"Pinky" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello,
>
> I'm just about to order a Brompton, and have a few questions about the
spec.
> First, what gearing should I get? Is the six speed necessary?
Don't whatever you do get the "standard" gearing. It is way too high unless you happen to use the
Brompton uniquely to go downhill. I don't know why Brompton claim that the standard gearing is
"standard". I expect a lot of customers feel vaguely cheated by this description - well I did
anyway. I ended up having to shell out for a Schlumpf speed drive and a smaller front cog to get
reasonable ratios on my "standard" T6 (it is now a T12). I know I could have bought just a bigger
front cog, but I thought if I were going to have to spend more money I would rather gain something
than just rectify a fault. If buying again, I would just get a T6 with optional "lower" gearing.
Second, what
> saddle post should I get. I am 1.90m - do I need the telescopic seat post?
If you can get away with just an extended standard or carbon seat, then take that option. The
telescopic seat is a really poor piece of engineering. It is heavy, the folding/unfolding process is
encumbered by having two levers to fumble with, and as the inner tube rotates in the outer, and
there is no way to default it to a standard height it all gets very annoying if you are in a hurry.
I binned the telescopic seat post pretty quickly and replaced it with a carbon spring strut out of
an Airbus (I work in aerospace). It took a bit of adjustment to get it to work, but it is fantastic.
It is released by a little paddle under the seat, which causes it to pop up correctly aligned to my
correct seat height. To reset it, I just push down until it clicks in place - and it still hold
together the folded package. It is far lighter and more rigid than the useless telescopic thing too.
Don't ask me how much it would cost if you had to buy one though!
> What tyres would people recommend?
I have the Schwalbes. I have Schwalbe kevlars on all my bikes - they are long-lasting, virtually
puncture-proof tyres. I've heard that they have more rolling resistance than some others, but I
can't say I have noticed it.
Any other tips appreciated.
The standard Brompton is a fantastic bike. You will not be disappointed with
it. But to my mind, there is still a lot of room for improvement. The folding and unfolding process
is very neat and head and shoulders above all the competition, but it could be made much much
better with a bit of attention to the fiddliness of the various clamps. I've already described
my pop-up seat, which dealt with the fiddly seat clamps. But I also replaced those silly fiddly
hinge-clamps on the frame and handlebar stem with a couple of spring-clamps that are used to
lock down the nosewheel undercarriage on a Dassault bizjet. They just snap together when the
bike is unfolded, and are more rigid than the standard clamps. They add a little weight, but
less than I gained by binning the telescopic junk seat pillar.
With the above modifications, to unfold my Brompton, I just put my left hand on the lh handlebar, my
right hand on the seat, squeeze up the seat release paddle, then sort of flip my left hand wrist,
and the whole bike unfolds and snaps together in the time it takes to stand up straight. Unfolding
the standard Brompton in public is a crowd stopper, but people just stop and gawp astounded when
they see mine. It is really magic. Last time I took it to Paris, two CRS riot cops (who normally
beat you up if you so much as ask them the time) had me folding it and unfolding while they giggled
like little kids outside the French interior ministry. Folding it back together is a little more
work as I have to squeeze the hinge-clamps to release and prime them for the next snap-together, and
I have to push down the seat until it locks down - but it is still way quicker than folding the
standard bike. I'm still working on improving it further I've even got a couple of elastomers from
work which I am trying to figure out how to mount inside the frame and handlebar stem so that it
will pull itself together without me even having to flip my left hand, and also find a better way to
release the handlebar-fork clip. Then I could just release the saddle one handed, and everything
would jump into place in the parked position - that would be coool!
There are a couple of other mods you can make. The handlebars are rather poor and wobble about, so I
am getting some of the apprentices at work to make me some nice one piece carbon-fibre ones. I saw
on the internet that you can also buy some decent replacement jobs from SP engineering. The brakes
too are only B+. I found an article in German about fitting disc brakes to a Brompton. But I think
that is perhaps going a bit far. But if you wanted to really throw the book at it a Rohloff-Brompton
would be the ultimate. Has anybody done that yet?
