Titanium Brompton M6E X Almost Ready!

On Wednesday I went for a training run. Today like many of you I watched the start of the 100th Tour de France. It was an eventful beginning to what should be an incredible spectacle of athleticism. I was quite amazed that the average speed for the winner was well over 26 mph!

I decided to go a stage further with my Titanium Orange Brompton and this afternoon I took the mudguardds off, added the non mudguard nylon hook and the small metal cable protector. These last two items had not seen the light of day since the Nocturne at the start of the year.

The M6E X 

In addition to this I also took off the Brompton rear light and replaced it with the lighter rear reflector that comes as standard with Brompton bikes. With Kojaks inflated to the maximum permitted levels I took my bike out and proceeded on exactly the same route I did on Wednesday. Although slightly warmer there was not much between this evening and then. The bike felt good and now weighs only slightly over 10kg.

As I set off the bike felt different. I suspect it is all psychological but my Titanium Orange Brompton felt agile, certainly more than on Wednesday. Things felt faster somehow? As I went round the same circuit my Garmin Edge 510 was telling me that my average speed was up from last time. If I could maintain this level for the 30 minutes I had allowed myself out, I would not only achieve a higher average speed I would travel slightly further than I had on Wednesday.

Before I left the house I invited my daughters to view my progress live via the excellent live track via my Garmin and iPhone. This allowed them to view my progress on a map. Upon my return they were excitedly telling me that they loved it and it seemed to work really well. (A review of the Garmin Edge 810 and 510 to come soon).

                                  Wednesday                                               Thursday

Time:                         30.17.74                                                    30.51.32

Distance:                   8.42 miles                                                  9.01 miles

Ave Speed:               16.68 mph                                                 17.51 mph

Max Speed:               27.66 mph                                                 27.06 mph

Calories:                    673                                                            698

In my last blog post I said that I wanted to get closer to the 17 mph mark. I am surprised that I have been able to do this so soon let alone the next time I attempted this circuit.

Comparing the my the weigh of my two beloved Brompton bikes the Titanium in its near racing spec is noticeably lighter. The removal of the mudguards cannot surely account for me going slightly faster I know and is probably a placebo type reaction. Perhaps the more knowledgable out there can tell me what they think?

I really hoe that it doesn't rain for the London to Whitstable trip in a few weeks time as I would love to see how this bike performs over a longer distance. There are a few more little tweaks I need to make in the next few weeks and in the meantime I think I am going to enjoy my Titanium Orange Brompton even more!