Steel is actually coming back into favour with many quality bicycle manufacturers; for all the perceived advantages of other materials, steel continues to offer an often-unbeatable combination of rigidity, strength, versatility and longevity.

Carbon fibre and other composite materials have a role to play in creating top-end racing bikes, but such materials lack the robustness to withstand the rigours of Brompton daily use. While cutting the weight of Brompton bikes down is important to us, it cannot come at the expense of durability.

Many manufacturers use aluminium in their frames but Brompton currently does not. While it is lighter than steel, aluminium is also much rigid and the frame of an aluminium Brompton would have to be considerably thicker than Brompton current steel frame - the weight saving at present would be marginal and the folded package bigger than Bromptons current configuration.

 

  Pourquoi le vélo Brompton est-il en acier ?

Waarom is de Brompton-fiets gemaakt van staal?

Warum besteht das Brompton-Fahrrad aus Stahl?

  Perché la bici Brompton è in acciaio?

¿Por qué la bicicleta Brompton está hecha de acero?