Sunday·23·March·2008
First two weeks with the Brompton //at 05:12 //by abe
It’s here! In contrary to the estimated delivery time of about ten weeks, my Brompton arrived at Velofix at Saturday the 16th of February after only three weeks. The orange color is much nicer than the apple green I initially favourited from what I saw in the catalouge and the axle dynamo also proved to be a good idea, so I’m really happy about my choice.
I used the Brompton to go to work everyday the last two weeks, even when it’s snowing like today:
Although I’m starting slowly and taking the bus (hey, it’s a folding bike! :-) for the steepest parts (either from Am Börtli to Waidbadstrasse or Gsteigstrasse)… I even managed to fold the bike although I saw the bus already coming around the corner when I still was in the saddle. That was the day I was at work in less then 10 minutes — Perfect timing. :-)
Since the local Höngg bus (route 38) only makes it’s round every 30 minutes, with the bike I’m now much more flexible and don’t have to hurry in the morning to catch the bus. (OTOH I had to notice that “being more flexible” doesn’t mean “having more time”… :-)
I also use it on the campus for visits in other buildings. Although there are mostly stairs between the different levels of the campus, it’s no problem with the Brompton since it’s easy to carry, even if not folded. It’s much more comfortable than daduke’s little kickboard scooter whose hard wheels don’t feel healthy for bones and especially knees on ETH Hönggerberg’s paths made out of washed-out concrete. Air tyres and rear suspension are much better… :-)
Regarding the choice of gears: The MountainDrive would surely be
helpful in hilly Zürich, especially since my fitness isn’t the best
one at the moment, but 6 gears are ok, too, and will be even more ok
as soon as my fitness gets better. The slower transmission wasn’t a
bad choice either, although a wider transmission range would have been
better.
Tagged as: Brompton, daduke, ETH Zürich, folding bike, HPV, Höngg, kickboard, Other Blogs, public transport, Snow, VBZ, Velofix, ZVV, Zürich, ÖPNV, ÖV
// show without comments // write a comment
