Thinking about doing a two week tour somewhere in Europe, using a combination of our Bromptons and local trains etc… no idea where we might go, current thought is to pick two airports that are cheap on Easyjet/Ryanair and then make our way between them…

Anyone ridden a decent distance on their Brompton? Any thoughts on a decent potential route? Looking for scenery, good food and general relaxation and loveliness…

the most intresting sighting of a brompton for me was 5 years ago on the aspet in the pryenees riding up the cat 1 climb by a young japenese fellow respendent in trilby, t shirt and golf plus 4s! so not much help there but shows what can be done

a bike shop owner from harrogate, who was also the secretery of the yorkshire section of a RSF used to tour offroad on a brompton.
i seem to remember he rode most of the scottish islands {hebrides) on one.

This Israeli chap did a 5 day, 1000 mile ride (actually an Audax) around Italy on a Brompton….

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7874.0

I've read a blog from some people who did parts of the north sea cycle route on bromptons, will see if I can find the link

This was the site I was thinking of

I toured a bit on my Brompton before it was stolen. Luggage was a big bumbag, and a medium-sized rucksack strapped to the front rack. I had good climbing gears (a Schlumpf Mountain Drive gear in the front and Sturmey AW at the back) but the brakes were a liability at times.

For a route, how about flying into Lyon, Dijon or Geneva, heading west to the Loire, and following it down to the Atlantic. Great food and wine, pretty countryside, and plenty of alternative transport options if you want to make up time. The terrain isn't too challenging. Alternatively, fly into Paris, train to Orléans, follow the Loire to the coast, then follow the coast south to Bordeaux.

I had good climbing gears (a Schlumpf Mountain Drive gear in the front and Sturmey AW at the back) but the brakes were a liability at times.

We're both on 3-speeds, so big hills are kind of out for us!

For a route, how about flying into Lyon, Dijon or Geneva, heading west to the Loire, and following it down to the Atlantic. Great food and wine, pretty countryside, and plenty of alternative transport options if you want to make up time. The terrain isn't too challenging. Alternatively, fly into Paris, train to Orléans, follow the Loire to the coast, then follow the coast south to Bordeaux.

Liking the sound of this route, sounds nice 🙂

Any other thoughts and suggestions STW?

Met a german chap touring South Island in NZ on one a few years ago. He had a homemade trailer attached to the seatpost for his gear and was travelling faster & further per day than us.

As for european routes, no idea!

Cicerone press do a great little book on touring in Switzerland http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/detail.cfm/book/526/title/cycle-touring-in-switzerland

The couple that wrote it seemed to get to lots of interesting places on Dahon folders. Not as daft as it sounds – areas like Berner Oberland are riddled with little trains and post buses and then have great smooth bike routes along the valley floors.

Why not use a real bike? Plenty of people carrying those on trains.

mainly because we don't have any panniers etc for a 'real bike', for the Bromptons we have the big touring bag for the front, so these are ready to go… plus I reckon having a folder could be useful?

Darren Alff does a lot of touring on Brompton/folding bikes.

There's plenty of good info and videos about touring on his site too.

Flickr

I'd rather take a bit of potential hassle on a train than hundreds of miles on a brompton 🙂

You will be fine, bromptons are very capable and using them will add to the fun of the trip… Also you will intrige the locals… One thing i would say is might be worth a rear bag, say brompton rack bag or carradice sqr – nice to be able to balance the weight out – found that on the c2c