Cycling UK Forum

Brompton have introduced a new model that is quite a bit cheaper than their other models - £745 as opposed to over £1000 for their other models. I think this is to take advantage of the Cycle toWork Scheme market. It doesn’t have mudguards but is anything else that would be considered essential missing?

It doesn't have the folding pedal, which costs £35. Still seems a good deal, though.

Had I known it... I paid for the folding pedal just to replace it with an SPD

Surprisingly it does have a 3 speed gear hub, so not completely basic.

I find this model strange. I thought Brompton tried to keep prices standard with no discounts.

With slow internet, I find it hard to navigate the Brompton website and price the components. Nonetheless, I would have thought that you could buy a B75, then add a couple of things like mudguards, folding pedal and get a well specced bike far cheaper than the standard price. Maybe even an opportunity for a business to upgrade these cheap(er) bikes.

I wonder what people who bought full price bikes feel about this?

I like the bit in the Ad'
" if I need to get to a meet quick I can fold it up and put it in the back of the car,"

To upgrade this to the current spec. of the M3L, you would need to add the following:
Mudguards and stays £60, Folding pedal £35, Front luggage carrier block £15, total £110. Added to the £745 cost of the B75 this totals £855, £160 less than the current M3L.

There B75 does have a few other minor differences, however:

It has the old style ‘M’ handlebars and handle post. The old style ‘M’ bars are a deeper M shape and are more prone to flex.

There is no choice of seat post, the extended seat post supplied gives a slightly less compact fold.

The tyres do not have reflective tape.

The saddle is not the current model so not compatible with Brompton’s Cateye Mini rear light, which clips under the saddle. However, you can attach a standard Cateye mini to the extended seat post without compromising the fold. Also, you may want to spend some of the £160 you have saved on a new saddle. As saving money is the point of this model I’d suggest a reasonably priced leather one from Spa Cycles.

It comes with –12% lower gearing. I can only see this as a benefit unless you live somewhere very flat as the standard gearing is far too high, IMHO. I’m sure very few of us ride bikes with a lowest gear of 49”, which is equivalent to 42/24 on a bike with 700c wheels – most road bikes with a compact chainset would have a lower bottom gear.

Arguably the unique ‘water blue’ frame colour gives the B75 the cachet of a limited edition.

Not only will the price of the B75 give pause to though for those who have recently paid full price for a three speed Brompton, it will also affect the second-hand price achievable for those with a recent model to sell. That said, I wouldn’t expect the B75 to have an extended production run as it appears to make use of superseded components.

It’s basically a limited run of bikes using old components.

One of the reasons I bought a new Brompton last year was to get the new components, in particular the new shifters. I don’t think it will impact negatively on second hand values of recent models but it may on older ones.

The reason for the B75 is simple: lower price and taking advantage of the upgrades that can be done on a later stage.
I cannot think of anything of the current components that cannot be retrofitted on a modern Brompton frame.
Since is a long-lasting bike that users will keep for long, it makes sense to invest in a bike that can be upgraded during its lifespan.

Heavily promoted in the local Cycle Republic (Halfords) front window. Coincidence?
I was surprised to learn that around a third of their bike sales were on Cycle to Work vouchers, it makes a lot of sense to have a Brompton available under that limit.

cycleruk wrote:I like the bit in the Ad'
" if I need to get to a meet quick I can fold it up and put it in the back of the car,"

I don't see why multi model transport gets the rolling eyes. For many of us it's often a sensible option and having a bike you can take with you is sometimes the only way to make that possible. The adverts I've seen say "Uber" not "car" a minor point, but sticking my folder in a taxi from time to time has been one of the things that's enabled me to remain car free for two decades.