Accessories for the Flamingo London NX7

 The Flamingo London NX7 with the saddle bag from my Dahon Boardwalk

One way of categorizing cyclists is by the number of accessories they put on their bike. Some are the minimalistic type, where they try not to put anything on their bikes. At the very most, they will put a teeny-weeny front blinker and a rear blinker. Maybe a bottle cage, but that is all.

On the other hand, there are some people who load their bikes with all sorts of accessories! I call this bringing out the full battle gear. Powerful front lights X 2, rear lights X 2, bottle cages + bottles x 2, saddle bag, fenders, kickstand, rack, panniers, bell, portable speaker, handlebar bag, pump, etc. These cyclists like to have everything with them, so that they are prepared for all conditions! Some people come to mind immediately, such as Vince and Eddie? Haha...

My Dahon Boardwalk in full battle gear!

The same bike with much lesser accessories

As for me, I am more of the full battle gear type for my Dahon Boardwalk X20-R! Although this is a fast bike, I like to have accessories that allow me to do some light touring and also bring stuff along while commuting. Which is why I have a rack and panniers, fenders to protect myself from wet ground, multiple front and rear lights for safety, and multiple bottle cages. I try to make all these accessories easily detachable, so that I can remove them when I am not using them to save some weight and space. Except for the fenders and rack, practically all other accessories can be removed easily without tools!

Finally I'm getting to the main point of this blog post. I was thinking of how I will go about outfitting my new Flamingo London NX7 with accessories. Should I go minimalistic or full battle gear? After some thinking, I realised that I will not need full battle gear for the Flamingo as I do not intend to do long rides with it. On the other hand, going minimalistic will leave it vulnerable to mechanical malfunctions such as flat tires, and I will not be able to carry along my valuables with me on the bike.

Therefore, I settled for something in between, with the bare minimum accessories required to be self sufficient. Even if you have a folding bike, if you suffer a flat tire in the middle of Changi Coastal Road, you will find yourself stranded for a long time.

Front light with a small profile. Will wrap this around the handlepost, does not affect folding.

4 bright white LEDs, powered by 2xAAA batteries. Which is good, because I can use rechargeable batteries.

 Very bright 0.5W SMART rear light, also uses 2xAAA batteries.

The key accessory: Topeak MondoPack Hydro saddle bag that can carry all my necessities!

 Big and spacious, and perfect for a folding bike such as the Brompton or the Flamingo

Initially I thought of sharing the saddle bag with my Dahon Boardwalk, but I soon found it to be impractical as one bike might be at my workplace, while I want to ride the bike when I'm home. It is difficult to track and remember to bring the saddle bag along with me, which I why I ended up getting a saddle bag and separate  set of accessories for each bike.

There are many reasons why I got this saddle bag. First, it makes use of the tall space underneath the tall seatposts. Only bikes with a tall section of exposed seatpost can use this saddle bag. Also, it has a mesh pocket that allows me to put a bottle. Much better than trying to fix a bottle cage elsewhere on the Flamingo. Lastly, it has 2 loops of velcro that goes around the seatpost when you ride. When you want to fold the bike fully, just open up the 2 velcro loops and you can slide the seatpost all the way down! It's practically made for this type of folding bikes.

 The large saddle bag fits at the space underneath the saddle when folded. Does not stick out too much

Topeak RaceRocket hand pump, small but powerful with a hidden hose. Comes in gold too! 

Topeak Mini 9 Pro multi-tool. Yes it also comes in gold colour...

A detailed review and closeup pictures of the Topeak RaceRocket pump and the Topeak Mini 9 Pro tool will be up once I have time to do the writeup.

All these accessories to go along with the Flamingo! 

All the accessories fit nicely inside the huge Topeak MondoPack Hydro. 

The spare tube tucks into the space at the top of the compartment, the rest of the tools can fit inside the large compartment. Rear light and bottle can also be put on! Plenty of space left for my wallet and mobile phone.

Gold coloured copper bell, gives a very nice ring, sounds a bit like my microwave!

My Flamingo London NX7 with the accessories! Does not affect the folding at all.