by Charlie Evans, Interim Head of Faculty
Year 11 learners studying Engineering Manufacture visited Brompton Bicycle Limited’s HQ in Greenford, West London.
"Brompton Bikes are banging! Best bikes in the business!" said Omari, a Year 11 learner who went on the visit.
Hidden away on an industrial estate in the UB1 area is one of the most impressive companies in Britain. Brompton Bicycle has been one of the leading manufacturers of folding bicycles since Andrew Ritchie, its founder, created the first design 45 years ago.
Brompton Bicycle has had so much success because of its compact folding mechanism, but more importantly because of the subtle curve in the crossbar that allows it to fold down to just 585mm high x 565mm long x 270mm wide.
Learners were treated to a demonstration of how to fold it down and were challenged to beat the world record of collapsing the bike in just 4.21 seconds. After trying and failing to beat the record learners, they were led to the top deck of the factory. From where they could see the entire 980m long factory floor, busy with mechanics, designers, machine operators and many more types of engineers.
From here learners were led down into the factory itself to see the brazers. Brazing (is a technique of joining metals by melting and cooling brass) and requires a lot of skill. Each operator’s work is scrutinised by the quality control team to ensure only the best builds make their way up the assembly line. Learners were able to inspect parts as they were being manufactured, and see lots of new engineering machinery. They were amazed by Brompton’s ingenious vertical storage system.
Brompton bikes are tailored to the customer with millions of permutations of colour, racks, mud guards, reflectors and many other parts that customers can choose from. Learners witnessed each bicycle being built by hand and then being packaged there and then ready to be delivered. From brazing to end inspection a bike takes about four and half hours to build.
Louie, a learner, said, "the tour was interactive and a lot of fun, especially getting a chance to ride the new electric bikes at the end."
