Recent Purchases

Recently I’ve made some new purchases for the Brompton. Nothing to fancy or special but upgrades I believed were now required.

Cleats

I’d held off on getting cleats for the Brompton for about a year now - however, the wet weather of the winter was making me think that that they were a good idea. In the recent weather, my feet have been slipping all over the pedals - I hadn’t quite yet managed to have my feet come off, but it had been close. My big concern was that by moving to cleats I’d lost part of the charm of the Brompton which was to just pick it up and go so I thought long and hard about the upgrade. However, I ended up getting a pair of Shimano M424, a pedal I’d used successfully in the past on a commuter bike. They allowed me to use standard shoes when I wanted and cleats at the weekend. I’ll see how I get on with them on e Brompton as now my only concern is that I can’t remove the pedal easily. If they work ok, I’ll look into getting a more expensive set of pedals, such as the MKS EZY pedals which can be removed from the bike easily.

Shoes

With the purchase of the cleats, I needed to get some shoes - I found a pair of Shimano shoes on eBay cheap, that were in good condition second hand. I purchased these to go alongside my existing DHB shoes, mainly because these will let me get to the station and walk around better than my DHB shoes as these actually have a sole that you can walk out without sliding around (the DHB shoes have plastic soles).

Topeak Saddlebag

I’d explored a saddlebag option earlier, but I hadn’t got on with it. This was mainly down to the size. However, I was still exploring the option of a saddlebag for small items as I’d recently changed my baggage carrying for getting to work. I wanted a small saddlebag for the storage of knick knacks without taking my O bag with me. I settled for the Topeak as I’d used one before on my hybrid. So this time I got another, but smaller - it fits fine on the Brompton without effecting the fold. It allows me to store my keys and my phone when needed.