Season 3, Episode 9 – Will Butler-Adams

Season 3, Episode 9

The “Weird Little Bike” That Changed Will Butler-Adams’ Life

Will Butler-Adams is the CEO and a major shareholder of one of the most iconic bicycle brands in the world, Brompton.

These folding bikes with small wheels and a unique kink in their frame’s top tube were invented by Guy Ritchie in London and first sold in 1975. Although they’ve been much refined the design is still largely unchanged, half a century on.

You’d probably surprised to learn that Brompton employs over 750 people worldwide and has made as many as 90,000 bikes in a single year.

These quirky bicycles are sold globally but remarkably, still all made in London.

That’s where I recently visited Will. 

After a fascinating factory tour hosted by one of his team members, Will kindly gave me an uninterrupted hour of his valuable time, followed by posing for photos that you’ll see in our show notes.

I’d met Will previously and already knew two things about him, that he’s a great communicator and that he’s passionate. Of course, he is passionate about the company that he’s devoted a quarter century of his life to, but even more so he’s passionate about what bikes can do for humanity.

Just days after I recorded this interview with Will, Actor Cate Blanchett was caught on video riding her Brompton home after giving a theatre performance in London.

It was a scene not unlike when Timothée Chalamet rode a Lime Bike to the London premiere of A Complete Unknown.

What’s Up?

Phil and Sara recently attended the National Transport Conference, in Brisbane, Australia. It was held at the Brisbane Convention Centre, which is directly across the Brisbane River from the city centre. There are no less than four car free bridges linking the city to the opposite bank of this wide river, all of them relatively newly built. This one, the Kangaroo Point Bridge, is recording about 10,000 pedestrians and wheelers of all descriptions, per day.

On the opening morning of the conference Phil met Squeaky Wheel Podcast listener Marina Alexander, who is undertaking a PhD studying shared paths. She said her favourite podcast episodes so far have been with Prue Oswin (Season 2 Episode 9) and Ana Carboni (Season 3 Episode 5).

Phil and Sara loved the conference but missed riding their bikes…