Travel: How to Fly With Your Brompton Bicycle

LONDON - Do you have a Brompton Bicycle? Maybe you own one of well over 1 million Brompton’s that’ve been produced since inventor Andrew Ritchie started Brompton in 1975. Yes, Brompton has a big anniversary next year! Often, though, we associate the pioneering folding bicycle with the daily commute from car to train to underground (a quick coffee pit stop) and then the office. 

But let’s forget the commute for a minute. What about traveling on holiday with your Brompton? What about taking a Brompton 4,000 miles across the Atlantic from London to Antigua in the Caribbean? It can’t be that difficult, right? 

I started to imagine cycling so close to the ocean and taking in the scenery, stopping at the last minute at a beach, a cafe, a bar - whatever I want. Folding up the Brompton and just enjoying the freedom. Yes, again, I pondered, it can’t be that difficult to get it there. 

We were heading to Antigua on location to review the best luxury resorts on the Island - read our review of Antigua’s only Relais & Châteaux resort, Curtain Bluff. 

How do you fly and travel on an airplane with a Brompton?

So this bright idea came after I had booked our tickets with British Airways. Airlines such as British Airways, provide a portal for approved press/journalists. Via this press portal airlines offer marginal discounts on airfares, depending on the time of year. Let’s just say this was an incredibly expensive time to fly! We went for standard economy tickets with a baggage allowance of 23kg - the usual. 

The convenient thing about flying with a Brompton instead of your conventional bicycle is that when it folds it fits into a suitcase that passes as a piece of luggage — And there’s no need to say there’s a bike inside; You don’t need to add a Brompton as a bike or special equipment on your booking.

Now, there’s a few YouTube videos of Brompton enthusiasts suggesting you buy secondhand Samsonite hard cases on Gumtree, Craig’s List, EBay etc for hardly anything and use them. 

In preparation for the flight with the Brompton I spent a lot of time looking into purchasing a secondhand Samsonite but then I decided against it. I had limited time before traveling, didn’t want to purchase the wrong sized case and didn’t feel like traveling, in some cases, a few hours to pick one up. 

It’s also a hassle to check all the dimensions of the older Samsonites and whether the airlines still accept them as conventional suitcases or now see them as oversized. 

Although, this all depends on budget and the time you have. 
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Which case should you use? Best practice for packing and flying with your Brompton. 

I added an extra suitcase onto my booking which gave me 23kg to play with. The Brompton C-Line Explore 6-gear weighs 12.2kg giving you, let’s say, 11kg extra to be on the safe side (excluding the weight of the case). 

If you’re going on a city break such as to Oslo, the lighter 2-gear models would be ideal. 

There’s a few (almost) hassle free options of which case to use to carry your Brompton when traveling. 

• Brompton Padded Folding Bike Transit Travel Bag - £165 

Now, Brompton’s own travel bag is light-weight, has straps to carry the bike on your shoulder (although not easy) and has wheels to push the folded bike along. 

I tested Brompton’s travel bag out ahead of time, packing my Brompton and taking it across London in the bag — on the Underground through train stations and gates and onto the packed train home. 

Although the wheels were a welcome break to carrying the 12kg across London, the fact these wheels don’t turn made it a bit unruly at times. And running into any bump in the pavement caused the bag to dip forward and stop. It’s like an extra wheel at the front is needed to make this thing turn and stabilise everything. 

So I came to the conclusion not to use the Brompton Transit Travel Bag for the flight. It’s a great bag to protect things whilst, maybe, transporting things in the car but not something I would check in as hold luggage. 

Yes, again, there are YouTube videos suggesting to cut up water floats and add them to the fragile parts of the bike if you want to use this bag. Brompton Bicycles are expensive and desirable, though. If you want your Brompton to go undetected by airport baggage handlers, a Brompton carry case is probably not the right option for you. 

If you’re not a pessimist like me and trust airport staff, can be bothered to add extra protective foam to your Brompton and around £165 sounds reasonable to you, then there’s some really helpful videos on preparing your Brompton for this bag. 

• B&W International Folden Case - £260 approx.

This was actually the case I went for and I am very impressed with the build quality. I’m quite tall and something that really bugs me about flying is suitcases with telescopic handles that aren’t long enough to stop the case from chopping at your heels. The B&W Folden’s handle is more than long enough. 

Yes, I’ve read reviews of other Folden users who criticise the movement or play in the handles as they are extended to maximum. Yes, it’s noticeable but they more than catered for the weight of the Brompton plus another 2kgs of filming equipment, too.

The cases also come with two locks, a sturdy strap and a solid hard shell to secure everything in place. Inside there’s a thin layer of foam on either side of the case for your Brompton to rest safely on. 

The Folden case, you could say, was made for the Brompton. The bike does fit quite snug inside but there’s still room to fit some folded clothing or other items around it. Keep an eye on the total weight though as one of the downsides of the bag is it’s pretty weighty on its own - around 8kg so if you’re traveling with the 11.3kg Brompton C-Line then you’re getting close to the weight limit. Lastly, the hardcase gets a little bruised after traveling across the Atlantic - a few marks will easily appear on the shell after being thrown around in transit. 

What would I change about the case? I’d add two extra wheels and make them 360 degree functional. Yes, the telescopic handle does collapse on its own sometimes as well. 

But aside from that, this is probably the best case to use right now to travel with your Brompton Bicycle on an aeroplane. Pricewise it’s a little steep but so is the cost of a Brompton. And so the price to keep it safe, £265 is worth it. 

So to sum it all up, I obviously went for the B&W case for a number of reasons. I didn’t have the time to search through used Samsonite hard cases and run the risk of purchasing the wrong one, I also was concerned about the Brompton branded case bringing too much attention to what’s inside and lastly, I just wanted to arrive in Antigua, get rid of the jet lag and get riding. The B&W case allowed me to do exactly that. 

Why not read what inspired me to cycle 30 miles for the first time in 20 years when I got to Antigua. 

If this article has inspired you to write cycling into your travel plans, or even consider purchasing your first Brompton, get in touch, I’d love to hear your story.