Brompton Electric Bike... Made by Brompton

Dave Y Fenni

Pedelecer
Dec 6, 2017
48
12
Y Fenni
My Volt Metro LS comes with a factory fit Abus frame lock and part of the deal a Abus chain adaptor to go with the lock.
But in the end if some low life wants your ride, it's gone!
 

Crossroads

Pedelecer
Apr 22, 2017
89
49
Geoff,

C H White & Sons are selling the Tern Vektron D8 (Bafang mid motor 400WH) at £1995, second reduction, Xmas / New Year only. I read somewhere that the D8 has 80NM torque. A UK dealer told me he preferred the D8 for this reason. The 2019 UK models now have a Bosch Active line Plus and are £2399.

The active Tern Vektron S10 Active Line got a good review on an American You Tube channel ,with reservations about the lowish torque levels on inclines.

(I only know this because I considered buying a Vektron about a month ago)
 

Jimo

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2018
256
94
86
Fakenham, Norfolk
Apart from its hefty price the Tern does look good, its square looking section would no doubt grow on one, didn’t see what MPC - mileage per charge is expected,.
At moment I’m looking for as many ‘bells & whistles’ as I can find to detract the thieving sods.

Jim
 

lemmy

Esteemed Pedelecer
I hope they will have resolved the problems by then. If not I may well go for the Tern Vektron but they are even more money than the Brompton!
I have an electric Brompton with what seems to be a problem. It will sometimes show two battery charge LEDs, numbers 2 and 5. These will flash on and off and the bike loses power. This can occur whatever the state of the battery. It's not a matter of bad contacts. I fond the problem was ameliorated if I made sure to switch the battery off before removing but then it started happening again.

I am also finding that sometimes the bike sails along but at others seems to have less assistance. Does any of this mirror your problem?
 
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BigG

Pedelecer
Oct 5, 2016
122
53
72
Co Durham
I have an electric Brompton with what seems to be a problem. It will sometimes show two battery charge LEDs, numbers 2 and 5. These will flash on and off and the bike loses power. This can occur whatever the state of the battery. It's not a matter of bad contacts. I fond the problem was ameliorated if I made sure to switch the battery off before removing but then it started happening again.

I am also finding that sometimes the bike sails along but at others seems to have less assistance. Does any of this mirror your problem?
Hi Lemmy,
the same signals.. 2 & 5 flash, then the power goes off completely, then restarts. Sending you a P.M.
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
Big G, your report on your Brompton was interesting particularly as I have a Brompton cycle bought at least 18 years ago from Brompton themselves when in a railway arch, its standard plus accessories that were available then and I’ve done about 6 miles in total on it so its near new (almost), I bought a Powrbyke about 16 years ago, in fact two - one for the wife, but she didn’t get on with it so both bikes have been stored for most of the time until I gave wife’s bike to a friend in Belgium last year, a thing that annoyed me with the Powrbykes is their spoke lacing being really out of wack - pretty well standard with Chinese manufacture. With main interests being motorcycles and large scooters I retained an interest in e-bikes and in particular the Batribike Quartz folder - a beautiful piece of real craftsmanship, for years it was impractical to store any more ‘toys’ until recently when one such came up on fleabay so I snapped it up pdq, but with the weather being so damned wet and cold I just sit and admire it until warmer weather arrives. My wife being a slightly built person finds even the Quartz a problem for her but an answer came - again from fleabay when I found a good example of a Batribike Trike20 up for auction....I bought it and look forward to its delivery on Christmas eve, another masterpiece of engineering with its swivelling / lockable frame. So an idea of converting the Brompton into an e-bike has been kicked into touch for the time being.

Jim
I just bought a Brompton ebike and had to return it for repair after a week. Basically, the front hub once warm made load clunking noises. The problems with lights blinking I did not have. I did about 50-60 miles and was quite happy. As there is no app I couldn't read out anything. They also won't support Android, but this doesn't bother me too much.
The ride I found very pleasant, I did not have problems with the front wheel slipping, and liked the overall behavor. I am not too fond of the bag in the front, it is not pretty but has the advantage that one can charge it inside.
I hope there aren't lots of unresolved probems with this ebike. I have a 30day return at Evans.
 

BigG

Pedelecer
Oct 5, 2016
122
53
72
Co Durham
I just bought a Brompton ebike and had to return it for repair after a week. Basically, the front hub once warm made load clunking noises. The problems with lights blinking I did not have. I did about 50-60 miles and was quite happy. As there is no app I couldn't read out anything. They also won't support Android, but this doesn't bother me too much.
The ride I found very pleasant, I did not have problems with the front wheel slipping, and liked the overall behavor. I am not too fond of the bag in the front, it is not pretty but has the advantage that one can charge it inside.
I hope there aren't lots of unresolved probems with this ebike. I have a 30day return at Evans.
I hope the motor repair is a success. I still rate Brompton as a brand ( I love my Apple Green H6R) but feel that perhaps the elec version might have been launched a little too early due to “consumer pressure”. The demo bike I tested originally rode perfectly, so hopefully I just got one with components from a bad batch and it was one of just a few with problems.
My bike was one of the early ones when you paid £200 to go on the waiting list and when it was built it had to go to your local dealer for handover. I think you can now buy from a retailer so I might leave it until the spring, visit the dealer, and if they have one in stock, test ride it and buy it if it’s a goodun !
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I hope the motor repair is a success. I still rate Brompton as a brand ( I love my Apple Green H6R) but feel that perhaps the elec version might have been launched a little too early due to “consumer pressure”. The demo bike I tested originally rode perfectly, so hopefully I just got one with components from a bad batch and it was one of just a few with problems.
My bike was one of the early ones when you paid £200 to go on the waiting list and when it was built it had to go to your local dealer for handover. I think you can now buy from a retailer so I might leave it until the spring, visit the dealer, and if they have one in stock, test ride it and buy it if it’s a goodun !
I went to a local dealer and had my test ride. But after problems occured, a few days after I had it, I also emailed Brompton directly and they responded swiftly. I just hope that there is not a design flaw. They want to solve these initial problems fast to have happy customers.
The ride is very good indeed. One small issue I discovered is that the torque sensor responds to the left pedal - not ideal to start off from a traffic light when you are right handed.
For me the second choice would probably have been a gocycle, but I prefer a proper folding solution, especially as the gocycle's weight is not much less despite all the magnesium.
 

oldgroaner

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2015
23,457
32,608
79
I have had a Brompton from 2004 and three years ago had it converted to an Ebike by the Electric Transport Shop in york
It has only a very simple throttle control and folding the bike means detaching the motor battery and contol leads, which eventually will wear them out, though to be fair they are still OK after 10K plus miles and frequent folding.
The Up side is that it performs very well and has about a thirty mile range even in hilly terrain, here is a short blog post I made on it early on
"
The bike is actually a little slower than the Viking Eco Stepper, topping out at 15MPH, and its a LOT noisier too,setting off on just throttle makes it growl and sound distressed, as does applying too much throttle at low speeds.
On the credit side I can't fault the hill climbing power, as it can handle any hill less than 25% (with some pedal assistance) and I have even managed the climb out of Robin Hood's Bay that has a short section of 25%, so in that sense I am well pleased with it.
Gale force winds don't bother it and me either, and my only concerns are for the noise level from the motor (though I was told at the free service that it was fine) and how many times I can unplug and re-connect the Motor, throttle and display before the connectors fail.
You have to do this of course every time to fold the Brompton and put it in the car boot
Still it has a years guarantee, so we shall see. Already I have covered over 600 miles and it seems to go very well.
Here it is on the entrance to the swing bridge in Whitby harbour


Our Caravanning site is at the top of a 5 mile hill out of Whitby that I would have had no chance of riding up without the conversion fitted!

There is a serious flaw with the Brompton in the Braking department, you must be extremely careful when descending major hills and the small wheels have a dangerous tendency to severe overheating to the point of tyre sidewall failure.
keep speed down on long downgrades, stop frequently and feel the tyre temperature with your hands, is the best thing t do

Here is an example of what can happen

Another view I always meant to take, and now have
The problem of course is you can't stop your car on the hill to take in this magnificent view down Lythe Bank onto Sandsend.
However, if you pedal up the hill on an EBike as this foolish old man who should have more sense did, you can coast back down the footpath from the village to St Oswalds Church at the top of the hill, and stop where you like to take a photo!
And the fun doesn't end there, you coast down the hill with brakes getting hotter and hotter and on the last bend at the steepest bit into the village, the footpath disappears into the bank, and just to add a bit of interest, the front brake cable clamping nut chose this precise moment to lose some of it's grip, so the brake lever just about reached the handlebar before having any effect, so I had to to choose either dropping about a foot onto a busy road, with only partially operating brakes on a steep hill, or turning up onto the grassy bank in the hope of gravity stopping me.
As it happens it did and I slid gracefully and slowly down onto the yard of the old Railway Station.
The tyres were alost too hot to touch!
After adjustment the brake was fully restored and I coasted down to the bottom of the hill safely.
Obviously when repairing a puncture I cant have tightened the nut enough,
And I recalled the wise words of my father as he so often said to me
"Nothing is Foolproof to the Talented Fool"
One of these days my tombstone will read "It was the way he wanted to go!"
Remember if you haven't grown up by the time you are 70, you don't have to.
And here is the view that made it worthwhile.


Having said all that it is great fun and I wouldn't be without it and the EBike conversion.
And it has done nearly 10,000 miles since I wrote the above on the same battery
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I have had a Brompton from 2004 and three years ago had it converted to an Ebike by the Electric Transport Shop in york
It has only a very simple throttle control and folding the bike means detaching the motor battery and contol leads, which eventually will wear them out, though to be fair they are still OK after 10K plus miles and frequent folding.
The Up side is that it performs very well and has about a thirty mile range even in hilly terrain, here is a short blog post I made on it early on
"
The bike is actually a little slower than the Viking Eco Stepper, topping out at 15MPH, and its a LOT noisier too,setting off on just throttle makes it growl and sound distressed, as does applying too much throttle at low speeds.
On the credit side I can't fault the hill climbing power, as it can handle any hill less than 25% (with some pedal assistance) and I have even managed the climb out of Robin Hood's Bay that has a short section of 25%, so in that sense I am well pleased with it.
Gale force winds don't bother it and me either, and my only concerns are for the noise level from the motor (though I was told at the free service that it was fine) and how many times I can unplug and re-connect the Motor, throttle and display before the connectors fail.
You have to do this of course every time to fold the Brompton and put it in the car boot
Still it has a years guarantee, so we shall see. Already I have covered over 600 miles and it seems to go very well.
Here it is on the entrance to the swing bridge in Whitby harbour


Our Caravanning site is at the top of a 5 mile hill out of Whitby that I would have had no chance of riding up without the conversion fitted!

There is a serious flaw with the Brompton in the Braking department, you must be extremely careful when descending major hills and the small wheels have a dangerous tendency to severe overheating to the point of tyre sidewall failure.
keep speed down on long downgrades, stop frequently and feel the tyre temperature with your hands, is the best thing t do

Here is an example of what can happen

Another view I always meant to take, and now have
The problem of course is you can't stop your car on the hill to take in this magnificent view down Lythe Bank onto Sandsend.
However, if you pedal up the hill on an EBike as this foolish old man who should have more sense did, you can coast back down the footpath from the village to St Oswalds Church at the top of the hill, and stop where you like to take a photo!
And the fun doesn't end there, you coast down the hill with brakes getting hotter and hotter and on the last bend at the steepest bit into the village, the footpath disappears into the bank, and just to add a bit of interest, the front brake cable clamping nut chose this precise moment to lose some of it's grip, so the brake lever just about reached the handlebar before having any effect, so I had to to choose either dropping about a foot onto a busy road, with only partially operating brakes on a steep hill, or turning up onto the grassy bank in the hope of gravity stopping me.
As it happens it did and I slid gracefully and slowly down onto the yard of the old Railway Station.
The tyres were alost too hot to touch!
After adjustment the brake was fully restored and I coasted down to the bottom of the hill safely.
Obviously when repairing a puncture I cant have tightened the nut enough,
And I recalled the wise words of my father as he so often said to me
"Nothing is Foolproof to the Talented Fool"
One of these days my tombstone will read "It was the way he wanted to go!"
Remember if you haven't grown up by the time you are 70, you don't have to.
And here is the view that made it worthwhile.


Having said all that it is great fun and I wouldn't be without it and the EBike conversion.
And it has done nearly 10,000 miles since I wrote the above on the same battery
The Brompton brakes got much better since 2004 and you can retrofit the new brakes easily. As on all rim brakes you have to mount your wheel properly.
 

Jimo

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2018
256
94
86
Fakenham, Norfolk
Wow! 10,000 miles on a Brompton, good going - and on the same battery....

Jim
 
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Electric Transport Shop

Official Trade Member
Aug 7, 2010
156
57
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uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I bought the Brompton native ebike and love it. Don't know why some pople here were negative about it. What's missing is a phone app for the techies. And to make it worse they say IOs only, I never had an apple phone. But the ride is excellent, it really works.

Are there other users of this ebike? I would be interested how to hack their bluetooth interface :)
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I hope the motor repair is a success. I still rate Brompton as a brand ( I love my Apple Green H6R) but feel that perhaps the elec version might have been launched a little too early due to “consumer pressure”. The demo bike I tested originally rode perfectly, so hopefully I just got one with components from a bad batch and it was one of just a few with problems.
My bike was one of the early ones when you paid £200 to go on the waiting list and when it was built it had to go to your local dealer for handover. I think you can now buy from a retailer so I might leave it until the spring, visit the dealer, and if they have one in stock, test ride it and buy it if it’s a goodun !
I got a replacement which I now had for a few weeks and after cycling every day I am impressed. Very smooth action, it senses torque, cadence, and if the front wheel slips. It is immediately gone when I brake, without a sensor at the bake cable. All this is designed really well. I lke that small removable battery, it charges quickly with the standard charger.
My only criticism now is that they don't have an app out - they announced an iOS app, but I would need Android. They could improve by letting users create their own power profiles (adjust muscle vs electic torque), but this would probably only appeal to a subset of very geeky users.
It would be interersting to try one of these after-market electric systems. I think they will struggle unless they go much cheaper. Once you have tasted seemlessly integrated torque, cadence and wheel slip sensing you don't want to change.
 

BigG

Pedelecer
Oct 5, 2016
122
53
72
Co Durham
I think my Brompton must have been from a bad batch.. I’m willing to try again, especially as you can now buy from a dealer. When the weather improves and the frosts and white stuff goes, I will order myself another electric Brompton and put my Lime Green H6R up for sale.
Hopefully the iOS app will be available by the time I order mine as I think it will be very useful for tracking distances etc.
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I now had the firmware updated from 1.0.0 to 1.0.2. When they update the firmware it shows them how many km you have done (360 in my case) and how many on each of the 3 modes. The update makes the bicycle much more responsive, probably by lowering the torque threshold. One can immediately feel the difference, there is a clear improvement. The update screen I saw in the workshop shows how the electronics checks all components, the battery, the controller, the motor and the torque sensor - nicely done. This is not just an add-on motor, it really fells like a well integrated system. If they ever get an Android app I will be completely satisfied.

I don't particularly like that the updates can only be done by selected dealers. They can charge whatever they want and this kills all competition. In the EU this practice is strictly also illegal, although I doubt that anyone will fight this in the case of a bicycle manufacturer.
 

BigG

Pedelecer
Oct 5, 2016
122
53
72
Co Durham
I now had the firmware updated from 1.0.0 to 1.0.2. When they update the firmware it shows them how many km you have done (360 in my case) and how many on each of the 3 modes. The update makes the bicycle much more responsive, probably by lowering the torque threshold. One can immediately feel the difference, there is a clear improvement. The update screen I saw in the workshop shows how the electronics checks all components, the battery, the controller, the motor and the torque sensor - nicely done. This is not just an add-on motor, it really fells like a well integrated system. If they ever get an Android app I will be completely satisfied.

I don't particularly like that the updates can only be done by selected dealers. They can charge whatever they want and this kills all competition. In the EU this practice is strictly also illegal, although I doubt that anyone will fight this in the case of a bicycle manufacturer.
I find your comments after the software updates very interesting.
You comment about the update probably “lowering the torque threshold”. Sorry but I’m having a grey moment...... do you mean the torque comes in lower which will give more power available for a hill start? The one I had did make me push the bike up the steep hill as I couldn’t restart!
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I find your comments after the software updates very interesting.
You comment about the update probably “lowering the torque threshold”. Sorry but I’m having a grey moment...... do you mean the torque comes in lower which will give more power available for a hill start? The one I had did make me push the bike up the steep hill as I couldn’t restart!
The motor comes in when there is torque on the pedals (mainly the left pedal), and power by the motor is adjusted to match torque from the pedal. More torque on the pedal = higher power from the motor. With the firmware update the motor kicks in at lower torque from the pedal.

Uphill always worked for me, but there was this strange behavior where power was suddenly reduced when I gave a lot of torque. Thias had been seen by others as wel. Not any more after the firmware update. Now they have it right for my taste.
 
Last edited:
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lemmy

Esteemed Pedelecer
I earlier on reported on problems with my Brompton Electric with cut outs and anomalies in power delivery that developed a while after I bought it. I took the bike in to Brompton Junction in Covent Garden and they upgraded the firmware. That was a month ago. It has transformed the bike. Power delivery is predictable and smooth, no pulsing or sudden surge/ shut off.

It's now the bike I hoped I was buying and I've been taking it out just for the pleasure of riding it. It'll climb Broomfield Hill in Richmond Park, a hill used by many cyclists as a test classic steep hill , in 2nd gear, low cog. now.

All in all, I'm very happy. The people in Covent Garden are unfailingly friendly and helpful. It's just annoying that Brompton, after all that testing, didn't get it right first time.
 

uguntde

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jan 5, 2019
9
2
I earlier on reported on problems with my Brompton Electric with cut outs and anomalies in power delivery that developed a while after I bought it. I took the bike in to Brompton Junction in Covent Garden and they upgraded the firmware. That was a month ago. It has transformed the bike. Power delivery is predictable and smooth, no pulsing or sudden surge/ shut off.

It's now the bike I hoped I was buying and I've been taking it out just for the pleasure of riding it. It'll climb Broomfield Hill in Richmond Park, a hill used by many cyclists as a test classic steep hill , in 2nd gear, low cog. now.

All in all, I'm very happy. The people in Covent Garden are unfailingly friendly and helpful. It's just annoying that Brompton, after all that testing, didn't get it right first time.
I had the same experience. DO you know which firmware level you have now?
 

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