This damage is caused by mistreatment by the user. You can break anything by mistreatment, including a Brompton.

George3

Another case of rust on a Brompton, due to overload, maltreatment, traffick accident, wear, or inadequate rust protection, or a combination of such factors.

Corrosion du cadre : traitement préventif [anc. Obsolescence programmée du Brompton]

smallwheeler

it's really difficult to determine the cause. let us ponder...

badmother

And here is proof that if you ride a Brompton you risk loosing all your chlotes AND develop skin problems:

Full Frontal by Vélocia, on Flickr

Terrible bikes, I think I`ll take mine to the dump tomorrow. Thank you for warning us. Your friend Nostradamus bailed out but you are still a man to be trusted

George3

See also this topic: Can a Brompton hold up to all-weather, daily, rough riding?

https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bi...gh-riding.html

bhkyte

Can a Brompton hold up to bad weather.
Yes it can.
It like a normal bike in many ways.
Recent bikes have about as much rust protection as is possible on a steel fram e.
All the parts and frame sections can be bought separately.
Yes older bromptons can rust though at the rear triangle. I damaged the wheel holder on mine becuase I should have held the bike down by the frame rather than threading on the wheel lug.
I had a seatpost that went rustly.
Big deal. Its a £12 item and in guarantee.
I am not a brompton fan but this is not a genuine fault of a modern brompton.