A front carrier mounting bracket for use with Brompton mounting blocks

Do not attempt any job on your cycle yourself unless you have the knowledge and experience to do so - inappropriate modifications, or incorrectly executed modifications could endanger your and other people's safety.

Steve Parry has developed a small mounting bracket which enables some types of standard handlebar bag to be attached to the Brompton front carrier mounting block. This will be of particular interest to both Brompton and Birdy owners.

The bracket consists of what is in effect the female (bag-mounted) part of the Brompton front carrier system on which are mounted two short tubes, at the end of each of which is a boss. A bolt can be put through each of the four bosses to attach it to the handlebar bag. This requires a bag with a rigid interior, such as the Carradice one which has corrugated plastic inside. Once the bag is bolted to the bracket, the bracket can be mounted onto the bike-mounted Brompton carrier mounting block.

As the bracket is designed to bolt directly onto the bag, it will be necessary to first remove any existing quick release fixing which may be on the bag - eg the widely used Klik-Fix which is on the Carradice bag. Generally this is quite easy, merely involving the removeal of some fixing rivets. Holes will then need to be drilled to attach the new mounting bracket. A variation, if you have a bag with a Klik-Fix mounting already on it, and one which I will be investigating and will report on with pictures shortly, would be to mount Steve's bracket to a metal plate, and then bolt the Klik-Fix bar mount to the plate. This avoids the need to remove the Klik-Fix mounting on the bag, and also means that the bag can still be used with the Klik-Fix attachement on a bar mounting on a cumbersome. The disadvantage of this solution would be increased weight and the bag being placed rather further forwards, with more leverage by the weight of the bag and its contents on the mounting. You also will end up with the rather odd situation of having the bar bag mounted to the bike via two quick-release systems!

Brompton

The system can be used on a Brompton fitted with the Brompton luggage mounting block without any modifications to the bike. The benefit over the standard Brompton bag is a big saving in weight and better aerodynamics. Although the luggage capcity is reduced, it is quite sufficient for many occasions, and you can still use the standard Brompton bag when you want to.

Birdy

The system is potentially even more interesting for Birdy owners. If you mount the Brompton mounting block onto the head tube, you can then use Steve's mounting bracket to provide a very effective front carrier system - something which is not otherwise available for a Birdy. This arrangement is much more stable and safe than trying to use a bar bag mounted on the handlebars. Fitting a Brompton block on teh Birdy necessitates tapping holes in the head tube - don't attempt this if you lack the knowledge and skills, and insted find someone who can do the job safely. Remember that the Birdy has an aluminium frame, so the job needs to be done carefully. For this reason it is also important not to try to mount larger bags on teh front - they might also obstruct free movement of the steering - and do not fill the bag with heavy objects such as bricks or gold bars.

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Last updated: 21 January 1999
URL: http://www.whooper.demon.co.uk/foldsoc/spfrcar.html