The Brompton: Engineering for Change

Description

Lightweight, compact, and now, electric: the cityscape has been forever changed by the addition of the Brompton bike, with its distinctive style and clever folding design. For over forty years, the Brompton's modular design has remained virtually unchanged. It has stood not only the test of time but every financial crash since 1976, Brexit, and COVID-19, not to mention every other risk which any business faces. Where, then, did this ingenious feat of engineering come from? Who were the minds behind it? And how did a small company grow to become one of the biggest cycling brand names in the world? This is not only the first look behind the scenes at Brompton Bicycle Ltd, but a masterclass in entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and scaling a business.

Will Butler-Adams is a chartered engineer and CEO of Brompton Bicycle Limited. He was appointed OBE in the 2015 New Year Honours, has featured in multiple publications including the FT, and delivered talks for Google and PwC. Dan Davies is a journalist and former regulatory economist at the Bank of England. He works as an analyst for a number of investment banks and has written for the FT and New Yorker.

'This is the story of the Brompton bicycle, and the company that made it. The story of the people who built the company and how and why we did what we did. It's a story about brazing, and titanium, and distributor networks and management buyouts and paint inspection. The Brompton isn't the only folding bike in the world and it wasn't the first ... But we have a vision. Quite simply, we want to change people's lives' - From the Introduction