Folding bikes are cool - it's official

On Sat October 2 that source of all things trendy, the Wall Street Journal, ran an article called The Folding Bike Goes Cool. Reporter Michael Hsu wrote a light piece identifying the Montague Crosstown, the Puma Pico, the Citizen Bike Barcelona, the Dahon Smooth Hound and the Freeman Transport Gravel Racer as "cool."

Strangely, although he mentioned Bromptons as being the iconic classic, he didn't include them in the piece. I wonder why? Perhaps he considered them in the class of clownish bikes, as "having tiny wheels [which] can make the bike's handling disconcertingly hyper-responsive."

Heavens no! My Brompton only has 6 gears, which is the most they sell. Their other models only have 2 or 3 gears, which are fine for riding in flat cities, but watch out for any hills. I'm still getting the hang of riding with only 6 gears after being used to having a triple ring on my full sized bikes. But they seem spaced OK for me.

Or perhaps he thinks they're not for sale in the USA. Not so. My local Brompton dealer is called Electric Bikes and is in my neighborhood of Ballard. There are others.

And compared to a Montague, which seems to be built like a tank, it's like chalk and cheese having these two in the same set of transportation options. I have friends with older Montague's and they do seem to handle like military vehicles.

Bromptons seem to induce passion in their owners. There's a gallery of interesting photos uploaded by Brompton owners on the company's website that show the little bikes in various interesting locations.

I've been studying these photographs because I plan to take William the Conqueror, my Brompton touring bike on a 7-week tour in New Zealand in January 2011. I want to test out its touring credentials. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to load the bike so I can carry my touring gear. It seems primarily used as an urban bike, so my little experiment is presenting some interesting challenges.