Moonee Ponds Creek Trail – Sunday 31 March 2019

Our end of month ride for March is a longer one, but it will be broken up with a lunch stop half way and there is an option to catch a train back from near the lunch stop if you don’t feel up to riding the whole distance.

Planned route for March end of month ride

Meeting at Velo Cycles at 10am, we’ll follow Capital City Trail to Flemington Bridge Station then change over to Moonee Ponds Creek Trail. From there we ride upstream all the way to Westmeadows, where we’ll stop for lunch at Westmeadows Tavern (a pub).

Yee-har! This photo was taken around the back of the joint. We’ll go in to the bar at the front.

After lunch, we back-track slightly to the Western Ring Road Path (which runs alongside the Western Ring Road – no surprises there, surely?). It’s a short but steep climb from Moonee Creek up to Jacana Train Station. If you aren’t planning to ride the whole circuit, there are a couple of options to catch a train back to Flemington (where Moonee Ponds Creek Trail joins Capital City Trail), and Jacana is the first. Refer to the images below for other options.

Options for a return train

Stations near Flemington Bridge

I have checked and as at the time of posting, there are no planned works (at all!) on either the Craigieburn or Upfield lines…

Here are the important details if you can make it along:

Official Start/Finish point: Velo Cycles, 815 Nicholson Street, Carlton North. You can find parking along Park Street, or it’s a short ride from Rushall Station, or it’s a 3km ride from Parliament Station. Meet at 9:50am to ride by 10am

Secondary meeting point: Flemington Bridge, where Moonee Ponds Creek Trail meets Capital City Trail. MPCT does a bit of a loop to come up to street level and there’s plenty of room to gather off to the side of the path. Meet about 10:10am to ride by 10:15am

If you’re running late to either meeting point, please message me to let me know!
If we aren’t already connected on FB Messenger or similar, let me know prior to the day of the ride that you intend to come and we can exchange details (e.g. by emailing me at melbournebromptonclub@gmail.com)

Ride length/duration: Moonee Ponds Creek Trail leg (from Velo Cycles to lunch stop at Westmeadows Tavern) is about 24km, and should take about 1.5-2hrs. Return leg along Western Ring Road Trail and Merri Creek Trail is approx 27km and should take about the same time.

What to bring: Water bottle, spare tube, suncream, MYKI, lunch money (if you intend to buy lunch, appropriate clothes, smiles 😀

If you have any queries or comments about this ride, please feel free to comment below. If you have a suggestion or request for a ride, please feel free to comment below.
If you’re travelling from overseas and want to catch up, please get in touch.
If you would like to share your Brompton story with us, I’d love to know! Please email me at melbournebromptonclub@gmail.com.

And finally…

A reminder that the next Brompton Maintenance Session being run at Brompton Junction Melbourne will be Sunday 14 April (the weekend before Easter). Follow this link to find out more, or to book your place.

Until next time, happy Bromptoneering! 😀

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July Brompton Events

Although curling up in your favourite spot with a hot drink and good book might sound tempting, we have a couple of events to tempt you outside to join in fun outings on (what we hope will be) a glorious winter’s day!

Brompton Maintenance Session – Sunday, 7 July (10am-1pm)

It won’t matter if the weather doesn’t co-operate fully this Sunday as we’ll be indoors at Brompton Junction learning how to keep our bikes on the road and riding with confidence!

Over 2-3hrs Cory and I will guide you through some basic Brompton maintenance. This is a hands-on tutorial session for up to 8 people. Click here for more details and to register to join.  Please note that there is a small fee for this session.

Brompton City Strollers – Saturday 13 July (10am to noon)

Brompton Bicycle Australia and Rapha Melbourne have organised a group ride from the CBD (32 Guildford Lane) along Capital City Trail, stopping in at Brompton Junction Melbourne, and finishing at Peddlr in Abbotsford.

So grab your Brompton (or hire one from us!) and wear whatever is comfortable (Lycra is not required) and let yourself be ‘tickled pink’ as roadies discover how much fun Bromptons really are to ride. Register your interest here.

MBC Ride – Meet Felipe from Singapore! – Sunday 14 July (from 10:30am)

If you aren’t lucky enough to have met Felipe Ong before, now is your chance! Famous in Singapore (as ‘The Minister’) and throughout the international Brompton community, Felipe is visiting Melbourne for the weekend of 13-14 July.

Our MBC ride will be on Sunday 14 July, starting at Federation Square from 10:30am. Where we ride will be decided upon on the day by group consensus, but is likely to be a gentle ride around the CBD to take in the local icons. Lunch afterwards is likely to be at a foodcourt at Southgate where there is plenty of room for a fold of Bromptons (and their riders) and we can enjoy the parade of people and boats going by.

MBC end of month ride – Sunday 28 July

I’d like to suggest the Western Ring Road Path but I’m also open to ideas for where you’d like to ride. We haven’t ridden the Anniversary Trail for a while, so that could be an option, too.

Comment if you have a ride route suggestion and can join us.

As always, happy Bromptoneering!

Product Review – Commuter Bag “By M”

Commuter Bag “By M”

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been using a bag “By M” as my primary front luggage option on my Brompton for the purposes of reviewing it and providing feedback to you, as potential buyers, as well as the supplier/designer.

Like many bags in the stock Brompton range, the “By M” commuter bag is made of the familiar hard-wearing black Cordura fabric. It has two zip up pouches at the rear, padded shoulder strap, Velcro strips and buckle-fastened front flap, internal laptop sleeve, and is designed to fit on an S-Bag luggage frame. The bright orange lining eliminates dark recesses and myserious ‘black holes’ appearing in your bag, making it easy to find what you know you put in there.

“By M” bag has two zippered pouches at the rear

An older 15″ Macbook Pro, plus lunch, purse, sunglasses and (hidden below) rolled up rain cape

(Click on the photos to enlarge)

Unlike either an S-Bag or C-Bag, the bag “By M” has many more pouches and zippered pockets, mainly at the front of the bag, giving this more of a messenger-bag feel than the stock options. There is another small zippered pocket on the LH side (when you’re looking at the bag from the front) and a mesh pocket to tuck the shoulder strap in when you’re riding on the other side. 

At 25L, the bag “By M” has the same capacity as a C-Bag but wins on looks with the contrasting orange stitching, and has the added bonus of being suitable for all handlebar types.

My current commute is quite short (just under 1km), but sometimes I go grocery shopping after work – this means my ‘usual’ front bag is anything from a Mini O to an S-Bag or one of my larger shopping baskets.

While I haven’t needed to use the multiple pockets, the bag’s capacity has certainly come in handy for shopping and in my general day-to-day usage.

“By “M commuter bag holds plenty of groceries

“By M” commuter bag looks good on a Brompton too!

Riding home with bag “By M”

Melbourne’s wet start to winter has given me the opportunity to test the “By M” in the rain (light to moderate showers, over <1km), from which I have concluded that it is a good idea to purchase  a rain cover for the bag, especially if you intend to use the pocket in the front flap.

The Cordura is hard-wearing, but not weather proof

The top pocket quickly gets rather wet inside

With respect to reflectivity, the toggles on the zippers work surprisingly well to reflect light when a light is shone right at them, but they’re not large enough to look like anything more than fireflies in the night.

With flash, close up

With flash, from a couple of metres away

In conclusion, it looks good, it’s easy and pleasant to use. If you’ve been trying to find a bag with more pockets to organise your life and one with plenty of capacity this is definitely the bag for you. If you don’t find that you need more pockets than what the Brompton bag comes with, then you’d simply buy for the look.

My suggestions for improvements are:

• Stiffening the rear pockets so the zippers can be more easily used single-handedly
• Changing the direction of the zippers on the rear pockets so they close towards the centre of the bag
• Water proof zippers

The retail price of $210.00 does not include:

1. Bag Frame (400mm x 260mm) – necessary to attach to your front luggage block (RRP $50.00)
2. Front Luggage Block (if your Brompton wasn’t purchased with one) RRP $34.99
3. Rain Cover (highly recommended) $24.99

The commuter bag “By M” is designed in Australia, and hand made in Malaysia. Only 50 of these individually numbered bag are currently available for purchase. The bag “By M” retails for $210.00 and is available by contacting Amran at ariffin.amran@gmail.com.  If you are keen to purchase the one pictured, you can also contact me at melbournebromptonclub@gmail.com

Bromptons vs Pennyfarthings – Sunday 2 June, 2019

Calling all Bromptoneers!

Since we (well, Cranky Dan) stole the win from under the noses of the Pennyfarthing racers in 2017 at Brunswick Velodrome, another showdown has been talked about and talked about… and now it’s on!

The Brompton pips the Penny Farthing! pic.twitter.com/fSwOPMXYCn

— Bicycle Network (@bicycle_network) June 11, 2017

But – we need YOU to make this happen!

Where: Hawthorne Velodrome, Patterson Reserve, 153 Robinson Rd, Hawthorn
When: Sunday 2 June, noon to 2pm
Dress: BWC style (i.e. no (visible) Lycra) would be great but whatever you’re going to be most comfortable in.
What to bring: Food, drink, bicycle, helmet, phone/camera, sense of fun! (All the usual)

After the fun and frivolity at the track, you are invited to view the Farren Collection in Richmond where there will also be light afternoon refreshment available at this time.

Please advise if you intend to ride at the velodrome. Definitely contact myself (melbournebromptonclub@gmail.com) or Pennyfarthing Dan (Dan Bowell – dan1870pf@gmail.com) by if you would also like to come to view the Farren Collection afterwards.

RSVP for ride and Farren Collection by 30 May 2019!