Brompton Electric Range review / distance test
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Testing the distance one full charge of the battery can last
Including hill climb no 14 - Box Hill
The video shows how far we got before each loss of battery light and compares the standard versus Electric Brompton climbing box hill (we didnt want this review / distance challenge to be just on the flat)
Want to see the complete range of Brompton Electric bikes:
brilliantbikes...
Soon available in the new Bolt Blue lacquer colour
We rode 2 Bromptons from our shop in Chobham, Surrey, England - to the Surrey Hills - with the aim of:
1/ Climbing the world famous Box Hill twice - once on the Electric Brompton and once on the standard (non-power assisted) Brompton - and measuring the performance difference
2/ Seeing how far we could ride with power assist level 1 before the battery ran out - riding as if we didn't have a battery (so using the gears, rather than staying in highest gear constantly)
We managed the following:
Total distance: 91.78 km
Elevation gain: 859 m
Moving time: 4 hours 37 minutes
Average speed: 19.8 kmh
Your videos are a delight to watch. Not an ounce of marketing. Just the joy of being informative and out and about on a Brompton.
Thank you for watching and your really kind comments
New M6L Electric owner here.. I've had it two days, and have loved working my way through your videos. They're funny, informative and friendly. You have yourself a new follower!
Thank you so much!
We really hope you enjoy your Brompton Electric, we find them great fun!
Interesting to compare, and having commuted with one for 8 months I have the following thoughts. Disclaimer here as to the figures given in as reflect this rider's approach to training involves red wine and chocolate and the total age of the legs involved is 128 years. Factorswhich clearly influence the results.
Base line figures for me are between 8-9 miles per battery light on the lowest support
Beteen 4-5 miles per battery light on the second level and 3 miles per battery light on highest level (i hardly use that )
Factors reducing range in order of impact
1) using too high a gear, especially in second level and above using the battery rather than the gear.
2) Hills (see above)
2) Commuting stop start ( in London a 10 mile commute has a lot of lights.)
4) Wind agsainst one (see 1 above)
5) Luggage and rider. (see diet)
My 20-25 miles a day is achievable with lowest and second level support, but I tend to use lowest support first thing because i get better exercise, and second level on my way home to the wine. In London the difference in speed is not significant as lights and traffic have more impact. But heart rate shows that I expend more effort.
Great machine
Simon
Thank you for your real world usage. Your milage to battery usage has helped me to look closer as It would work on my good days. My reason is to aid mobility and the ability to jump on a bus with it and not having a problem. I have not as yet tried one out as i live 300 miles north of the nearest Brompton e shop.
Alan Hunter the issue of range is not that important for everyday use! If you do short trips ! In London my average speed through traffic is probably only 10.5 mph! So a full charge is in reality 2.5 hours cycling on level 2 support!
@@sle1234561 Hi the issue of range is important as I live 600 miles north of london. My usage would be the exact opposite to yours
@@alanhunter2051 I will be relly interested to know how it works out as am plannig some rather longer distance tours. Simon
Good job, good to see you out riding a bit.
Many thanks for watching. It’s a really fun bike to take on a good ride!
Another really superb instructional video, a pleasure to watch.
I only hope that you enjoy making them as much as we do watching them.
I was particularly interested in your comments after 6.00 minutes. I have had my BE for four months now and I finally feel that I am getting the very best out of the powertrain by intuitively listening to the pitch of the motor (just as one does for gear changing in a car) which I assume will in turn increase the battery range.
BTW can I suggest that you ALWAYS use some sort of Strava type device with your BE. Each month you will get a total mileage which would be of help if there are any problems with battery/motor life, its the electronic equivalent of an odometer !!
Thanks for watching again David
We do use Garmin / Strava - so we’ll take your advice and start logging bike specific details
Riding it like a ‘normal bike - changing gear - really increased the range.
Thanks a lot for this useful feedback. You managed to ride a lot of kilometers with the battery. I have some feedback about the "low" range on mine, either because of a very hilly trip or because of a loaded bike. It was always around 45 kms. But I never tried the high range. You did it. Thanks again.
Thanks for watching and for your comments / thoughts
We're still learning the capabilities - our next ride should be all on full power and see how it lasts
We are trying to make sure we include some hills - though hills are relative and here in Surrey, England - ours aren't so big as many others
What a great comparison. Nice location and very informative. Two thumbs up :)
Sad time: my Brompton is in hospital for its service (and is awaiting delivery of new seat-post sleeve). On the flip side, I've got temporary custody of a friend's e-bike, so I've been able to experience the joy of effortless ascending. I'm now definitely sold on electrification! Will start saving my pennies for electric Brompton...I just wish they'd broaden the colour choice: white? gets dirty too quickly; black? doesn't show up well (especially compared to my orange steed); blue? better, but I'd like brighter.
Love those dimples ❤️...I mean great video, very helpful, thanks!
Lol - thanks for watching again
Another great video Hannah, brilliant bikes do brilliant videos!
Thank you for the lovely comment and for watching!
I love the country side that you have to ride on, Beautiful.
Thanks for watching
We are lucky aren't we :-)
Where do you ride?
Excellent job, thank you for this video. I rode a mere 10 km on my eBrompton today, in flat Berlin - and lost 2 power bars during this short ride. In October, also in Berlin, I flatened the battery after 30 km. I used Power Assistance Level 2 most of the time and weigh more than you. Still this shows that the range of eBrompton batteries can vary a lot.
Mostly it was the lazy (partly injured) camera man riding the e-version while she road the manual (for the best part of 100km)
One of the great things (we think at least) about the electric Brompton is that without the motor (so flat battery or battery not attached) there is almost no drag from the motor in the front wheel
So if we were riding long distance and it died, we would have no problem completing the ride
@Alien On a Bike I might add that she is a pretty lady as well ;-)
@@brilliantbikes I didn't see a manual just 2 electric bikes?
Useful video. And fun to watch too, as always. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much!
Great work.Thank you for all that pedaling to extract the information.
And thank you for taking the time to watch, and give us the kind comment
Hi i would like to see a fare review of the brompton electric against the swytch conversion kit. No one has done one. I think they are overpriced for what they are and buying a normal bike and the swytch kit could save you £1500. Before you say about the price i own a Giant Quick e bike and love it. I have a debilitating illness leaving me no choice but a e bike. Your input and hopefully a video would be greatly appreciated.
Do not buy the swytch kit, actual range is not worth the hassle. get the lvbu kd30s kit or the actual electric brompton.
Thank you very much for your great analyse.
I'm sure the Brompton Electric is an excellent ebike but in my opinion it has a flaw. The fact that it has no handlebar-mounted control switch, in order to change the assistance level setting whiile on the move, the rider has to take one hand off the handlebar and reach for the top of the battery case. The Swytch system has the same problem. The Nano conversion (and others) has thumb controls.
Incidentally, everything about Brilliant Bikes is, well, brilliant.
Very good. Pity the weather was so poor but better than a roasting summer day though....!
Thanks for watching :-)
In some ways it was better as it was making us / the bike work harder. There was more drag from the wet (and mud / leaves on the canal paths) and the battery shouldn't last so well at low temperatures (we were surprised how well it did)
I appreciate your hardwork. Thank you
Thank you so much :-)
Joyful to watch and very instructive. Sorry for the late sub.
Thank you for watching and subscribing, we really appreciate it
Very solid and well built
We really enjoy them!
Thanks for watching
The buzzing at 2:25 is due to a phone mast nearby. The wire between your microphone and the recorder is probably not well shielded enough against electromagnetic waves. See here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shielded_cable
Great video comparing the electric Brompton vs the manual Brompton. This was something I’ve wondered about and you did an awesome job answering it for me. Thank you.
Thanks for watching
Thanks for the kind comments
We are trying to compare .. for us and anyone else interested - it’s fun, but your feedback makes it even more worthwhile
It was very good video it showed me what the bike is and you must be fit and all your videos are excellent you show us lots on CZcams please keep more coming .
Thanks 👍 so much for taking the time to write the kind comments
We plan to keep them coming
Stay safe and Happy New Year
If the person who put those bleeps on the video were in the room when it started they would have been wearing that Brompton
Lol! Thanks for watching that far!
I’m surprised Brompton didn’t use smaller motor in the rear like the powerful Bafang ,but nearly 100 km range is impressive .
We were really impressed! We thought it was never going to go flat!
Thank you for watching.
Great and funny video, thanks! 🚴
Thank you for your kind comment and for watching
Great post.!
Many thanks! It was a fun ride!
Thanks for this video. It would be great to assess the overall range when using full power only?
We have on our list to try it at full power too :-)
brilliantbikes you guys are fantastic. I love your videos! Thank you for all your work :)
Great video. Thanks! Agree graphics are much better IRL.
I’m really intrigued, is the bike rideable when the battery is flat?
Great question and yes it rides really well, but remember the lights are powered by the battery, so not great at night! But it rides very well with no power, just slightly heavier than a standard Brompton. A few of our other electric videos I ride it on no power.
@@brilliantbikes thank you for the reply. I guessed as much as I haven’t heard a single person complain about it.
Keep up the good videos, I always enjoy them.
Merry Christmas
Get it!
We agree they are great fun!
we have 2 bromptons we love and wonder if we should upgrade via a kit. or sell ours and get 2 factory versions? Yes we like your videos, very professional
But the thing is... nobody is going to spend 3K on an electric bike and ride it around on level 1 all day. I have two electric bikes, one a mtb and one a B75 with an aftermarket kit. In both cases I ride on level 3 because that's the optimum level with practically no effort in mixed terrain for maximum range. Levels 4 and 5 are more powerful but just get me to 15mph faster, so just reduce range. With mixed terrain I get around 35 miles per full charge on level 3 with the Brompton. About 30 on the mtb. Level 2 on the Brompton gives a slight workout with decent assistance but still have to put a bit of effort in on hills, so could get sweaty on a warm day. All this is using a 17AH HL type battery with 3000 miles already clocked on the mtb. A new battery would get slightly better range at the start of its life. The official Brompton of course looks far more streamlined than my kit. But then mine was less than half the price.
Nice video!
Thank you for watching
And for your kind comment
Does it ride ok in most of the UK parks? You know those with wet. mud little hole and leaves and stone on the ground? Since it said it is not for off-road I wish it could be a bike for me to ride in the park for fun. Cheers
We find it OK on tracks, it I would not want to get it very wet and muddy.
Thanks for watching
Thank you for Kilometres not miles
We also ‘think’ in kilometres, it’s the miles that takes some thinking! Thank you for watching
Interesting info, but at £2850, it is one expensive bike. We are in England can we use miles and mph please? So the camerman was on the electric filming you on the non-eletric?
Muy buen vídeo ,sobre todo las tomas falsas ,me río mucho ,un saludo.
Thank you!
Great video. May I ask how you mounted the GoPro on the non electric Brompton? Is that a mount? Can you send a link?
Thanks for watching
Sorry for the delay in replying
It’s a GoPro roll bar mount - can be attached at various points
www.amazon.com/GoPro-Roll-Bar-Mount-Official/dp/B001MS6OM2
@@brilliantbikes Does this mount not interfere with the fold when folded? Of course, when the gopro is unmounted. Thanks in advance!
Hi Brilliant Bikes. Do you think that a 3 speed Brommie could get up Box Hill? I’m looking to get a M3L/R for all round riding including some longer 60km+ rides. I’d rather avoid the extra complication of the 6 speed - is this a mistake?
Thanks for watching and for the comment
We did another video riding up They Mount’ in Guildford
It’s shorter but steeper than Box Hill but we did it on a 3 speed
You can ride anywhere on a 3 speed Brommie - we also rode in the French alps
But - it does take some leg power!
Personal preference - but not very common is: use the 6 speed wheel (actually a BWR 3 speed) with the BWR-3 sprocket set
This gives 3 speeds (so Lise the derailleur) with a wider range (but a larger gap between gears)
Distance - 60km plus should be no issue
brilliantbikes thanks - looking at a brommie and have the quite possibly mad idea of doing LEJOG on it next year.
That sounds like a great idea!
LONDON Brompton Club members are always threatening to do it
This man did - so maybe a good point of reference:
RichardBranson.biz
The 6 speed Brompton is not that much more complicated than a 3 speed. Both have a similar chain tensioner but on the 6 speed it doubles as the derailleur. The range of the hub gear on a 6 speed is more than that on a three speed hub gear and the derailleur provides an extra top and an extra bottom gear. Upgrading a 3 speed to a 6 speed later is possible but more expensive than you might think.
You barely used the assistance considering you heart rate, how would it fare on a higher assist level is more relevant of a metric, for figuring out how good of a commuter bike it is. A 200 meter rise in total would be more relevant in that scenario, and the goal would be to support a 20-40km commute. Good video though. Any news on if Electric Bromptons will be sold outside of the UK?
hello good morning
In this video of the electric brom comes a white and black bag, could you please tell me what brand and name and if you see it in your store or where I get it.
Thanks for watching so closely. That the white and black bag was an O-bag (made by Ortleib for Brompton), but this was on the standard Brompton not the electric.
How long before battery needs replacing and how much
The electric Brompton's range, with some hills, is interesting and impressive but I might choose a six-speed manual (or should that be pedal?) because I am trying to lose weight. Can you tell me, please, What is the greatest weight that a Brompton can carry long term? I am about 13st 4lb and not losing weight very quickly.
The recommended upper weight for a Brompton is 110kg
@@brilliantbikes Thank you. It is feasible... I mean the Brompton!
Would have prefered the range & speed units in miles!!! Interestingly, you used "psi" for the tyre inflation, such is the mix of metric & imperial units! Been considering one of these for awhile now, still undecided, love my manual Brompton but can definitely see the benefit pedalling into a head wind - lots of these here on the Sussex coast!
I have had an e-Brompton for two years. Under normal city conditions, I can drive only 20 km on it. Should I buy a new battery? There is no other solution? Can you improve it yourself, e.g. by replacing the cells in the battery? Is there an instruction on how to do this somewhere?
(I don’t have access to an authorized Brompton service center.)
Nice video. What about a range review after 3 years of daily use? Replacing a 500€ battery is not very ecological. If only Brompton would recycle your battery, for let's say 200€.
That’s a great suggestion! We better start riding it every day!
Thank you for watching!
You really didn’t use the assist much at all, which is why you got so much mileage.
What's the model of the light behind the seat? Thanks
I'm looking for nice, not expensive electric kit for my Brompton. Anybody has some advice?
When you find a good one ☝️, kindly share with the rest of us? Happy trails 🙏🏼🐾💫
You must be using a radioisotope thermoelectric generator for your power supply.
We thought it would never go flat!
I rode a manual the camera man mostly in the electric (apart from the filling!) and I was a little flat myself by the end!
Thank you for watching!
@@brilliantbikes just purchased a Brompton M2L electric from Rutland Cycling, thanks for your review.
Why measure in kilometres and not in miles and miles per hour? Just a thought as you are in GB.
nice video, be nice if you gave the stats in miles also 👌🏻
Just multiply the kilometres distance by 5/8 , so 91 kilometres is 56.8 miles.
Hiya love your videos. Thank you. Id love to know if a baby seat can be mounted to the front of an electric brompton. Ive been looking into bobike seats but could do with some help. Thanks, jenny
Are you serious lol
@@CosgroveNotts yes! and i have managed to fit the seat but there is no space for the battery, so using good old leg power
.Good stuff and firm legs too 😂
Does brompton electric comes with Throttle??
It’s a ‘pedelec’ bike
Basically the power is controlled by how hard you push on the pedals (combined with the power setting)
brilliantbikes ok, so it doesn’t have throttle option. Thanks!!
Anyone knows if this bike has regen braking?
Thanks for watching
It doesn’t - it’s not that sophisticated
I want one but can’t seem to justify the extra 1600 quid for a different front wheel ,and a battery
Thanks for watching.
We didn’t think we could either, but they are just such fun, take one for a test ride.
Dont forget the lights and USB charger (ha ha)....... Oh, and the strengthened forks and the research..... and the torque sensor bottom bracket..... and the whole package just works!
Worth every penny and then some!
While I am enjoying your video's and will possibly be bying an electric Bromprton this year it does annoy me when in the media kilometers are used when we use mph, quoting kph is meaningless to me. So let's have both kph and mpd quoted so everyone knows what is going on.
Theberbster - I understand your frustration. I've lived in the USA for years and Km confuse me too. I have a converter app on my phone and keep pausing the video to do a quick conversion from Km to miles, and kph to mph. Takes no time at all. Basically, total distance of 92 km equals 57 miles. Not bad.
Nice video. Just trying to imagine now what that looks like to operate the bicycle with hands (as dictated by the word manual). I hope it also works with feet (as dictated by the word pedal).
km,s ? whats a km were in the uk dude ,apart from the km thing thanks for the vid tho appreciated
Thanks for watching and your feedback
KMs are great - they pass much faster than miles
We picked it up from the roadies where everything seems to be KM
@@brilliantbikes lol yea fair play , and good job on whooping the roadies on the brompton , will be getting my 1st brompton in the near future , was thinking the dark raw lacquer black edition classy but discrete , was never a fan of the look of the m bars so im going to go for the H6L version with the higher stem and pivot point and swap out the bars for mtb downhill bars along with the shorter M cables ect , then chuck a electric kit on there , thats the plan anyway , anyways thanks for the vids they are appreciated and look forward to many more thanks
I'll admit I still haven't mentally switched from miles to kilometres. I do wish we'd bite the bullet and do away with this one relic of imperial measurements.
A kilometre is 5/8 of a mile.
I got distracted and didn't see the bike
Lol, ah so you need to watch it again 😀
Do you Selling me a cheap one
Last Don You can buy a Dahon!
Mentally converting metric information into proper imperial measurements that we actually use 😀🤓
There is nothing proper in imperial measurements
Try using a converter app on your phone. Conversion from km and kph to miles and mph take no time at all.
The bike is so slow 🐌.