Brompton Bicycle

As a Brompton owner, I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but it really exceeded any expectations I had had. As other reviewers have said, the author may have a bit of a pro-Brompton bias, but let's remember what the book is called. People who own Bromptons probably don't want to read about how wonderful the Bike Friday Tikit is and why they should buy it.The book has a surprising amount of hard data in it, beautifully accentuated by large photos on practically every single page. I do come from a scientific background, and some may find the technical data in the book to be a bit much, but I'd wager that if you don't care about the specs then you can just ignore that part of the writing and not lose that much of the crux of the book.The small section on maintenance should probably be supplemented with the Brompton's factory manual, but it's really helpful for advanced DIY servicing.Is this book for everyone? Probably not, but I think even non-Brompton owners could enjoy reading it; especially if they like bikes or stories of the most unlikely success. For being British, Ritchie had a distinctly American flavor to his story.

People who write about Bromptons seem to have one quality in common, unexpected for mechanically-oriented authors: they're decent writers. Even the Brompton owner's manual is clear and succinct, and Henshawe's combination of a history of the company and supplemental hints about managing a Brompton makes for useful and even enjoyable reading. Did you know, for example, that your partially-folded Brompton can be used as a seat while you're waiting for your train? Or that the most common mistake made in removing a rear wheel is taking out the set-screw in the chain tensioner? My only complaint is that neither book stands alone. Both assume that their readers are cult members, and know a quite a lot about Bromptons already. I bought Henshawe to get a more thorough treatment than the manual affords of procedures to repair and care for my new bike, but found that he doesn't bother to incorporate information from the manual. So, I need to have both books open when I do any work. Still, worth a Brompton owner's time.

This is a book about the history of Brompton. I’d prefer if it was more maintenance based. There’s a list of serial numbers at the back.

Lots of pages can be skipped to go to the latest additions. If you are buying this, don't bother with the early editions as this covers all upto 2020.

The book is really good. I was interested in purchasing a Brompton anyway and got this book to find out more about them. The book is excellent and really hardened my opinion that the Brompton was the way to go rather than other folding bikes.The book was smaller in size than I expected but the content is great and much more than I could find online about Brompton.I would really recommend it to anybody interested in Brompton bicycles.

Interesting read.

Very good read if you are into Brompton bikes.But is written in plain english.A good book to keep as a referance