brompton product announcement

Transcription

BROMPTON PRODUCTS ANNOUNCEMENT – 2009 RANGE
― An Open Letter ―
Over the following pages, I set out the more significant product developments being introduced to the
Brompton range from 1 January 2009.
Those familiar with our bicycles and our history will know that we approach our research, design and
development activities in an unhurried manner: elegant design solutions rarely come quickly when the
conflicting requirements of compactness and light weight have to be balanced, and we insist on testing any
product thoroughly before making it available to the public. In short, our approach might be described as
“cautious but constant innovation”, distinct from the marketing- and trend-led approach favoured by some
bicycle companies.
The upside of our approach is that Brompton possesses a deep reservoir of loyalty and trust among
consumers and dealers alike, built up over years of restrained product-launches (i.e. only when the
products were ready to be used by demanding consumers, not before), a focus on improving the functional
(rather than superficial) aspects of our products, and ensuring that every improvement on our bikes is
capable of being retrofitted on older Bromptons (i.e. we do not build in obsolescence).
We hold true to that approach today just as we did in 1988, when full-time production of the Brompton
began in a railway arch about a mile from our current factory. But we recognise that our approach has a
downside – we struggle to make our ever-evolving range of bikes stand out amidst the flamboyantlylaunched annual ranges of our competitors.
To better communicate what we do, we will henceforth launch all our product developments
and improvements for a given year on 1st January, with an announcement of those changes in
September (of which this is the first), timed to coincide with the autumn shows.
The product announcements over the following pages come in addition to the improvements introduced to
our bike range over the course of the past nine months – dual compound tyres, new polymer suspension
blocks and improvements to brakes, cranks and to our gear-free hubs; in addition, a stiffened version of the
new suspension block will be available from January for heavier riders, or those who prefer a firmer ride.
Our designers and engineers are already applying themselves to the innovations and developments that will
be launched in January 2010; in the interim, should you have any questions about the developments for
2009, our products or our company, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me or my colleagues in the
Marketing team.
With best wishes
Emerson Roberts
Marketing Manager
Brompton Bicycle Ltd
e:
w:
[email protected]
www.brompton.co.uk
Brompton Wide Range Hub
The new configuration for 6-speed Bromptons will feature a wide-range hub of our design, manufactured by Sturmey
Archer; the present 6-speed arrangement, employing a SRAM hub, will be discontinued from 1 January 2009.
We believe that the Brompton Wide Range Hub [BWR], together with Brompton's derailleur system,
sets a new standard in folding bike gearing systems. It offers:

An evenly-stepped gear range (302%) that is comparable to the leading 8-speed hubs; but

It uses only a single epicyclic gear train (instead of three), thereby maximising efficiency;

At 0.94kg, it weighs almost half as much as other hub gears;

It comes in the same small package as the current three-speed hub, allowing existing owners to upgrade easily; and

It is typically-Brompton: robust and built to last... owners can expect the same reliability as with the classic threespeed hub.
We will be supplying a 16-tooth and a 13-tooth
sprocket with the BWR which, with a 50-tooth
chain wheel, will give the following distances of
travel:
Gear 1
33.0 gear inches (2.63 metres along
the ground)
Gear 2
40.5 gear inches (3.23 metres travel)
Gear 3
Gear 4
Gear 5
Gear 6
This represents a gear range (top gear/bottom gear) of 302%; by comparison, the current SRAM 6-speed arrangement
offers a range of 215%. * Like our existing 6-speed offering, however, the gearing may be raised or lowered by fitting a
54-tooth (+8%) or 44-tooth (-12%) chain wheel in place of the standard.
The graph on the next page illustrates how the new Brompton 6-speed offering fares against competitors’ products and
how it performs in the wider context of bicycle gearing. The gear range is almost identical to that offered by Shimano’s
Nexus 8, as employed on the Birdy and Dahon Ciao, while it is superior to the range offered on the Dahon Curve,
Dahon Boardwalk, Ori/Mezzo d9 and the Birdy with 9-speed derailleur.
While the new 6-speed Brompton offering naturally cannot compete with the gear range found on modern MTB and
road bikes (or with the heavy 14-speed Rohloff), it represents a significant advance for those would-be Bromptonowners who wanted the advantages offered by our bikes but were put off in the past by concerns about the Brompton’s
ability in very hilly/mountainous terrain.
*
6.9m travel in top gear ÷ 3.2m travel in bottom gear
10
9.50
9
9.26
8.78
8.57
7.93
8.62
7.74
8
7.34
6.98
6.86
Metres Travelled
7
7.02
6.78
6.06
6
5
4
3
2
2.63
2.31
3.03
2.84
3.03
2.71
2.55
2.55
2.23
2.39
1.92
1
BWR 44t
CW
BWR 50t
CW
BWR 54t Dahon Ciao - Dahon Curve
Dahon
Ori/Mezzo
CW
Shimano SL - Sturmey Boardwalk d9
Nexus 8
5-speed
'Neos' 7speed
Birdy Shimano
Nexus 8
Birdy - 9speed
Shimano
derailleur
1.68
1.36
Birdy touring Birdy - 14Modern Modern road
- Shimano speed Rohloff mountain
bike
Intego (3x8)
hub
bike
The technical details

The BWR is an epicyclic geared hub with a 34-tooth sun pinion, 60 tooth annulus and four 12-tooth planet pinions;

In addition to direct drive (1:1), it offers a high gear of 1.567 (+56.7%) and a low gear of 0.638 (-36.2%); for
comparison, the Sturmey Archer hub employed on our 3-speed bikes offers 0.75, 1:1, 1.33 and the SRAM hub
currently employed on 6-speed Bromptons offers 0.73, 1:1, 1.36;

Percentage change for a gear step is 23% or 27%;

Hub weight without sprockets is 0.94kg;

It utilises the same indicator as the current Sturmey Archer 3-speed;

It employs Shimano-type sprocket splines, the same as on our current 2-speed.
New Saddles
For years, Brompton has offered consumers three options for saddles – a no-cost, standard PU saddle, the fi’zi:k Vitesse
and a special version of the Brooks B17 Special (featuring hand-hammered copper rivets).
The standard PU saddle’s principal attributes are its light weight and economical cost; unfortunately, this is reflected in a
design that is ill-suited to being used
as a handle and that, frankly, looks so
cheap that it brings down the image
of our whole bike range. The Vitesse
was
better-looking
but
not
particularly robust and equally illsuited for use as a handle; moreover,
many users found it was neither truly
“unisex” nor particularly comfortable,
and it was becoming ever more
expensive to source. Both the
standard PU saddle and the Vitesse
are being replaced from 1 January
2009 by a new Brompton-designed
saddle.
The new saddle has been designed to
combine the best aspects of the two
saddles it replaces, with none of the
drawbacks:

It is genuinely-unisex;

The design is sporty and light, but offers a comfortable level of padding that will not intimidate new or casual
cyclists;

Hollow chromoly rails give the same range of fore-aft adjustability as the Vitesse, and (unlike the Vitesse) it features
loops for a saddle bag;

It features the toughest synthetic leather fabric we could specify and special lightweight foam padding to keep the
weight low; and

We have added a moulded grip under the nose of the saddle to protect it when carrying the folded bike and to
make it easier on the hands.
All bikes will be fitted with the new saddle as standard (i.e. at no extra cost) from January. The improved value we are
offering consumers is increased further by the fact that the new saddle comes fitted with a Brompton Pentaclip, allowing
truly stepless adjustment for all Brompton owners.
We will retain the Brooks B17 Special for
those consumers who wish to add that
quintessentially English touch to their bikes
but will also be offering, for the first time, a
female version of the same saddle.
As with the male version, the B17 S Special,
will feature copper rivets – as far as we
know, the B17 S has never been produced as
a Special edition before now, and the saddle
in the photo is therefore the first of its kind.
Lightweight Front Wheel
Since the Superlight option was introduced in 2005, it has consisted almost entirely in substituting titanium alloy parts
for steel componentry in the rear frame, front forks, seat pillar, mudguard stays and folding pedal-axle; an alloy headset
brought a further small saving. In all, these changes saved about a kilogramme in weight, particularly noticeable if
carrying the bike regularly. For 2009, we are introducing a new front wheel that will save further weight but without
adding to the cost of ‘going Superlight’.
Having introduced double-butted spokes to our gear-free rear hub earlier this year, we are introducing the same to the
new lightweight front wheel.
It will employ double-butted
spokes
and
forged
7020
aluminium nipples, which are
actually harder than the brass
nipples they replace.
The wheel also features a
completely
new
Bromptondesigned front hub with an
aluminium axle and high-quality
sealed Japanese bearings; it is
secured using the same Allen bolt
and nut as the Son hub dynamo.
Spoke count is 28, the same as
the standard wheel. Total weight
saving (including all fixtures) is
about 85g. †
The lightweight front wheel will
be offered as part of the
Superlight package; neither it nor
any of the other components that
make up the Superlight package
will be available separately on
new bike orders. It is our
intention to simplify our product
offering (a process begun in
previous years) and to increase
the value that consumers receive from options such as the Superlight upgrade.
†
The exact final weights for the new parts will not be known until the production parts arrive and we conduct our annual re-weighing of the
product range.
New Non-Folding Pedal
The non-folding [NF] right-hand
pedal is another feature of our
bikes that has attracted some
criticism over the years. Seeking to
keep costs and weight down, we
used a hard plastic pedal that
suffered from wear and tear and
was aesthetically displeasing.
The existing NF pedal will be
replaced from January by a new
Brompton-designed
lightweight
aluminium pedal that offers
improved grip over the plastic
model, better durability and
integrated reflectors that will not
break off.
This new NF pedal will be fitted as
standard on all bikes. The weight is
the same as the plastic pedal it
replaces.
Other Changes
Two further changes will be introduced in January, though we await the arrival of production samples (hence the
absence of photographs).
Luggage
The Brompton’s luggage solution has been much-admired from the outset; so much so that competitors have sought to
offer their versions on our theme. However, the luggage itself (S Bag aside) has begun to look dated and overpriced. For
January, we are therefore:
a. Launching an updated cloth pannier with a more modern design, featuring a comfortable and stowable shoulder
strap and a practical 'courier bag' style flap closure; the general quality is also improved with better materials
and finish;
b. Offering our rain-proof cover free of charge with all our front luggage options.
S Type handlebar
The S Type bar length is being increased in response to feedback from riders; extra length will make the ride more
stable and allows the use of longer and more comfortable grips. By using special lightweight grips, the new longer bar
(with grips) is actually even lighter than the weight of the current bar (with grips).