Restrap City Stem Bag for my Brompton

One of the things I’ve missed since acquiring my Brompton bicycle a few years ago is a way to carry a water bottle: there’s no standard water bottle, mounting bracket, and, because the bicycle folds, any solution, ideally, can remain in place when the bicycle is folded.

I’d read all sorts of reviews, looked at Amazon products, etc., but I never found something that looked like it would work.

Last month, however, Lisa and I were in Islington, a London neighborhood, where we were looking up one of her old haunts, and going to an excellent art supply store. On our rainy walk from one place to the other, I spotted a Balfe’s Bikes, and popped in to ask what they’d recommend.

They only had one suitable accessory in stock, a made-in-the-UK Restrap City Stem. I tried it out with Lisa’s water bottle, and it fit nice and snugly. I liked the design, and the method for attaching it, and how it would survive the fold, so I bought it.

I got a chance to try it out last week on an unseasonably warm late fall day.

Here’s the Restrap holding my water bottle on the unfolded Brompton:

And here’s the Restrap, still in place, on the folded bicycle:

It worked exactly as advertised, and I enjoyed ready access to water as I toddled around town on my bike running holiday errands.