Brompton G Line overview: It’s higher in so some ways, however I can’t work out what it’s for

I’ve reviewed a few Bromptons in my tenure right here at Cyclingnews. The titanium enriched P Line left me scratching my head as a result of I couldn’t fathom why you’d pay that rather more for a little bit of weight saving on a commuter bike, plus there have been reliability points with the transmission. The Electrical P Line was extra pleasurable, although the facility supply left just a little to be desired.

The brand new G Line is a wholly completely different beast and a extremely fairly drastic departure for the model. Gone are the 16’ wheels in favour of bigger, extra off-road succesful 20’ wheels with correct tubeless gravel tyres – Schwalbe G-One Allround no much less, a really succesful gravel tyre from my checklist of one of the best gravel tyres.

I’ve ridden the G Line to work, I’ve taken it to the health club, and I’ve bashed in regards to the woods on it, and whereas it’s succesful, snug, and higher in so some ways I’ve been attempting and failing the entire time to work out who this bike is for. I even requested a buddy who’s genuinely pondering of shopping for one to see if I’m just a few out-of-touch aero service provider.

I’m afraid the lengthy and the in need of it’s that it’s a greater bike than any of the traditional Bromptons. The dealing with and braking are higher, the experience high quality is way improved and it appears to be like fairly cool too. Nevertheless, it’s worse at being a foldable, simply transportable bike and whereas it’s higher at being a gravel bike it isn’t actually good at being a gravel bike. 

Design and aesthetics

Greater, burlier, and heavier. I do really assume it’s by a way the good Brompton of the lot, or at the least of the traditional ones. The titanium T Line has a form of ‘if you recognize, you recognize’ appeal, however the G Line is simply higher wanting. The curved high tube blends into the curved brace in a satisfying method and the burly aluminium forks aren’t dwarfed by the very chunky tyres. I’m not a fan a lot of closely matte paint, and whereas the textured look means muck will persist with it a lot extra simply it does look good I’ll admit. 

The tyres are actually fairly giant: 54mm to be precise, and tubeless succesful. The 20” wheel measurement is way extra widespread, and must you want to use this bike solely on tarmac you’ll be able to simply decide up all method of excessive quantity slicks from the world of BMX. The pedals, too, are greater. One of many largest downsides of the traditional Bromptons was the diminutive platform your ft had. Not a lot of a difficulty right here, and whereas they aren’t a patch on one of the best gravel pedals for correct off street driving, they do the job admirably sufficient contemplating the commuting designs of the machine. Curiously, as a substitute of folding away as on the 16” Bromptons, the pedal that stands out when the bike is furled up is detachable, and slots right into a socket within the steerer tube. It’s a extremely neat resolution from the world of Rinko bikes, and is unquestionably one thing that may very well be ported over to the bike’s smaller siblings. 

The bars, as with principally every thing else, are bigger too. Wider, and swept, with correct ergonomic grips to present your self a secure platform. There’s extra actual property for mounting lights, and the lengthy, swanlike neck of a stem has a pair of bosses into which a bottle cage may be screwed, which is a extremely welcome addition. 

The transmission is a tried and examined Shimano Alfine 8sp hub, which is for essentially the most half glorious. I’ll get into the gearing later, however a dependable hub drive for a motorbike with designs on being included in each one of the best folding bikes checklist is much better than Brompton’s personal derailleur, which I’ve discovered to be just a little flimsy and reasonably unreliable up to now. 

Lastly, from a ‘what’s new’ perspective, the inclusion of TRP hydraulic brakes and 140mm rotors on the spec sheet is one thing that’s been a a lot wanted improve for a while. Extra dependable within the moist, extra highly effective, and requiring much less frequent upkeep.

Aside from being greater, with extra and newer issues hooked up, the Brompton DNA stays principally unchanged. The G Line folds up in the identical acquainted method as another Brompton, simply into a bigger, heavier bundle. At 13.9kg within the lightest construct it’s practically 2kg heavier than the 6sp all-steel C Line, greater than 2kg heavier than the fundamental A Line, and practically 4kg heavier than the equally priced part-titanium P Line. The burden is one factor, however the measurement is one other. It’s nonetheless fairly a feat to create a motorbike that may fold so effectively, however there’s no getting away from the truth that the G Line is larger. I may match it below my desk nonetheless, however solely simply.

Efficiency

I’ve a buddy who lives within the north of England. We don’t communicate a lot, save for sharing memes about Diana, Princess of Wales, however after I posted that I had the G Line in for overview she was very curious as to my opinion on it. The quick model of our chat is that she was contemplating promoting her gravel bike within the perception that the Brompton may work Monday-Friday as a commuter, and on the weekends it may change her Genesis Croix de Fer, which she must promote to have the ability to afford the G Line. If this seems like your practice of thought too I’m afraid I’m going to burst that bubble fairly rapidly. The G Line shouldn’t be able to changing a correct gravel bike. 

It’s infinitely extra succesful off street than a standard Brompton, however that’s not likely saying a lot as the usual Bromptons are sometimes occasions fairly unnerving to experience on something in addition to clean tarmac. The bigger wheel measurement, longer wheelbase, slacker head angle, and wider bars all imply it does really feel much more like a standard bike, however it’s nonetheless fairly restricted off-road. 

On flat, comparatively effectively maintained gravel – by which I imply good canal towpaths – it’s dreamy. You’re ready to take a seat up and benefit from the view, and except you hit something overly muddy there isn’t something that’ll perturb your onward progress. The tubeless tyres do an admirable job of transferring the facility, and even for commuting duties within the metropolis a tubeless setup makes way more sense. 

It’s when the terrain pitches up or down that issues get a bit much less rosy. The transmission is great, and I do need to reiterate that I feel that is one of the best transmission of any Brompton, however it’s overgeared for off street use. The driving place doesn’t precisely encourage you to put energy down, and driving out the saddle is difficult, so on steeper off street gradients you might be considerably hamstrung. The small wheels with huge fats tyres additionally generally tend to drift inside, reasonably than scything via mud, that means within the moist you will discover your self crabbing sideways and spinning the rear wheel.

Talking of which, if you happen to do purchase one in all these please please please simply get the one with mudguards. The Schwalbe G One Allround is a good tyre, and truthfully a wise spec selection for a motorbike like this, however they will’t half fling muck about!

I did resolve to attempt to ‘ship it’ down a gravel gulley that’s usually considerably sketchy on a effectively outfitted, 700c gravel bike. I received down, and having disc brakes is great, however I used to be undoubtedly selecting my method down. I’m not certain I’d have preferred to do the identical with a big piece of bags hooked up to the pinnacle tube. You may match cargo cages to the bosses on the fork racks, however they may impede the bike’s skill to fold up and so are form of… ineffective?

On the street my impressions have been actually fairly constructive. It is nonetheless nippy and agile, capable of flit via a congested metropolis avenue like an orange fly, however the feeling of near-instability that was a lot the hallmark of the traditional Bromptons is gone. It’s pleasurable, by no means scary, particularly with the arrogance you’ll be able to cease on a dime in all circumstances. It does really feel extra sluggish although. You’re in a lot the identical upright, non-aerodynamic place as a regular Brompton, however the weight penalty is noticeable, as is the drag from the tyres.

The tyres are maybe the massive promoting level for efficiency on the street. They’re slower and really feel extra draggy, however they imply you must stress about potholes, cobbles, and usually slippy circumstances far much less. Greater than the geometry modifications they’ve the most important constructive affect on the bike’s efficiency, and if you happen to simply need a folding bike that’s just a little extra confidence inspiring then it does try this effectively.

On a 45km spherical journey to the workplace and again, taking in every thing from twin carriageways to canal paths, I used to be left fairly drained. It’s not a motorbike I’d actually relish doing any distance on, however it’s a Brompton so the idea goes that you just experience to the station and simply hop on a practice. The gearing, whereas over-geared for gravel use, is spot on for the street, and the power to shift down with out pedalling at visitors lights is all the time a great factor in my eyes. 

Besides it’s too huge. It’s not formally too huge for trains, and I’ll admit {that a} 2kg penalty isn’t monumental, however I’m not the strongest chap and the distinction lugging the folded mass about is nice. I walked it into my health club and pretended I’d forgotten my lock to keep away from locking it up, and even trotting the 20ft or so throughout the street was a little bit of an ordeal. I took to hauling it by the highest tube reasonably than the saddle. Once more, the curler cage would assist right here; let the earth carry it for you if you’re on clean surfaces.

Worth

The worth proposition actually will depend on your use case. As a commuter I feel it fails to stack up as it’s essentially worse on the complete raison d’etre of a Brompton, which is having the ability to fold up actually small and have the ability to be taken on a practice in a virtually stress free method. You will get a standard Brompton into the overhead racks on many trains however I’m not placing the G Line up there anytime. 

I feel the one actual use case I can consider the place it really provides worth is as a vacation bike. In Britain the trains are crap, and our gravel is commonly muddy and steep. Chuck it within the boot of your automobile and drive to France and there’s way more beautiful, automobile free gravel available, bimbling from winery to fromagerie to boulangerie to an early prognosis of gout. The campervan crowd will probably be a key market, and my dad and mom are each eager cyclists and avid campervan fanatics, so ought to they get one? Nicely, they spent about the identical quantity on respectable e-bikes which might be simply as succesful on tame gravel and usually extra helpful as bikes and simply pop them on a motorbike rack. 

Verdict

On studying this again it does sound like fairly a damning overview, however there’s a lot to be celebrated right here. The G Line is healthier in a number of methods than the traditional suite from the model. The dealing with, braking, consolation and transmission are all a lot better and it’s usually only a nicer bike to experience, however the flip facet is that every one of that is gained at a price to the model’s solely MO. The G Line can fold up, sure, however I worry it’s too giant and cumbersome to be actually helpful on this regard, at the least not with out changing into an annoyance. 

Convey the disc brakes, the water bottle bosses, tubeless, and the transmission over to the usual line of Bromptons and also you’d have a way more compelling providing in my opinion. 

As a vacation bike, if you happen to don’t need to go for a motorbike rack, I do assume it makes most sense. If that is your purpose although, for a bit more cash you possibly can get a Moulton XTB, and whereas that doesn’t have disc brakes it is going to pack right into a automobile boot and experience extra like a standard bike with a correct SRAM 11sp transmission. 

Maybe it’s not that the G Line is unhealthy as a gravel bike, it would simply be that British gravel isn’t suited to it. In the event you reside someplace the place your commute may contain visitors free, effectively maintained gravel, and your trains are higher than what we’ve to place up with within the British Isles then it would really be excellent, however it’s by no means going to interchange an precise gravel bike.