Brompton unfolds plans for bike subscription service
Folding bike maker's new subscription service is geared at the growing number of people who have embraced cycling during the pandemic
British bike maker Brompton is set launch a subscription service next month amid a surge in the popularity of cycling during the pandemic.
People who sign up to the initiative will pay £30 a month for one of the bike manufacturer's iconic folding bikes if they sign up for a 12-month contract, or £42 a month for a rolling monthly contract. Both schemes include free insurance for theft and damage and two services a year.
Speaking at a media launch yesterday, managing director Julian Scriven said that demand for all the company's products and services, including bike rentals, had been "astronomical" over the last few months, with more than 700 bikes out on hire at the end of July, according to The Guardian.
Bike sales have risen sharply during the pandemic as growing numbers of Britons turned to biking as an alternative to public transport as they sought to maintain socially-distancing. Bike sales surged by 60 per cent in April, according to the Bicycle Association.
Scriven said the new subscription service is geared at millennials and Generation X customers who "want the benefits of owning something but none of the downside. If things go wrong, you hand it back and say: 'I'll have one without a puncture please'".
Brompton, which was founded in 1975 and is the UK's largest bike manufacturer, already has a bike hire scheme where riders pay a one-off fee of £6.50 to hire a bike for a day, or £3.50 if they pay a £25 annual fee.
But Brompton's new service has been designed to allow users to keep bikes for as long as they want, in response to the growing number of bike hire customers who opted to keep their bikes for longer periods of time over the pandemic.
"This new subscription service will revolutionise the way people own a bike, giving them a premium product without the upfront price tag," Scriven said. "It's an option to make everyone's life easier, whether you're a commuter, student, family or just want to cycle on the weekends but don't want to commit or have the space to own a bike forever."
Brompton said it hopes to follow its UK launch with similar schemes in Germany and the US.
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