Even those with no love for small wheels have to grudgingly admit that the Brompton front carrier system is superb, and arguably better than the universal KlickFix system. The Brompton design is based on a frame- mounted carrier block, and a variety of panniers, which can carry big loads and pop on and off the bike very easily.
Once you’ve got used to this sort of convenience, traditional panniers look positively Stone Age, and a frequent request from those owning both a Brompton, and a fleet of other bikes, is whether the carrier block can be fitted to other machines.The short answer is yes, but it’s not easy…
On the Brompton, a metal plate is brazed to the frame, and the carrier-block bolted to this plate. If you’re building a new machine, or completely rebuilding an old one, Brompton can supply the plate and you can do exactly the same. But before waving an oxyacetelene torch at your bicycle, check that the luggage won’t foul the handlebars or other parts, as the Brompton handlebars are unusually tall… A little more clearance can be found by grinding the carrier block base so as to angle the block and pannier forward, away from the ‘bars.
If brazing is not an option, the carrier-block can sometimes be bolted in place. Remove the forks, drill through the head tube and bolt the block in place from the inside (the bolt heads may need to be ground down to clear the fork tube). Obviously, all components must be of the best quality, as the Brompton carrier-block is designed for loads of up to 10kg (all on a pair of small 5mm bolts!).We’ve carried twice this weight, but it makes sense to play safe with conversions…
As several readers have noticed, our Giant Lafree takes Brompton luggage. Fitting the pannier to the front proved impractical, but there was room on the Lafree’s rear rack, so we decided to fit the pannier on the left side at the rear.
The finished carrier. Note the large self-tapping screw threaded into the extrusion
Modern alloy rack stays are light and strong, but need to be treated with care (we sometimes carry a child seat on the rack, for example), so it’s better not to weld, deform, or drill them.We decided to make a simple bracket using a length of aluminium extrusion from an old television stand. This useful material is strong, pre-drilled down the middle to accept self-tapping screws or small bolts, and can be easily cut and shaped.This was particularly important in our case, because the extrusion needed to fit snugly between two alloy rack tubes.
Once the extrusion was a snug fit, we drilled a small mounting hole in each of the stays and fitted the self- tapping screws that once held the TV stand together…With the Brompton carrier-block ground flat on its rear curved face, we were able to bolt it straight onto this new mounting plate. In use, we found the screws needed tightening a couple of times as the parts bedded in, so we filled the mounting plate with builders’ ‘expanding foam’, which hardens to a rubbery consistency, helping to spread the considerable loads that are being transferred from the pannier into the rack frame. The rack-mounted Brompton pannier has been very successful.We wouldn’t want to overload it, but the ability to swap luggage between any of our bikes (the Fold-it has a Brompton block too) is a great advantage. If you don’t feel confident to undertake this sort of job, any good cycle engineer should be able to produce something similar.Those with knowledge of Brompton carrier-block conversions include Cyclecare (tel: 0207 460 0495) and Kinetics (tel: 0141 942 2552).The mounting plate is available direct from Brompton (tel: 0208 232 8484), and carrier-blocks, panniers and other parts should be stocked by Brompton dealers (see www.bromptonbicycle.co.uk for a list)
