Brompton On Hills

Brompton On Hills

Byrichard

Cycling in Switzerland requires the ability to go up and down hills. Some of the climbs are long and steep, others are short and steep, and yet more are shallow but long climbs. That’s where bike gears come into their own. The more gears you have the more precisely you can control the amount of effort you’re making. With a mountain bike the gears are designed to help with climbing. With road bikes they can be set to make hill climbs easier or harder.

Six Gears with a Brompton

A Brompton bike may have just three to six gears. I went for a ride on one yesterday, on some undulating swiss hills in Vaud, at the foot of the Jura. The first thing I noticed is that the steering is really nervous compared to a normal bike. That’s because the wheels are tiny, so the torque needed to turn the wheel is minimal. You need to focus a lot of thought on ensuring that you don’t oversteer. I think that Brompton bike wheels are a third the size of normal wheels, or maybe half as big. With a normal bike wheel steering is more sluggish, therefore it feels natural.

Bigger Gaps Between Gears

The second thing you notice with the Brompton is that the difference between gears is greater. The hard gear is really hard, so it doesn’t get used much on hilly terrain. You need to shift down to the second and third gears, to make cycling possible. The easiest gear was too easy on hills, but the middle gear made it more challenging. The result isn’t that I slowed down. I think it sped me up. A Brompton, on mountaineous roads, requires you to find the least worst gear, and find a speed that is sustainable. In my case that speed saw me cycling faster than I would, on a normal bike, not by choice, but by necessity. To go slower would make the gear harder, so once I had inertia I tried to maintain it.

No Drinking

Usually I have no problem drinking and cycling but with the Brpompton I was fully focused on trying to find the right gears, but also being careful not to oversteer. I kept both hands on the bars at all times. I didn’t feel comfortable reaching to have a drink. The Brompton is a different beast to most bikes. The fitter you are, as a cyclist, the more you can adapt to the challenge of riding it, but it would take a few more rides before I felt comfortable riding it, and taking a sip of water.

Average speed

I got up to 37.2 kp/h on the Brompton but my average speed was 17 km/h. Usually I am at 20+ kilometres per hour and my peak is closer to 50+ km/h. My total ascent was 223 meters, according to the Garmin Etrex SE. I don’t know how the effort compared to riding the usual bikes because I didn’t measure my heart rate with a garmin watch this time.

And Finally

Bromptons are not cheap, so it makes more sense to get a normal bike for the same price, or cheaper. I tried this experiment because I felt too lazy to load the bike into the car, if I didn’t then ride the bike due to weather or a change of plans. I can keep up with people on electric bikes, despite the difference in riding comfort and style. My proof of concept test was a success, but rationally cheaper normal bikes make more sense.

Second thoughts on E-bikes

Byrichard

Yesterday I rode an e-bike over 5km and played with the eco, touring, sport and turbo modes. I experimented with the gears and I experimented with a variety of gradients and surfaces. Through this trial I got to understand how e-bikes work. 


Gaining momentum


E-bikes are great for helping you get up to 25 kilometres an hour and after that, if you have the strength then you can ride the bike at over 25 kilometres per hour for as long as you last. When you start to get tired the engine will kick in again when you slip down to below 25 kilometres per hour and assist you for the rest of the journey.


Bosch engines are gentle, they assist you from a standing start, following your pedal force to gradually get you up to 25 kilometres per hour and above. Once you reach 25 kilometres per hour and above the engine cuts out and it’s a normal bike. 


Weight and gearing


E-bikes can easily weigh 23kg or more so having the right gears is important. I tried riding an e-bike without changing gears for the first few minutes and I was able to move it along. When I started to shift gears I saw how light the e-bike felt. This is important for uphill segments if the battery dies. 


Two types of engine


There are two types of engines. There are gentle engines such as Bosch, to give you a more pleasant cycling feel and then you have other engines, such as Yamaha and others that are meant to be more forceful. In a sports supermarket, I tried another e-bike and that engine was punchier in that you pedalled a quarter of a crank rotation and it threw you to 25km per hour. The latter option felt more like driving a scooter than riding a bike. It defeats the purpose. 


Summary


E-bikes assist you in getting to 25 kilometres an hour and if you’re a strong rider the engine will sit in the background and kick in again when you get tired. Although the bike’s engine is limited to 25km per hour it is not like a car or scooter. The speed limit is for the engine, not your pedalling power. If you’re a strong cyclist you can easily reach a higher speed. This implies that on downhill segments you could reach your usual speeds of 50+km per hour. 


As a next step I would like to do a full range test, from Nyon to Geneva and back along the roads I take on a bike. Those are undulating and there are moments that get exposed to strong headwinds. I would also ride the route du Lac. If it survives those routes I would be confident to replace my petrol driven scooter with an e-bike. 


I could opt for a 45 kilometre per hour bike but I’ve found that I love my 2-5 hour bike rides so an e-bike that assists up to 25km/h is sufficient. 

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Geneva to Hermance on a bike

Byrichard

Hermance is a place where I have dived frequently and so it is only natural that I hard to ride from Geneva to Hermance on a bike. The ride is an easy and pleasant ride. It takes you out of Geneva and through the fields to the East of Geneva before taking you down to Hermance where you have a good view of the lake. The ride back takes you through a few villages before getting back to Geneva.

The landscape undulates with only one climb as you leave the lake and take the back roads towards Pallanterie. From that point you follow the road until you get to the French border and cross to the left and head straight for the lake. It’s at this point that you start to see signs for Hermance and follow them down a steep road to the lake side.

Hermance is a nice small town where you see divers and at this time of year animations. There is the beach which is free for divers and paying for normal people. You also have changing rooms and showers. There is a café/restaurant where you can have a drink or snack before heading back. I would like to do this circuit again with a group. Stopping in Hermance would be more pleasant.

I love for the GPS track of my rides to be a loop so to ensure that this was the case I cycled back via the lake road. There are bits where you are with cars but for the majority of the route you have a dedicated cycle path.