John1054 wrote:I'm so glad that I bought my Brompton from Ben at Kinetics. He's worth more than any potential discount at Halfords
While Ben's core business appears to revolve significantly around Bromptons, he actually lost his formal Brompton dealership years ago, and Kinetics isn't a place you go to buy a stock Brommie any more (mine dates from the turn of the century when you could do that, Bromptons and Bromtopton dealers were a rarity and when the shop was more like a, umm, shop, as opposed to a metalwork shop in a light industrial unit as it is now). What you can get there is any amount of custom fettling, and you don't need to be a Brompton dealer to do that, you need to know how to modify stuff.
If all you want is an M3L in one of Brompton's standard colours I don't see why wouldn't save a few quid if you could. If, a few years down the line, it turns out you'd like an 8-14 speed hub, disc brakes,an elegant shade of something different and quite possibly retractable hydrofoils then Ben's your man, wherever the base bike came from.
He rebuilt and repainted mine last year, good as a new one for less than half the price, plus it's still my original Brom with its soul still there, but if I had just replaced it there'd be no particular reason not just to tick boxes online. I know the bike and I know what I want and there'd be little added value from a dealer.
Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
