London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

British foldable bike maker plans to launch subscription service next month as the cycling boom continues

British foldable bike maker plans to launch subscription service next month as the cycling boom continues

British folding bike maker Brompton is planning to launch a subscription service next month as part of an effort to get more people using its bikes.

The London-based firm, which has sold around 500,000 bikes worldwide, will charge subscribers £30 ($39) a month if they sign up to a 12 month contract, or £42 a month if they opt for a rolling monthly contract. In return, they get to hold onto a £1,000 Brompton M3L bike, insurance, and access to a free repair service.

Brompton Bike Hire Managing Director Julian Scriven told CNBC that “demand for bikes has gone ballistic” during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Brompton subscription offering will launch in the U.K. in September but Scriven said that he would like to launch in Germany and the U.S. next.

“I have a strong affection for Germany,” said Scriven on a phone call Tuesday. “I think it’s often a much overlooked market for cycling but it’s incredibly strong. And then if I wanted to take on the ultimate challenge, America has a lot of untapped potential.”

Brompton, now 44-years-old and with approximately 400 staff, already has a bike hire scheme that allows people to pay a one-off fee of £6.50 to hire a bike for a day. This falls to £3.50 a day if they pay a £25 annual fee.

By comparison, the Brompton subscription service will work out at around £1 a day. Users must register online and Brompton said subscribers can pick up a bike from any Brompton hub in the U.K. and keep it for as long as they need.

Unlike the Brompton bike hire scheme, there’s no fancy app for the subscription service. Users must sign up online and contact Brompton directly if they wish to change their membership or get a repair.

Scriven said the coronavirus pandemic has been changing how long people hire bikes for. Before the pandemic, people would typically hire bikes for three to four days consecutively but recently some users have been keeping the bikes for over 30 days.

The idea for the Brompton subscription service was “formulated a year ago” but it “really crystallized” when Brompton started to react to the Covid-19 crisis, Scriven said. “I wish we could have got it out a bit quicker,” he added.

Scriven has set himself what he calls a “modest target” of getting around 1,000 people signed up as subscribers within six months of the service going live and he’s expecting many of them will be young riders.

“The millennial generation and Gen X are very much into not having ownership of stuff,” he said, adding that they’re happy to rent a home or share an office. Other subscription services like Netflix, Spotify, and HelloFresh are also popular with this age group.

E-bike push?


Brompton isn’t the first company to launch a bike subscription service.

Founded in 2016, Buzzbike charges Londoners £29.99 a month for access to its bikes, while Hurrecane claims to offer the only e-bike subscription service in the U.K., with plans ranging from £40 to £60 a month.

At the end of July, Buzzbike raised £1.7 million from the heir of Adidas and other investors to fuel its growth.

Covid is driving seismic shifts in the way people move around cities,” said Tom Hares, CEO and co-founder of Buzzbike said at the time.

“Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen a record-breaking level of interest in our service,” he added. “Our latest investment round will give us the means to invest into technology, product development, key hires and capability to scale to the demand we’re witnessing.”

Over in Berlin, the founders of music streaming service Soundcloud launched an e-bike subscription start-up called Dance last month with subscriptions costing 59 euros a month.



Dance cofounders (L-R): Christian Springub, Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, and Alexander Ljung.



Brompton also makes e-bikes but Scriven said these will not initially be available through the subscription service, despite knowing the demand is there.

“The number one question in testing has been will you be offering Brompton Electric on the subscription product?” he said.

Scriven said he wants to be sure Brompton has got the model right before introducing Brompton’s electric bike, which is a “more complex” and more expensive product.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×