Brompton Bicycle
| Brompton Bicycle Limited
|
|
|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Private Limited Company |
| founding | 3rd June 1976 |
| Seat | Brentford |
| management | Will Butler-Adams |
| Number of employees | about 180 |
| sales | about £ 21 million |
| Branch | Bicycle manufacturer |
| Website | www.brompton.co.uk |
| Last updated 2012 | |
Brompton Bicycle Limited (also Brompton Bikes ) is a company founded by Andrew Ritchie around 1980 in west London , England , which manufactures folding bikes of a certain type. The “Brompton Bikes”, which are produced in several variants in a manual process ( manufacture ), are internationally known for their relatively compact design, robustness and the three-stage folding process. With an annual production of around 45,000 bikes (2018), Brompton is the largest bicycle manufacturer in Great Britain.
The company's bikes have received numerous awards, including two Queen's Awards for Enterprise on April 21, 2010 in the categories of Innovation and International Trade. They are advertised as bicycles for the city because, when folded, they can be taken to the subway or restaurant, for example.
history
The company was founded by Andrew Ritchie, who had studied mechanical engineering and was working as a programmer when his father introduced him to someone in the mid-1970s who was looking for capital for British folding bike manufacturer Bickerton. In Andrew Ritchie's opinion, Bickerton's construction left a lot to be desired, whereupon he began to design himself and built a prototype with 100 pounds sterling each from 10 friends . Ritchie built this and other prototypes in his bedroom. The company is named after the Brompton Oratory , which Ritchie looked at from his apartment. In October 1979 he applied for a patent for his folding bike .
Ritchie offered bicycle manufacturers such as the Raleigh Cycle Company a license to no avail , but found 30 bicycle buyers in his community who paid in advance. He then made a first series of 50 copies, which he sold within 18 months. In the early 1980s, shareholders contributed £ 8,000 and Ritchie made 500 folding bikes in two years with a welder as the sole employee. Eventually the company received a guarantee for £ 40,000 and £ 50,000 on shares . In 2005 there were just under 100,000 Brompton folding bikes. In 2013, the market served by Brompton consisted of 45 countries from America to Asia.
technology
The difference between a Brompton and a more traditional folding bike like the Bickerton is that there is no joint in the middle of the bike frame , but close to the steering head , and that the drive unit consisting of the rear wheel, chain and chainring can be folded due to a suspension with a swing arm . This combination favors stability, comfort and pack size.
- Folding a Brompton
1.
Tail folded down
2.
Front folded down
3.
Handlebars folded down, seat post sunk
Products
The product range consists of a single product - the Brompton folding bike . The Brompton is currently the smallest folded bike on the market and is very popular with users. The frame shape and the folding mechanism have been built essentially unchanged for decades; However, details and equipment are constantly being changed, improved or replaced by new solutions.
The Brompton is available in various designs and configurations, some of which can be combined with one another. The main differences relate to the drive ( single-speed bicycle , Sturmey-Archer - gear hub , a 2-speed derailleur or a 6-speed manual transmission of a combination of hub or derailleur), the link type and the position, the lighting, and the frame material ( Steel or titanium). Brompton also sells matching accessories such as luggage and transport bags and, recently, an item of clothing; Brompton has all of these things produced by suppliers such as Radical Design or Ortlieb . His bicycle frame provides Brompton itself ago.
In August 2017 the Brompton Electric was presented, a pedelec folding bike with a front engine.
Events
There are annual races on Brompton folding bikes such as B. the Brompton World Championship (BWC), in which former competitive athletes often achieve astonishing speeds with an average of up to 36 km / h with only slightly modified Bromptons. There are also national championships, for example in Austria and Switzerland. The specialty is not only that only folding bikes from Brompton are permitted, but also in a dress code that obliges male drivers to wear a jacket and shirt with a tie or bow tie . In 2016, the first Brompton World Championships took place on German soil as part of the Velothon Berlin .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d WebCHeck . Companies House . Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ^ Brompton Bicycle: crafted for cult appeal . The Guardian . November 8, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ↑ a b The freewheeling success of a British bike brand in Asia . telegraph.co.uk . April 16, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ↑ a b House of Lords (ed.): Roads to Success: SME Exports . March 8, 2013, p. 83 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Another great year for the Queen's Awards for Enterprise . In: News Distribution Service . Central Office of Information. April 21, 2010. Archived from the original on May 2, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 23, 2010: "from enterprising small businesses with as few as three employees to household names such as ... bicycle manufacturer Brompton Bicycle Ltd."
- ↑ a b The bicycle that turned into folding money . In: The Observer . August 7, 2005. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ^ Folding bicycle . European Patent Office . Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ^ Brompton Bicycle . Avon Valley Cyclery. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 17, 2009: "The Brompton folding bicycle is for many the bench mark by which other folding bikes are judged."
- ^ Folding Bikes A Buyers' Guide Compiled by 'A to B' magazine . In: A to B magazine . The Folding Society. Retrieved on March 17, 2009: "Still the best compact folder on the market"
- ^ Matthew Tempest: The Brompton Folding Bicycle . In: The Guardian . December 4, 2002. Accessed December 15, 2010: “Overall score? 9/10 - only because perfection is not achievable on this earth. "
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Case Study Brompton Bicycle - London (PDF; 1.15 MB) Hexagon . 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ↑ brompton.com: Brompton Electric ; accessed on August 27, 2017
- ↑ radelmaedchen.de: The Brompton Electric - The first impression ; accessed on August 27, 2017
- ↑ Winners & results . Brompton Bicycle Limited. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ^ Brompton National Championships . Brompton Bicycle Limited. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ↑ Ackermann is the new U23 champion in Germany. In: Velomotion. June 19, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016 .
