Two Brompton bikes in the cali?

[Amarillo]

Fabulous and your post suggests that you turned down the stake dinner!

"Vampire camping" sounds interesting. Does that all that Vlad, vampire, Dracula stuff plays a big part in the local tourist economy?

Romania is not a big tourist destination, but Dracula’s Castle is pretty important for the town of Bran.

Vampire Camping is excellent by Romanian standards. The owner’s wife is Dutch, and the manager is the owner’s brother-in-law (sister’s husband). They all speak English with a Dutch accent.

Unfortunately, the owner’s views are extreme right wing, considering gypsies to be a grade below human.



Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[SimonB]

It's sort of on topic, but in order to get 2 Bromptons in a Cali you have to make sure that any oil or other dirt that could spoil the pristine appearance of your Cali is covered up.
Following a tip from a fellow Bristol Cali owner @Paulro as in #15 above, we have just come back from the joy that is Ikea on a wet Tuesday with 2 Dimpa storage bags. These are £2 each at present and are a really good fit, except for the saddle, but both of ours have long seat posts.
Possibly a good bit cheaper than the Brompton version.

 

[SimonB]

We have two Bromptons and keep them side by side standing up. We take them most times when we go away as it saves having to move the van. Local shopping, cycle rides from the site.
I put them under the shelf at the back if we park up in case someone decides to break into the Cali to take them.

 

[This Eva]

We have two brand new Bromptons which we've used twice to date. Unfortunately, we've tried two different saddles so far but still haven't found anything remotely comfortable. The Bromton ones are instruments of torture! Other than the seat issue and the price, these bikes are brilliant for using with a Cali. They are very well made and easy to use.

Anyway, when we have taken them away in our Cali they get packed in their carrying bags and travel in the rear compartment behind the front seats. I don't like the usual external rear door bike rack solution for aesthetic and security reasons. So the compact Bromton bike is ideal for our needs.

If you have a tow bar the two bikes may be small enough to get in a tow box 3. Good secure way to carry them

 

[Borris]

If you have a tow bar the two bikes may be small enough to get in a tow box 3. Good secure way to carry them

They are/were nice bikes but Mrs B couldn't get on with hers so reluctantly I sold them.

 

[RichardH]

We have 2 Bromptons in Dimpa bags that we lay down on the back shelf. After reading some of the above posts I think I'll play around with standing them up side by side.
Any road........I'm interested to know how often you use your Bromptons whilst you are away? We tend to take them away and only use them sparingly if at all. I've always believed that when we get into Europe they will be useful than when in the UK during short trips. So do you choose when and where to take them or would you never leave home without them?

We stand our two upright on the mattress (in its tough protective cover) on the rear shelf, next to the cupboard. We have the Brompton bags. I wish I had thought of IKEA before replacing one recently! The bikes are kept upright by luggage boxes alongside. We take them on most trips. They are really useful for visits to the shops, restaurants and sightseeing. Our full-sized bikes were better for longer excursions, but we find the Bromptons are fine for a radius of about 15km on reasonable terrain. For us, storing the bikes inside is preferable to our previous rear external bike rack. We always sleep upstairs, so there’s still plenty of storage space. But we are all different in how we use our vans and there’s no one correct way to do things. The versatility is one of the charms of the Cali!

 

[Hotel California]

Here’s how i store our 2 Bromptons when we take them , we did not take them allong a lot in the past while travelling , becose we travelled with our dog and we not cycled but did dog friendly walks .
Since she passed away almost 2y ago we try and do diffrent things when away , like citytrips ect....
In time i got myself two second-hand Bromptons , one came in a hard case (a trolly like a travel case ) but that’s to bulky to carry in the Cali .
We have soft bags, one original Brompton and one DIY made , both came with the bikes to prevent things getting dirty .
I never take the rear matras and the bikes are standing on the shelf RHS strapped with a bungee and pillows pushed inbetween while driving.

 

[Amarillo]

Possibly a good bit cheaper than the Brompton version.

The Brompton bike bag is £27.50. Not cheap but not Brandrup priced either. They have a couple of useful features such as straps to secure the folded bag under the saddle. And holes so you can wheel your bike on its “easy” wheels.

We love our Bromptons, and my all time most memorable trip was cycling down Flåm Mountain on it hauling a three year old and a two year old in a child buggy-trailer.

Day 21 – Flam

Three weeks and we’ve only just begun! We had our most adventurous day yet, we took the Flam railway 2800 feet up the local mountain, had lunch, then Clare went down with the dogs, partway by…

au-revoir.eu

 

[icic]

The Brompton bike bag is £27.50. Not cheap but not Brandrup priced either. They have a couple of useful features such as straps to secure the folded bag under the saddle. And holes so you can wheel your bike on its “easy” wheels.

We love our Bromptons, and my all time most memorable trip was cycling down Flåm Mountain on it hauling a three year old and a two year old in a child buggy-trailer.

Day 21 – Flam

Three weeks and we’ve only just begun! We had our most adventurous day yet, we took the Flam railway 2800 feet up the local mountain, had lunch, then Clare went down with the dogs, partway by…

au-revoir.eu

So you can tow a child behind ? Was looking at getting one of these, With the electric Brompton, having attached a trailer did you think it was stable enough with the small wheels ? http://www.trail-gator.com/

 

[Amarillo]

So you can tow a child behind ? Was looking at getting one of these, With the electric Brompton, having attached a trailer did you think it was stable enough with the small wheels ? http://www.trail-gator.com/

View attachment 70539

I towed this:

I removed an “easy wheel” from the rear rack and used that as the tow point. The design of the trailer is to use the rear wheel hub at the tow point, but on the Brompton it is too low.

Later we bought two of these:

 

[icic]

I towed this:

I removed an “easy wheel” from the rear rack and used that as the tow point. The design of the trailer is to use the rear wheel hub at the tow point, but on the Brompton it is too low.

Later we bought two of these:

Love the child seat, seems that you cant buy them anymore, might try to source them on ebay. As I can find a spec for them would a 6 year old be OK on this or is it for smaller kids ?

 

[campandfly]

We have two Bromptons. We keep one on the top of the parcel shelf and one below. Both lied down.
Recently cycled from Bodmin to Wadebridge on the Camel trail to buy a Cornish Christmas Tree ;-)
My other half bought a padded Gel seat which pulls over the top of the original seat.

 

[mickmull]

Before you give up on the Brompton saddles - adjust fore and aft and tilt up and down. Any saddle you get needs to be matched to where your 'sit' bones are. So one saddle may not fit, but another might. I find a firmer saddle works for longer rides - but softy ones feel comfortable in the shop... but not for a longer ride. You may also want to look at cycling shorts or even pants that you can slip on underneath civilian clothes. As to brommies if you lay them on their side underneath the rear shelf then make sure the folding pedal is facing up or you'll wear a hole in the carpet (ask me how I know).

 

[Amarillo]

Love the child seat, seems that you cant buy them anymore, might try to source them on ebay. As I can find a spec for them would a 6 year old be OK on this or is it for smaller kids ?

We still use one of them from time to time with our five year old, but it is a bit of a squash and a squeeze.

If we want to keep the boys close we take them on the tandem triplet, but it is a faff to transport.

 

[chockswahay]

Just stumbled across this old thread (as you do) so for anyone who has not solved the Brompton dilemma this is what we do…… it does of course limit the boor space but for the two of us we manage with creative and disciplined packing of the other stuff.

 

[motacyclist]

Didn’t think that was possible. Can we have a movie showing how it’s done?

 

[chockswahay]

Didn’t think that was possible. Can we have a movie showing how it’s done?

No! hehe.... but I can say that if you study the photo carefully and note which way the seats face and which axis the bikes are on you will be able to do it. Also put the left bike in first but keeping the seat away from the tool kit locker a little then slide the right bike in like a jigsaw puzzle. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, and only takes around 30 seconds or so. Also you can see that the mat underneath the bikes had lipped sides, this keeps all the hard stuff away from the Cali walls and prevents damage (I bought this one in Halfords, it's great). If we need to carry more stuff we pack soft stuff above the bikes but then this adds another 30 seconds to the whole process haha.

 

[motacyclist]

I bet you can do a Rubik’s cube in 20 seconds!

 

[chockswahay]

I bet you can do a Rubik’s cube in 20 seconds!

Haha, never managed more than one matching side ever, and that is since they came out