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Thirty years ago, a young engineer and cyclist named
Andrew Ritchie designed and built a prototype folding
bicycle in the back bedroom of his home overlooking
the Brompton Oratory in London. Little did Ritchie know
at the time, but 0 years on he’d be running Brompton
Bicycle Ltd, and overseeing production of 1 000 folding
bikes a year: a €7 50 000 turnover business.
For those who have never seen one of the company’s
small-wheeled marvels, the Brompton bicycle is one of
those brilliantly conceived and unrivalled step changes
in engineering design that comes along once in a blue
moon.
When the three frame parts are folded, it’s no bigger
than a small suitcase and can weigh as little as 9 kg. It
unfolds in 10 seconds, clicking into place with a rigid
precision that reveals why Brompton offers a five-year
warranty on its machines – all of which are still built in
the UK, at its Brentford factory.
“We are the last quantity bike manufacturer in
the country,” says company project manager, William
Butler-Adams. “In the past five years, our sector has
grown by 15 percent.”
Much of this growth is undoubtedly due to the
general increase in bike sales. Part of it is almost
certainly due to growing costs and restrictions for
motorists, especially in congested areas such as South
East England and central London. Prompted by the rail
companies, many Brompton users carry their bicycles
on the trains – assembling them at the station to
complete the last part of their daily commutes.
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