There will be three stops on this mystery route [1] Entree an early chance for a light snack and a refreshing drink [2] Mains a chance for a nourishing dinner [3] A light dessert
Please bringing working front and rear lights Please note that the ride will be cancelled if the forecast for 5:30pm is higher than 32c in the forecast issued 24 hours prior.
Reminder: The Christmas ride is this Sunday (21 December) at 11:00am. The weather is looking cooler (23c), but a chance of a shower. Details available from December 2025 Social Ride – Brickmakers Arms Brompton post.
If you haven’t let me know that you are coming please do so by leaving a note on the Adelaide Bromptoneering Feedback page. This helps with planning the table for lunch at the Brickmakers Arms.
We have prizes thanks to Brompton Australia and Treadly. There will be a prize for the best dressed bike and/or rider, a prize for the fastest unfold, and a couple of door prizes.
There will be Christmas soundtrack this year. I’ll be playing it from my low powered portable IKEA blue tooth speaker. If you’d like to simulcast it to your own speaker then make sure you have downloaded DJ Riko’s 2025 Merrymixmas from this website https://djriko.com/merry-mixmas-mixes/ to your preferred portable device.
I’ve included some photos from last year’s Christmas ride for inspiration.
First ride for 2026
The first ride for 2026 will be a progressive dinner starting at 5:30pm on the Wednesday January 14 2026. Save the date!
This year, both Brompton Australia and Treadly are supporting our Christmas Ride and Lunch with some great prizes. There will be a best dressed bike prize, best dressed human prize, fastest unfold prize, and some lucky door prizes.
The routes for 2026 will be announced. This will include the routes for the Canberra Takeover in April.
If you are coming and haven’t yet registered please do so on this “feedback page”. This allows us to ensure that there is enough space around the lunch table after the ride! Please let me know in a note if a non-riding companion is joining you.
Get your very own Adelaide Bromptoneering Calendar
We had a great time with our regular Adelaide Bromptoneering rides. We have created the perfect souvenir of 2025. The Adelaide Bromptoneering Calendar 2026. It’s available now as a PDF by following the link.
Sneak Peek
The first ride for 2026 will be Wednesday the 14th of January starting at 5:30pm. So please add this to your calendar.
The reason for the odd time and the odd day is that the first ride for 2026 will be a progressive dinner. We will be visiting three local establishments in or near the CBD for entree, main and the followed by a lovely dessert.
We had a great time leading a similar ride for the Unley Bicycle User Group and thought we should share this experience with our Brompton friends.
Light ’em up
I was recently doomscrolling and came across what looked like a new and interesting set of lights specifically for Brompton Bikes. The Mini Bike Light Combo for Brompton from Magic Shine Australia. They state “The VTG lighting system is a high-performance, versatile solution designed specifically for folding bikes. Perfect for cyclists who enjoy urban commuting, leisure riding, and road cycling, the VTG system combines innovation, safety, and user-friendly design to enhance every ride.
The system includes three key products: the VTG 1000 Front Light, the VTG Wireless Remote, and the VTG 50 TL Tail Light. Together, they ensure maximum visibility and safety, all while maintaining a sleek and compact design.”
Brompton Social Ride – November 2025 – Silver Brewing Co – Adelaide
Helen and I returned from our trip to Japan yesterday. We are looking forward to riding with you again this Sunday, 23 November 2025. We leave 11am from Silver Brewing Co in Gouger Street, Adelaide. The weather is looking warm (26c-29c during the ride). Please dress appropriately and bring some sunscreen. Details about the ride are available from the November 2025 Social Ride – Silver Brewing Co post.
Our coffee stop will be at the Marion Wetlands – this is a coffee outside moment – please bring your own coffee in a thermos or the necessary coffee making equipment with you. Gail will be bringing some lovely baked items to share (looking forward to these – thanks for offering!).
If you are coming and haven’t yet registered please do so on this “feedback page”. This allows us to ensure that there is enough space around the lunch table after the ride!
Ride Calendar for 2026
Planning has commenced for Adelaide Bromptoneering’s 2026 rides. The details will be announced at our Christmas Lunch on Sunday 21 December 2025.
Do you have a favourite ride that you like to do again? Or a new venue or location you think would be great for the Bromptoneers to explore?
Please send us your suggestions be leaving a comment on this post. You can do this by simply replying to the e-mail newsletter or if you prefer you can leave it directly on the blog.
I’ve created a gallery of photos from last years rides to inspire you!
Going to Japan with your Brompton?
You can find out about Brompton Community events in Tokyo (you’ll need to turn on your translate function) from this website >> https://brompton-community.peatix.com. You can message through organiser from the website – you never know your luck in the big city.
Life with Bicycle which can be find online here >> https://lb-daikanyama.jp and in real life near Daikanyama, also a district of Shibuya. Life with Bicycle was the shop that fixed my bike last year after my pedal “bolt” broke in the crank. Very helpful!
Loro Slowspot which can be find online here >> http://www.loro.co.jp and in real life their Tokyo branch can be found in Nihonbashi, a district of Chuo City. When our friend forgot to bring her frame for her front bag, they helped us out by lending us one for the trip!
Rinproject makes a bunch of interesting gear for Brompton and other bikes. They can be found online here >> https://www.rinproject.com/index.html and in real life in Matsugaya, in Taito City.
Blue Lug has cool gear for all sorts of bikes, including Brompton. They can be found online here >> https://bluelug.com. They have three shops in Tokyo – I’ll let you Google them. Apparently, they also run a custom paint shop, a cafe and a barber!
If you happen to be heading down to the Shimanami Kaido next month, then you might able to join the Brompton in Palace meeting on 21 December 2025 in Sentoda. We have been to a few Brompton in Palace meetings when they were held in Tokyo. We met many liked minded Brompton friends.
I’ve included some photos from last trip to encourage you. And finally a shout out to Alison and Sam who are in Tokyo as I type.
Our ride in Chiba’s country side continued as we winded our away country paths between farms and adjacent to rivers. Our next stop was the Sakura Lavenderland.
While it wasn’t the season for lavender’s to flower – in the adjacent fields there certainly were some pretty flowers to be seen. Asako-san told us that:
In Japan the lavender fields of Furano in Hokkaido are famous. Therefore, at Sakura Lavenderland soil improvement was carried out to help lavender adapt to the hot and humid climate of Chiba Pretecture, and planting began in spring of 2003. Currently, the 13,600-square-meter farm cultivates tour varieties totaling 13,600 lavender plants.
Our next stop on a Chiba Cycling tour was the former Sakura City Shizu Elementary School (Aosuge Branch). It was designated a tangible cultural property in 2020. Asako-san told us that:
Aosuge Branch School is a single story wooden schoolhouse with a tile roof, built in 1955. (twas preserved even after ceasing to function as a branch school, retaining much of its original appearance. This small wooden school building features a staff room beside the entrance, with just two classrooms arranged along a single corridor. Despite being a post World War II structure, it incorporates design elements from prewar wooden school building such as clapboard siding and wooden fittings.
We rounded out this part of the ride with a delightful afternoon tea spot at Cafe Hiyori.
Those of you who have followed this blog for while would know that Helen loves to visit a library or two. This visit was no different. Asako-san was prepared to show us the local Yachiyo City Public Library. Fortunately, there is a no photos policy in the library, you only get to see a small number of photos of the outside of the library. Asako-san told us that:
Yachiyo Public Library has over 350 seats. This includes private rooms and study rooms, providing a comfortable environment for studying. Located along the Shinkawa river, it was built as a lifelong learning hub, designed around the concept of “a place for learning, relaxation, gathering, and information.” Its bright space incorporates abundant natural light. Children’s books are placed near the entrance, with general and reference books arranged further inside, creating a layout suited to different age groups.
We would like to thank Asako-san and the kind people in Chiba Prefecture we met on this ride. It was truly an informative and magical experience.
Wednesday’s ride was inspired by the Tokyo Biennale.
Held every two years, the Tokyo Biennale is an international art festival that sets the city of Tokyo as its main stage. The festival aims to dig deep into the city, as it is created together with the area’s local citizens, as well as a wide variety of artists and creators from around the world. The theme of the Tokyo Biennale 2025 is “Wander for wonder.”
It was a loop route of about 20km that started and finished at our hotel in Suidobashi. We took in the sights of Tokyo Dome, Hongo, Ueno, Akihabara, Bakurocho, Nihonbashi, Kanda and Ochanomizu.
The first part of the ride involved visiting Tokyo Dome and then travelling through some small streets with traditional scenes of Tokyo life ending at a Yayoiken a chain store that did provide a lovely breakfast.
We continued on through Tokyo University through some more back streets towards Ueno Park adjacent to Yanaka Cemetery. We stopped of for some matcha and wagashi before arriving at Toeizan Kan’ei-Ji Temple. One of the two main sites for the biennale. There is usually some obvious parking for bikes. But this time it wasn’t so obvious. We negotiated with the biennale staff, who negotiated with temple staff for us. We ended up parking our bikes out the front entrance!
We then headed through Ueno Park towards the second of the two main venues. Etoile Kaito Living Building. This involved 6 floors of art in an abandoned department store building. But my stomach was grumbling for lunch so en-route we stopped off for a quick bite from a food truck.
A bit of holiday fatigue was setting in towards the end of the day. So not so many photographs of us weaving through the busy entertainment district of Kanda. But, I can show the Comfort Stand in Ochanomizu where we had our first coffee of the day and some cheesecake.
Once again credits to the Social Media Manager for the most excellent photos.
If you’d like to do this ride you have until 14 December!
Horray for wi-fi on a plane. I planned this route on the way to Japan high in the sky JL52. I was using Strava to plan this route – but is quite surprising that a premium paid product is almost useless for route planning in Japan. I typed in Tokyo as a location and it kindly offers suggestions of restaurants in the United States. In any case, I persisted using a combination of Google Maps (very useful for street view) and Strava to plan this route. The goal was to start and finish at trains stations along to Sobu line – the line that is literally only a few steps from our hotel.
The route includes a the opportunity for many good coffees! We had one from Little Nap Coffee Stand, a ride around Yoyogi Park, Blue Lug (if it’s open!), Planet of Curry, some vintage shopping, great back street riding in some interesting areas, and a afternoon tea at Petite Patisseries Yuki. If you had more time you could add a ride through/to the old Olympics site, visit Harajuku and cat street and Nakano Broadway.
Here are some photos to whet your appetite. I have to credit these photos to our most excellent Social Media Manager!
