Sheffield metals skills help Brompton build lightest ever folding bike
Folding bike company Brompton has hailed Sheffield’s metal manufacturing skills in creating its lightest ever bike - weighing in at 7.45kg and £3,750.
The firm created ‘Brompton Fletcher,’ a 17-strong factory on the site of historic manufacturer C W Fletcher in Wales Bar, to create titanium frames for its new ’T Line’.
They are precision-engineered and orbital and tig-welded for strength and 37 per cent lighter than the steel equivalent and just as strong, the company says.
C W Fletcher is 129 years old but still at the cutting edge. In 2019 it won a £165m contract to make jet engine parts for Rolls Royce.
Paul Williams, chief operations officer at Brompton, said finding the right partner was critical.
He added: “Working with titanium takes a high level of knowledge, experience and diligence, so finding the right partner who shared our vision and belief in what could be achieved with titanium was critical.
“Our relationship with C W Fletcher, based in Sheffield, started over seven years ago and they have a long history in manufacturing going back over 100 years.
“With them we built Brompton Fletcher, a dedicated company with a purpose-built production facility and skilled team able to work with this demanding material and fabricate these fantastic titanium frames.”
Brompton bikes are sold in 47 countries and more than 70 per cent of production is exported.
The company produces 70,000 bikes a year and more than 500,000 have hit the roads since the first was made in 1975 by inventor Andrew Ritchie.
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