Small Bike, Serious Workout: Racing the Brompton World Championship

A folding bike might not be the first machine that comes to mind when you think about cycling performance. But after racing the Brompton World Championship at Lee Valley VeloPark, Richard Branson discovers that small wheels can deliver a surprisingly serious workout — and perhaps a different way of thinking about cycling fitness.

There are certain pieces of fitness equipment that immediately announce their intentions. Carbon road bikes, aero helmets and skin-tight race kit leave little doubt that performance is the objective. A Brompton is different. Folded beside a railway platform, it looks practical, compact and unmistakably urban. But put hundreds of them onto a race circuit at Lee Valley VeloPark and suddenly that familiar little folding bike becomes something else entirely.

The Brompton World Championship 2026 brought together more than 650 riders from around the world for the biggest edition of the event to date. Across nine qualifying heats, competitors raced five laps of the circuit before the fastest progressed to the men's and women's finals. The format begins with Brompton's brilliantly chaotic Le Mans-style start: bikes remain folded while riders line up away from them, before sprinting across the track, unfolding their machines and getting onto the circuit as quickly as possible.

For me, it meant swapping the usual RB100 fitness challenges for something rather different.

The fold is only the beginning

I have owned my Brompton since 2016 and, although folding bikes are still widely associated with commuters hopping between bicycles and trains, mine has never been restricted to getting around town.

One of its biggest tests came when I cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats over 12 days to raise money for Hospice in the Weald. Riding the length of Britain means dealing with long days in the saddle, hills, changing surfaces, unpredictable weather and the accumulated fatigue that arrives when you have to get back on the bike the following morning and do it all again.

It was a reminder that endurance isn't necessarily about having the most obvious piece of performance equipment. Your cardiovascular system doesn't care whether you're riding a folding bike or the latest carbon superbike. Put in the distance, elevation and effort and your body still has to respond.

Cycling has also become part of an annual trip with three friends. Every year we disappear for a week somewhere in the UK or Europe, taking our Bromptons and using them to explore. That's where the bike's unusual combination of portability and rideability becomes particularly useful. You can cycle through a city, cover meaningful distances and then fold the bike to continue the journey by train, car or other transport.

From a fitness perspective, I like that flexibility. Exercise becomes part of the adventure rather than something that has to be scheduled separately.

Racing changes everything

The World Championship presented a completely different challenge.

The race itself is short enough that there is nowhere to hide. Rather than settling into the rhythm of a long endurance ride, you are repeatedly accelerating, cornering, pushing the pace and trying to maintain your position. Add the sprint to the bike and the pressure of getting it unfolded quickly, and the heart rate rises before you've properly started cycling.

There is also something refreshing about an event that manages to be competitive without taking itself too seriously. Lycra is famously banned, which immediately changes the atmosphere. Riders embrace jackets, shirts, ties and increasingly inventive outfits while simultaneously trying to ride as fast as possible.

This year also introduced the BWC Relay Race, and I somehow found myself joining Brompton staff to take part. It added another burst of racing to the day and reinforced something we sometimes forget when talking about fitness: competition can be fun.

You don't always need a meticulously periodised training programme or another session staring at performance data. Sometimes being surrounded by people who want to move, race, laugh and challenge themselves is enough to make you work considerably harder than planned.

Testing the titanium T Line

The event also gave me the opportunity to try Brompton's T Line, its ultralight titanium interpretation of the folding bike.

Weight matters on any bicycle, but it takes on another dimension with a Brompton because part of the design brief involves carrying the bike when you're not riding it. The T Line uses a re-engineered titanium frame alongside carbon components, with the four-speed version weighing from around 8kg depending on configuration.

Out on the track, the biggest difference is how responsive such a lightweight bike feels. Accelerating away, changing direction and getting back up to speed all feel immediate, while the compact four-speed gearing is contained within Brompton's familiar folding architecture.

Brompton has also taken the folding concept into electric bikes, including its Electric P Line. For fitness purists, electric assistance can sometimes be dismissed as making cycling "too easy", but that misses the point. Assistance can help people ride farther, tackle hills they might otherwise avoid or replace journeys that would have been completed sitting in a car.

And importantly, an electric bike doesn't prevent you from pedalling.

For someone building fitness, returning after time away from exercise or simply trying to increase the amount of movement within everyday life, the ability to adjust the level of assistance can make cycling considerably more accessible.

Fitness that fits into life

We often think about fitness as something requiring dedicated time: drive to the gym, complete the session, drive home. But one of the simplest ways to increase activity is to build movement into journeys we already make.

Cycling to a station, riding between meetings, exploring a city by bike or taking a bicycle away for a weekend all accumulate movement without necessarily feeling like conventional training.

A folding bike adds another advantage because you aren't committed to completing the entire journey on two wheels. Ride one direction and take the train home. Cycle to dinner and put the folded bike in a taxi afterwards. Take it in the car and explore somewhere new. Travel across Europe with it and turn sightseeing into several hours of low-intensity cardiovascular exercise.

That flexibility has been one of the reasons my Brompton has remained useful for a decade.

Next year, perhaps some training...

I didn't make the World Championship final this time, although I did manage to add the relay race to my day's efforts. More importantly, it reminded me how enjoyable cycling can be when you strip away some of the seriousness surrounding performance.

The competitors at Lee Valley ranged from seriously quick racers to people clearly there for the experience, yet everyone was sharing the same circuit, the same folding ritual and the same enthusiasm for these rather unconventional bicycles.

I've completed endurance challenges on my Brompton, toured with friends, explored cities and now raced it around Lee Valley VeloPark. That is quite a range of experiences for a bicycle that can disappear beneath a desk.

So I've already made myself a promise.

Next year I might actually train for the Brompton World Championship.

Because once you've been overtaken by someone racing a folding bicycle while wearing a suit, there really is only one sensible response: come back fitter.

Explore Brompton: Brompton Bicycle

RB100 Fitness takeaway: Fitness doesn't always have to look like training. Find equipment and activities that make movement easier to fit into your life, and you'll often find yourself doing far more of it.