English starts at 0.21
English starts at 0.21
English starts at 0.21
English starts at 0.21
English starts at 0.21
Will
good morning, thank you so much
for your time.
We are very excited to have you today
for an interview. I was wondering, I
always get the idea there's a bit of a
no-nonsense vibe from Brompton bikes. Can you
tell me something behind the philosophy
of Brompton bikes? So we can thank a
chap called Andrew Richie for the design
of the Brompton bike. Andrew right from the
start produced a bike that was useful. He
produced a bike that he wanted to use.
He lived in London, he didn't have much
space because he lived in a small flat.
He wanted to get around the city and so
designed the bike that worked for him, as
it happened the bike that worked for him, worked for
a lot of other people too. But the fundamental
philosophy has always been to produce
something that works, that's practical,
that lasts and that is a useful tool.
Okay, but are you talking about materials or
also about production, about marketing?
if you want something that is...
You know, if today we have a world
where people design in obsolescence, you
buy a hoover, you buy a dishwasher and then
three years later the thing is broken and you find
one tiny little part that is broken and the
guy goes... Yes sorry,
yeah it is broken, you have to get a
new one. You are like what?! This tiny little part
surely I can fix it. No, no, it's going to
cost you too much, better get a new one.
They don't have a spare parts. We make a bike
that is made of steel, that is braised,
two things that are rarely used today
but we use them because it means the
bike is extremely strong and lasts a long
time. We have spares that will go back 20
years, there are bikes that are 20 years old and all
of the spares are there to keep the bike
going. Because our philosophy is to create
something that lasts. And there is so few
things today, people buy phones and two years
later in the bin. People buy tons of
rubbish and they wonder why they
ever bought it.
We hope, with our product, they buy it and then
after three years are still using it,
after eight years they love it, they have been
on adventures. And that means that we
will have a strong brand because the parts
actually delivers right over the
life time of the product. For how long
does a Brompton exist at this time? It's like, well it depends.
We have a guaranty for five years on the
frame, which doesn't sound like much, but
we have some people who are
rugby players, rowers, who are
you know, 15 stone and they're riding 10-15
miles every day to work. There bike might last
10-12 years. We have some people who are
using our bike in Asia that use it at
the weekend, they will never have a
problem with that bike. That bike will last for
generations.
So, when you're designing a product
you're designing it, not for the majority
for the, you're designing it for the minority.
We are designing it for the tiny
proportion of very athletic, using it
every single day, ten-twenty miles a day.
So you need to make something strong
but obviously we try to make it light.
Because you have to lift it, so it's a perennial
challenge. But it's in terms of bikes
that are out there, folding bikes, that really
work,
we are pretty confident that we have the
one that is that the strongest
and longest living. Since you are a folding
bike company is it hard to earn your
place in the world of cycling?
Because folding bikes, from the past, they
don't always have that good of an
image. I think we're not that bothered
about the industry. We've never been
worried about, you know, having enormous
stands and being trendy, we are just interested
in making a product that works. Most of our
customers aren't cyclists anyway. They're
just people living in cities, and you
know, don't have that much space. And
want the enjoyment of a product
that makes your life a bit more
enjoyable. So
we're just obsessed with making a great
product and the people who will tell us
whether we did a good job or not is our
customer. Not so worried about the
industry is our customer and the
customer who has had the bike for five years. Are
they being well looked after, because we
don't do any direct selling. We're
obsessed with a dealer looking after our
customers. And a good bike isn't a good
bike the day you buy it, it's
when there's a problem someone is there to look
after you because you rely on the bike.
You use it all the time, we don't want it to
fail. So we're not that interested
in the industry we are interested in our
customers.
Ok yeah, can tell me why it is so
important to use a bike in a urban
environment.
Well, i'm speaking to
you and you're in the Netherlands and
that's an inspiration for us. Up over
here in the UK it's really an
inspiration, and should be an inspiration
globally, because increasingly we're
seeing that migration to cities all
over the world. We have created probably
not by design, but more by just
time, it just occurred we have created a
world of cities and people are
moving to cities. In some ways that's a
positive because it's a small area where
everyone's living so you can manage that.
The problem is we have managed it and
we've created a society where living
in cities, for many cities it is a really
unpleasant experience with congestion,
with air pollution, with people not
we all spend all day on the computer, so
the irony is
and this isn't the case in the Netherlands because
the bicycles from the seventies is being
really driven how people live. But in
the rest of the world, from the fifties
the bicycle was, we said goodbye to the bicycle.
Because that was what a poor man
rode. And you know, we want to drive the
car.
And the irony is that one of the solutions
to urban living is the humble bicycle. That has
been there quietly all along, but ignored
so often. And to bring that back into
urban living you can make so much
sense, because the distances you
travel across cities whether to be small,
you want to remove the car from
cities because that's where most people
live so you want the air to be clean as
possible rather than to be polluted. And we live
today a world where most of us are not
physically active all day at work.
So what nicer way to include some
physical activity that by going to and
from work on a bike. Or when you are nipping
across town from eating. It's just the
freedom, the fun, the speed, the ability to
stop and see. It's a complete no-brainer
but unfortunately it's an uphill
struggle because we're not there yet. But
it is coming and we're seeing changes to
infrastructure. Our government is taking
cycling seriously. Taking lead from
what is being delivered in the Netherlands
all over the world. So it's an exciting
time.
You just mentioned you are
located in London, your slogan is also
made in London. Is this a hollow marketing
slogan or is there something more behind
it?
Oh... I can't stand marketing
fluff. And I try my best to, in
everything we do at Brompton, to be as
honest as possible. And we are
incredibly honest with our staff about
everything. And exaggerated claims made
up this and the other is nothing worse.
But the reason we say made in London
because it is made in London. It is as
simple as that.
We have about 240 staff and if...
If this computer wasn't stuck to the
desk, I'd pick it up, walk
through the door and show you an enormous factory.
Because there is loads of people working.
The time is now 8 o'clock and we start
production at 7. The thing is, it
is really weird in the industry, because
everybody seems to outsource frame making.
And they might assemble it if you're lucky but
the frame making somebody else does that.
The irony is, it's the frame making that's the
most important bit. Particularly the
folding bike because the alignment has
to be spot-on and if you don't get the
frame right you'll never get your alignment
right. If you don't get the frame right
you start getting movement, and over
time it'll be plain and it won't ride nicely.
So the frame is the key bit so we have to
do that. I mean we can't outsource that to
anyone else, they will screw it up. So
for the frame making it's all done in
house, we take raw material and we'll
bend it and form it and will we have some
assembly jigs, it's all brazed by hand. And the
the guys gone about a three apprenticeship
to braze.
Soon we will have the factory open so
people can come and see it for themselves.
And realize it's just a fact, not a slogan, it's the truth.
it's really made in London, yeah that's
really cool.
What's it like to be CEO at
Brompton? Well, it's a lot of fun, it's a privilige and
it's quite a responsibility because when
I joined the company they were 25 of us
there now
more like 250. And it's important that I look after the
company, not only for our customers but also
for our staff and our suppliers. But it is
pretty incredible because we make
everything, we make the jigs, we
make the fixtures, we have 3d printers we have
some of the best designers. We have very
powerful computers, we have testing
equipment.
I mean, you know it's like some sort of
children's dream. We can make anything
we like, and if we want experiment, just like:
hey, let's try this, let's make a
prototype, let's give it a go. We're doing
luggage, it's just fun!
Not everything works, sometimes it doesn't
work, but we find out and we try. And then when it
works we go: great! Let's do a bit more of that.
Cool.
because you make so many parts as a
company yourself, is that also why you
choose to offer Brompton as a
custom-built?
Funny enough not particularly, we
are
with, the Brompton is a unique design and
it's so unusual, it demands parts
that are made specifically for it. In the
early days Andrew used children's (bike) parts,
anything to get a hold off. He didn't have
any money, so he used children's bike wheels,
children's bike breaks, and they were awful.
But that's all he had. Overtime as the
company got bigger we designed our own. So
the brakes our own design, the cranks are
or own design, the derailleur, the hub gear,
extrusion for the rim is our own design. Every
very little detail we, take control up,
because it improves the performance and
if you take 100 little details and make them better then
the entire feeling of the bike changes.
And you can't put your finger on it but
it just feels nice and that attention to
detail is something that we are
obsessed by. And there is deep, deep,
engineering in the bike. With respect to
'made for you' respect for making your
own bike. That comes from really our
customer demand. In the early days you
could get only one type of bike and it was
red and black. And overtime that's grown and
grown and because,
we are selling to customers, when you go
down the street in london,
nobody's wearing the same clothes.
They've got different clothes on, some
people like this type, this style, and so
they want to be personable. I want to say
something about who they are, that's what
our clothes say. But it's what everyone
sees. So if it's, fine for your
clothes then, it's fine for your bike. People
want to have a bike that ruff says
something about them. And we can do that
because we make the bikes here. We paint
them here, so why not offer that to our
customers so they can design what
they like. You know, in the Netherlands
your riding position is more upright.
And so you can design your bikes if
you'd like to be more upright. In Spain
they tend to be down, and more fast and
aggressive, so we will be allowing that.
We really only have one bike, and we allow the
customer to determine what's right. And
then the closer we can get to something
that the customer is happy with, the more
they're going to enjoy it. That's the
reason we do it. Because a lot of your
customers really enjoy Brompton. It's like
once you tried it, they never go to
another folding bike. That's more or less the
experience. And I also heard something about
a Brompton world championship that is
created, can you tell me something more
about it? So,
you know we we are all here for a
terrible short period of time. So we're
gonna have some fun and... one of our
distributors in Spain, this is over 10
years ago, was always frustrated by people
going all 'yes, but look at those funny wheels',
you know, how fast is the bike going to go.
And the bike rides so well, but you have
to ride it to find out. So he decided to
prove how effective and efficient the bike is
by racing it. He started with 60
people racing.
We now, that first race has grown, we have 16 races
around the world. While the male and
female winners from each race, are flown to
London to race in the world championship.
The world championship is right in the center
of London, opposite Buckingham Palace.
We have about 500 people racing, but of
course with Brompton, it's a Le Mans start. So
the bikes are folded. We're an urban bike
so we won't have any lycra. It's jacket
and tie, a 15 kilometer race and it is epic.
And they go flying down the mile
past Buckingham Palace, we have about
20,000 spectators. It's great fun and
that's what it's about. Cycling
isn't some elitist sport
It's for everyone. You know, and it's
something we all learned, it gives you
freedom and we want to encourage more
people to do. That sounds awesome, I think
especially in cycling sometimes people
forget it's also fun. Especially
if you have a bike that you like. So I
think it's a great initiative. I
really like it, I like it a lot.
I also know that you have been working
very hard on the Brompton e-bike. Can you
something
about it? Because I know it's
in the works for quite a long time now.
It has been, to be
absolutely honest it's taken us really
10 years. That's been a very long
journey and I have seen myself
getting old over the period. But we
initially started by
we sought out an opportunity. And initially
we tried to develop the drive system. We
couldn't put a normal drive system on a Brompton,
they are too heavy, too bulky.
So right from the outset, we knew we had to
design our own. Designing a drive system
that is small enough, light enough,
compact enough to fit on a Brompton is
a seriously difficult job. We spent
6 years with a partner and eventually
we had to withdraw, because it was too
difficult for them. And we hit a technical
impossibility, and is was a real blow. But we had
to extract ourselves and start all over
again.
We learned a lot from it. We had to
start all over again, we went closer to
home and we spent the last four years
working with Williams, the f1 team. And taking
the KERS technology out of their
F1 cars, and shrinking it, and evolving it,
and getting it into our bike. But we are
very close to having something that is
quite exciting. And it is...
It works. It is no good having a folding bike with
an electric drive in it that you can't lift. Or
that your arm falls off. Even the thing that
we're producing, I would love it to
be lighter. But it's about as lite as you can
get today, and still deliver the
support that you need.
So it is very exciting,
I definitely want one, and hopefully we
will be launching it quite soon.
Well we look forward to it anyway and
we'll see it when it
gets here. Maybe on a more personal
note, but is there anything you'd like to
change or add to this world?
We at Brompton have now made about
half a million bikes. So there are about half a million Bromptons
whizzing around-the-world. We export about
80 percent of the bikes that we make to
44 countries around the world. And I'm 42,
I maybe got another 40 years
in me. I would like to change how
people live in cities. And we've started, and
we've definitely had an impact. In London
there are about 100,000 Bromptons.
You can not visit the city
without seeing our bikes.
That's one city in the world and there
are many more cities that.. are somehow ignorant of the
opportunity, and the fun, and the freedom, and
happiness that comes with with cycling.
If we can create products that
make living in the city easier, because
they fold, they are convenient, and they have clever well thought
trough electric drive system, integrated
luggage. Products that people really
enjoy using,
then more people want them. And then they will use them.
And that's that's what I've been
got to keep doing, and we've started but we've got a lot to
to do. Is this a exciting time?
Well we just moved factories which is
pretty exciting after 18 years at the
last factory. So we moved to a new
factory, that was pretty scary. But it's
scary and exciting at the same time. Whe
are now in, I don't know if you can see it. But this is
the office, it looks enormous. And it needs to
be enormous because we're here for
the next 15 years. So it has room for growth.
It is an exciting time, we've got
a new factory, we've got our electric
bike which is due to launch. We've got
a whole load of other cool ideas.
And we are trying to have a bit of fun! Because
life is too short and we spend lot's of time at work
so let's hope we enjoy it.
Will, thank you so much
for your time today. We are really happy
to have you talk to us today. I wish you
good luck with the new factory, with the
development of the ebike, and everything
else that you guys are doing over there
to
help urban cycling.
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