Brompton bicycles have no better marketing team than the people who ride their bikes. If you’ve shopped for a Brompton and live in Canada or the USA, you have almost certainly landed on Heather and Pier’s Bromptoning website. And, chances are good you’ve been inspired! Heather and Pier are a living testimony to all the ways a Brompton makes your life awesome. Besides riding to work, their Bromptons have been packed onto trains and planes for multi-day trips, including Quebec’s P’Tit Train Du Nord, and long rides in Europe, Cuba and the USA. Their website is full of real life experiences, great pieces of advice, and buckets of inspiration. So, drum roll please… the Bromptoning Interview!
Heather, Pier – Tell Us What You Do!
Heather writes video games for a living! She also coaches trampoline at TMU. And she loves living in Toronto, despite its struggles, because she can actually get around by bike and doesn’t need a car. (Heather grew up in car-dependent rural Ontario and HATED it.)
Pier was born and raised in Toronto with a disdain for cars. Working as a bike courier in the early 2000s solidified his opinion that biking is the best way to get around the city. After bouncing around through different careers (audio engineer, eyewear salesman, website designer) he has found himself in an executive position at a Toronto tech company.
You Own a Strida Folding Bike, How Does Your Brompton Compare?
It’s very much a whole story about finding the perfect winter bike…
The first time I (Heather) cycled through a Toronto winter, the cheap steel bike I was riding disintegrated into rust. So I went to a local bike shop that recommended I get a bike with an aluminum frame. So I did – it was a Kona mountain bike. That solved the rusty frame problem, but I still had to deal with a rusty salt-and-grit-filled chain. That led me to purchase my first bike with a carbon fiber belt drive way back in 2014 when hardly any bikes had belt drives. I special ordered a Breezer and the rusty chain problem was eliminated. But since I’d been riding a Brompton for a couple years by that point, the Breezer felt HUGE and less maneuverable in the city, and I came to the realization that I didn’t love riding big-tired bikes anymore.
Then on Instagram, I saw a folding bike (small 18” tires) with an aluminum frame and a belt drive – the Strida. So I purchased one secondhand through Strida Canada (which is no longer open because the owner retired). It’s a good little bike – cute and funny-looking, which makes it a great conversation starter – but there’s a small space in the 3-speed gearbox that snow gets packed into. The result? The Strida is great for slushy, salty conditions, but if it’s cold and there’s a lot of snow, the Strida freezes up and becomes unrideable…
You Own a Tern Folding Bike, How Does Your Brompton Compare?
…Which brings me to the Tern. My search for another bike with small wheels, an aluminum frame, and a belt drive resulted in only one option in Canada – the Tern Verge S8i. Is the Tern everything I want in a folding bike? No, but it’s everything I need in a winter bike. And it was literally my only option. Why isn’t the Brompton my winter bike? Because it’s steel. I don’t have the space or time to wash salt off it after every ride. So that’s the story of why I have 3 folding bikes!
As for how I’d compare my Brompton to my Tern… The short answer is I wouldn’t compare them as folding bikes. It’s not a fair comparison. The Tern’s fold is huge and useless, which means I never fold it. The Brompton’s fold is unarguably superior – it’s so much smaller and more functionable (eg. it rolls when folded) – and as a result, I fold and unfold the Brompton all the time. The fold is part of the Brompton’s functionality, whereas the Tern might as well not fold at all! However, the Tern is a practical winter commuter bike.
Why Does Brompton Inspire Such a Community?
For Tern’s folding bikes, I don’t think the same community exists because their fold is generic. Lots of other folding bikes (Dahon, Zizzo, Tilt, etc.) fold the exact same way. I think Brompton warrants so much community love because the fold is unique and, frankly, better than any other folding bike.
What’s It Like Touring On A Brompton?
Full disclosure – we’ve never gone on a trip with regular touring bikes. The year before we bought our Bromptons, we did a group tour in Italy on big-tire bikes, but that wasn’t really touring since there was a van that drove our luggage to the next destination. When we decided to embark on our first self-supported bike tour, we jumped straight onto Bromptons! Why? Because they were the easiest bikes to put on an airplane. Fold → put in bag → unfold → ride. So much simpler than disassembling, boxing, and reassembling a touring bike at the airport. Plus, the Bromptons gave us freedom to take buses or trains, no special tickets or luggage arrangements needed. So the experience of touring on a Brompton is really simple and quite liberating!
Having Ridden The New G-Line, What Do You Think Its Touring Potential Is?
The core advantage of the G Line is the bigger tires for handling bumpy, rough terrain. Those would have been nice on some of the backroads in Cuba, and on a horrendously rocky shortcut “road” we took in Mexico.
OK, Where Are All The Places You’ve Taken Your Bromptons?
Places we’ve traveled with our Bromptons:
- Cuba – Havana to Vinales and back to Varadero.
- Mexico – Cancun, Merida, and other towns on the Yucatan Peninsula.
- USA – Washington, DC (for the Brompton US Championships)
- USA – Chicago, Illinois
- The Netherlands – Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Rotterdam
- Belgium – Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels
- France – Paris
- USA – Hawaii (The Big Island)
- Canada – Montreal, Mont Tremblant (via Le P’tit Train du Nord), Quebec City
- USA – New York City
Check out the Bromptoning Website to check out all their adventures!
Where’s The Best Place You’ve Travelled With Your Bromptons?
It’s a tie, for two completely different reasons.
Cuba – When we traveled there in 2013, you couldn’t rent bikes anywhere, so bringing your own bike was the only way to tour Cuba, unless you paid a lot of money for the one guided tour available. So the Bromptons allowed us to see parts of rural Cuba that we’d never otherwise have been able to reach. Plus, everyone was fascinated by our weird little bikes!
The Netherlands – This truly is a cycling paradise. Smooth paths and bicycle highways literally go everywhere! And so do trains. The Bromptons made multimodal travel so easy!
What’s It Like To Fly With A Brompton?
The Brompton is a couple inches too big to be considered carry-on luggage for most airlines, so we always check the bikes as regular luggage. We’ve been using Brompton’s original soft case since we got the bikes. Heather recently upgraded to the NEW soft case with 4 wheels – luxury!
Before flying, we deflate the tires a bit and remove the hinges so they don’t get bent. When using the old soft cases, we also reinforce the sides with cardboard. The new soft case already has some reinforcement, so the cardboard isn’t necessary. Though it’s still best to stuff some bags of clothes into the spaces in the bag, just to add some cushioning when the baggage workers inevitably drop them, something we’ve witnessed more than a couple times. Miraculously, except for some scratches and a bent back rack, the Bromptons have been fine.
When traveling on Air Canada or Porter Airlines, we’ve had no problems checking the Bromptons as regular luggage, though they do have us bring them to the Oversized area, but there’s no extra charge. We encountered pushback once on a flight with WestJet a few years ago (they wanted to charge us the bike fee even though the Bromptons in their bags are well within the size and weight limit for regular luggage), so we avoid flying WestJet now.
Tell Us About The Brompton World Championship You Started!
That was in 2021 [during Covid], when Brompton put their Championship Challenge online and people from all over the world could enter. For our part, we organized a ride around Toronto and encouraged people to enter Brompton’s photo challenge, but we didn’t do any of the other challenges (like the fastest fold), mainly because we didn’t want to have to organize all that. We much prefer to be participants, rather than event organizers, but sometimes we step into the role of “ride planners” when we want the excuse to get a bunch of our fellow Bromptoneers together.
Do You Name Your Bikes?
Heather’s Brompton is “Primo and Pier’s is “Secondo” for a couple reasons:
- Primo came off the assembly line first; her serial number is one before Secondo’s.
- Italian names because this is how we jokingly referred to our rented tour bikes on our first ever trip in Italy.
- Named after the two brothers from the movie Big Night.
But mostly, we just call them our “Brommies”.
What Kind Of Questions Were You Asking When You Bought Your Bromptons?
The first Brompton we ever saw was a friend’s bike – she’d got it on sale and hadn’t specifically been looking for a folding bike. Back then, Bromptons were so uncommon and unknown that she’d actually lock it outside! Thieves didn’t realize it was a great bike with a high resale value. Her Brompton was the only one we’d ever seen before we walked into Curbside and ordered our Bromptons from YOU, Eric! [Eric was the CEO of Curbside Cycle until he started Pedaal with his partner-in-crime, Timm Harding]
The questions we had were answered by the extremely detailed Brompton sales booklet you gave us, which listed all the options – gears, handlebars, seat, lights, colour, fenders, rack, suspension block, bags, everything! We were most concerned about speed and spent a lot of time using the gear chart to determine how fast the Bromptons would be compared to a mountain bike (answer: faster!) or our road bikes (answer: equal, if we got the 54t chainring, which we did). We honestly never asked ourselves if the Brompton was up to the task of touring. We figured as long as it went fast and had durable tires and carried bags, it would do the job. And it absolutely does!
You Lead Several Rides Around Town, Tell Us About Them!
Pedal & Park Picnic started with the desire to get out and decompress at the end of the week. Every Friday evening, we’d seek a new park and takeout restaurant combo. After learning about the importance of a third place (a meeting place outside of home and work), we decided to make it an open invitation. The location changes every week and it’s open to anyone, regardless of their transportation method, though most people arrive on two wheels. Femmes & Friends is a group Heather is part of that was formed by Allison Stewart, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy at Cycle Toronto, to support women who cycle and those who may want to cycle but haven’t felt that there’s a place for them in the cycling community.
Any Future Travel Plans With Your Bromptons?
We’re heading back to Montreal this summer for the Go Bike Festival. It’ll be our third time riding in Tour La Nuit and Tour d’Íle, and our group of Bromptoneers participating will be the biggest yet!
The dream trip… It’s hard to pick just one, but let’s say Japan. We’d love to combine our Bromptons with their high-speed trains and meet up with the very active Brompton community over there.
Ok, honestly how was the Brompton G-Line on a pump track?
I (Pier) am almost exclusively a utilitarian rider. A to B, city roads, etc. It’s been a long time since I did a recreational off-road ride. Honestly, it was super fun! The G line in general had me steering towards obstacles that I would generally avoid on my regular Brompton. I had full confidence in the brakes and the shifting was super responsive which is great (and needed). Because of the smaller tires, the clearance was a little short and the chainring ate some grass, but overall it reminded me that biking can be very fun and I felt like a kid again! The bike is solid and it fills you with the confidence to take on more rough and challenging terrain.
