Superlight electric Brompton...and it's DIY

Not content with reducing the weight of his Brompton to a feather-light 7.1KG, retired engineer Derek Cranage has once again beaten the British folding bike specialists at their own game by producing his own battery-powered version. The bike is a Brompton conversion where everything apart from the main frame has been replaced with lightweight parts and many purpose made items in carbon fibre, aircraft aluminium and titanium. Every item has been selected for its weight down to the last gram so every nut and bolt is titanium.

The results are an electric folding bike that folds almost as small as a Brompton and weighs just under 10KG with the battery, or 10.4KG with a long-range battery giving 36-mile+ range. This compares to the factory electric Brompton, which weighs in at 16.6KG.

As well as bettering the specifications of a standard Brompton, Derek Cranage seems quicker about his work, too. The Brompton Electric was in development for over six years whereas Derek's bike was designed and built over a 2 year period.

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