Wee Folding Bike

S31DAC

2011-10-10T18:16:00.001+01:00

Dark coloured BMW. Goes up to the lights near West End Park in Coatbridge in the right turn lane then blasts through straight ahead on red.

Did it last week, did it this morning, 10 Oct 2011 at 0750 hrs.

Didn't seem very impressed when I commented on his behaviour.

S31 DAC

Footwear

2010-05-09T15:44:00.005+01:00

The ever wonderful cycling in heels has a wee problem with landing a Brompton on her feet. It's OK, the bike is fine.

Here is some footwear not featured on Cycling in Heels:

Shimano SPD cycling shoes. I wear these most of the year. In the winter they got caked in salt and grit but it brushed off just fine. They have a space for SPD cleats but I don't use cleats on a Brompton. I have some Sidi cycling shoes for my racing bike.

Merrel sports sandals with Vibram soles. These were a tenner in an outlet shop and are great for very hot days. The sole is thick enough for cycling in.

Steel toe 7 up Dr Marten boots. If I'm not cycling I usually wear these. I even got married in a kilt and Docs. If you intend to drop a bike on your toes these would be a good choice.

Alex Salmond - Question Time - The Debate

2010-04-30T11:52:00.000+01:00

Except for viewers in Scotland.

2010-04-28T18:39:00.000+01:00

I'm a Nat... Why Celebrities, Activists and Politicians vote SNP.

2010-04-25T08:33:00.001+01:00

Cyclists too.

Sore finger

2010-02-21T21:31:00.006Z

See above for a nasty bruised finger nail. That's what happens when you get it caught in a Brompton on which you have just clicked the tail into place with a certain flourish.

Why was I doing this?

Well I was mending bits and pieces. I couldn't get the M6R's back wheel to coast properly, it's dragging a bit, so I swapped it with another SRAM hub. I'll try cleaning out all the pawls and the inside of the hub shell which has big chunks of grease. Failing that I'll strip the whole thing.

I replaced the pedals on the M6R with the new metal ones and I didn't bother putting a folding pedal on the left. I don't put it in small places much so I'll get by with a normal one.

On the S6L I put on a new chainset, new chain, new pedals on both sides and installed a firm suspension block. It's good on the S2L-X, reduces bobbing. I'll see how well it works on the S6L.

Every thing is working again.

Dirty pictures

2010-01-27T16:34:00.004Z

cycling in heels has a picture of how dirty her bike is today.

This is how dirty my M6R is and this is after I gave some of it a buff on Saturday when I put a new chain and sprockets on it. The chain is squeaking already from all the grit on the road and I can't put Green Oil on it because it has waxed up in the cold weather.

This is roughly the same angle as cycling in heels. No shine on the hub, rims or spokes. They are all covered in grit and I brushed a lot of it off at the weekend so this is about three days worth of build up on the rim. I didn't clean the hub shell.

This is the front end with a Marathon, SON and the Edelux.

Back end with Marathon Plus. I'm thinking about slapping some Hammerite on the rear triangle in the summer because it is quite rusty. The chain guard fell off a few weeks ago.

And here is the whole thing.

The S6L has been in the garage since October with only a couple of days use when the back tyre on this one had a side wall failure. It hit something on the road. The S2L-X is waiting in the downstairs toilet until about April when the roads will be clean enough for it again.

Cycle paths and stuff

2009-12-14T19:09:00.002Z

The Herald has a piece on cycle paths.

Scotland gets on its bike, but funding wheels move slowly - Herald Scotland | News | Transport & Environment

I can see the need for kids who don't know how to use the road but for grown ups the roads should be fine.

Storage

2009-08-06T15:07:00.003+01:00

I've been busy with non Brompton things this summer.

I did take a Brompton to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and they were very helpful. They let me stash it in the buggy storage area. I don't have any photos because cameras are not allowed in the house and anyway I had borrowed number one son's camera which didn't work. The cycle path on the Isle of Wight is very good.

I have also moved house. The new house has a downstairs toilet and that's where the S2L-X lives. The other two Bromptons are in the garage. The tall thing behind it is a track pump.

Day in Edinburgh

2009-06-12T15:36:00.002+01:00

I had to go to a marker's meeting in Edinburgh today so the superlight took the train to Waverly then we worked round the construction for the tram way. This a mobile phone picture of it on the train home. This item uploaded from the train.

A week of BWR

2009-05-23T11:39:00.002+01:00

Rained most of the week so I used the S6L with the BWR. So far I have no downside. It runs fine and the wide range of gears is very useful. One big advantage is that it allows you to start off on the wee sprocket, 12t. Sometimes you end up stationary on the wrong sprocket and with the SRAM it could be hard to start off again. With the bigger step down on the BWR it's not too tough anymore. You wouldn't want the BWR on a three speed because the jumps are 50-60%.

BWR hub

2009-05-16T15:59:00.012+01:00

Earlier this year Brompton announced the release of the BWR, Brompton Wide Range, hub.

I was interested in this for two reasons.

In the first case it's always nice to have a wider range of gears and Bromptons have been criticised for lacking this.

The second thing was the water penetration problems I have with SRAM hubs. They have very little shielding on the left hand side of the hub. The BWR is made by Sturmey Archer and should be better protected with a labyrinthine seal. Time will tell on that one.

This picture shows the SA logo on the hub. In the UK it should be easier to find spares for an SA hub. I have had to get SRAM parts from Germany in the past.

The other side of the hub sports the Brompton BWR logo.

Drive side of the hub without sprockets. The plastic disk which fits to the inside the the sprockets is splined on this hub whereas it is not on the SRAM.

Sprockets for the BWR standard gearing are 16 and 13 tooth, the SRAM is 15 and 13. They both use a 100 link chain.

The spine pattern is keyed so they only fit one way. There is also a spacer and a circlip.

Plastic disc and sprockets in place. You can use a screw driver to put the circlip in place but removing it is much easier if you have a pair of external circlip pliers.

SJS didn't sent the cable anchorage in the kit. I contacted them and they agreed that it should have been in there. The SRAM indicator rod is thicker so the SRAM anchorage is not compatible with the BWR/SA model. I don't know if SJS mean that they forgot to put the anchorage in the box or that it was something they hadn't considered. Anyway, it arrived the following day.

The axle nuts didn't fit. I don't know why, they looked like the same size as the SRAM nuts, but they wouldn't work on the BWR or SRAM axle. Luckily the SRAM nuts fitted just fine.

Epicyclic hubs need torque washers to stop the axle turning backwards in the frame. The BWR uses different ones from the SRAM. Current Brompton frames can use either but my 2002 M6R will only take the SRAM hub.

This is the wheel in place.

This is the well used 2006 S6L which has the BWR. Other people's bikes always look pristine. Mine tend to look like this or worse.

It was easy to feel the difference between the BWR and the SRAM, particularly at the top end where it has a 99" gear. I tried using a Schlumpf in the past but I broke two of them. This seems to have been down to corrosion and the newer models are better protected so I may try a Schlumpf again. Nonetheless that path involves two epicyclic gears and increases drag whereas the BWR gives a wide range in one box.

Rumbled by the doctor

2009-05-13T20:34:00.003+01:00

Boys 2 and 3 went to the doctor for a check up yesterday. The health centre is on my way home so I found the car and put the Brompton in the roof box then wandered in to find the boys. After they had been checked out the doctor turned to me and said "You're the guy on the bike."

It seems I go past his house every morning.

This is not the first time I've been rumbled in this manner.

Picture is the S2L-X beside the front door.

Stelvio

2009-05-11T18:13:00.006+01:00

The weather was to be good this week so I fitted some Schwalbe Stelvio racing tyres. The superlight came with normal yellow Brompton tyres. These are heavier than the Stelvios and they also have a tread which increases rolling resistance and makes them sound like a tractor. Stelvios have no tread on the centre of the tyre and only a little stippling on the sides of the tyre. Bicycle tyres do not need a tread because of the shape of the tyre which can clear water out of the way. Sheldon Brown has more to say on this.

Stelvios do not last as long as heavier tyres and are a bit more likely to get punctures but on the superlight I'm happy to accept that trade off.

No tread means that the superlight sounds like a racing bike now.

Wheels have to be accelerated rotationally as well as along the road so weight taken off wheels is more important than elsewhere. Stelvios save 78g per wheel. This is mass off the outside edge of the wheel where it mattes most for the acceleration... I know, it's a folding bike but it can be a fast folding bike. A faster bike invites you to try harder.

For reasons best known to themselves Brompton fit their machines with Schrader valves. These are OK for cars where the pressures are low. I tend to run Stelvios at 125 psi, even Marathons at 100 psi. Presta valves are a better choice for this because you don't need to work against the spring to inflate them, they are narrower and, on a small wheel, it's easier to get the pump chuck off without letting all the air escape. I also think Prestas look nicer. The supplied tubes are a bit on the big side and it's difficult to get them back into the thinner tyres.

The late great Sheldon Brown has thoughts on valves too.

The superlight got me into work for 0800 hrs whereas I had been getting there around 0810 last week on the S6L. There may have been a little wind assistance.

Schwalbe don't seem to have Stelvios on their web page anymore so I will move to Kojaks next year. They are baldy tyres, who loves ya baby?

Brompton's day

2009-04-20T15:05:00.003+01:00

The weather is lovely so the superlight Brompton came to work. This is it sitting under the desk. Tomorrow looks a bit rainy so I'll use the S6L. I have to carry some stuff and it does a better job of that.

I was a wee bit faster than usual this morning but sometimes that is just down to the traffic lights.

2009-04-19T20:32:00.004+01:00

The Met office say the weather will be nice tomorrow so I'm planning to use the new superlight Brompton for going to work. I have an older S6L in the front hall just in case it looks wet in the morning.

BBC 4 are showing Mike Leigh's "Nuts in May". Yeee haa!

S bag and Clement Freud

2009-04-16T21:39:00.004+01:00

I had to do some work in John Wheatley College, Easterhouse, this morning.

Since I didn't know what conditions I would find there I didn't use the new Brompton but used the S6L instead. It has a luggage block which takes the above pictured S bag. It's not as big as the touring bag but it fitted the bill for today. I arrived about 45 mins early and, since there is a McDonald's next door, I decided the moment was right for an egg McMuffin and a coffee. Stashing a McMuffin was no problem but coffee didn't quite work. I put it in one of the inside front pockets. Next time I'll put it inside a plastic bag first. There wasn't much spillage but enough to annoy the school pupils who turned up since they always complain about me having coffee around the place.

Clement Freud died yesterday. It was announced on the Today program as I was cycling along to Easterhouse and I was listening to Stephen Fry talking about him as I went to McDs. I got a new phone today as well. Usually I set the ringtone to the most phone like tones I can find. In this case the new phone has the minute waltz as one of the options and, at the moment, I have that set as the ring tone. It is likely to annoy me but if it reminds me of Clement Freud every time I get a call then it's worth it.

New Brompton

2009-04-15T20:09:00.004+01:00

On Monday morning I ordered a new superlight Brompton. It arrived this morning.

It's an S2L-X. This means it has straight handlebars, 2 speed gearing, no luggage rack and lots of lightweight titanium bits. The main frame tube, the black painted section, is still steel.

The S2L-X is the one which is unfolded. The folded one is an M6R, moustache handlebars, 6 speed and has a rack. The child's slide is optional.

I had to go for a hair cut this morning so that's as far as I have ridden it. I have work tomorrow morning so it might get 20 miles then... unless it's raining in which case I'll use the S6L (yes, straight handlbars, six speed gears and no rack- is ths system making sense yet?)

I like the simplicity, I like how it horsed the biggest hill I ride

regularly, I like the matt black paint.

I'm not keen on the new frame sticker and I'm in two minds about the saddle, it

feels a bit big and soft. The other two have a Fizzik and a Brooks.

This one only has a left hand gear shift lever, the six speeds have one on each side. I have an automatic twitch in my right thumb before I remember there is nothing there. It's interesting how little I think about these things, I just change gear.

Evans didn't have Stelvios, presta tubes or luggage blocks and said

that sourcing any of these would make it a be-spoke order and take

weeks so I went with the off the peg options. I've got a pair of

Stelvios on the shelf so I might swap the tyres in a couple of days.

I did this mail order because the local dealer takes months to do things. A few years ago he took six months to replace the rear hinge on my oldest Brompton.

Hub key

2009-04-07T21:47:00.005+01:00

One of my three speed hubs is foobarred. This evening I decided to use it as a donor for a newer hub which has a problem with the selector rod not engaging. This requires me to take the key from the older one and fit it in the newer one.

The first picture shows the business end of the hub (RHS). There should be sprockets here but the cup wore out and fell off.

The second picture shows a pair of 22mm cone spanners unscrewing the left hand side of the hub.

The next picture shows the hub internals. The metal cylinder contains the sun, planet and annulus of the hub. The clutch is on the left hand side.

Finally we see the wee chappie I need to transplant. It's about 15 mm long with a threaded hole in the middle. This is where the selector rod screws in and where I think the problem is with the newer hub. More tomorrow if I get time to replace it in the other hub.

First Brompton

2009-04-04T20:26:00.004+01:00

I'd known about Bromptons since the late 80s when I lived in London and I saw Richard in Evans with one.

I didn't get one. I got a custom built racing bike.

When I moved back to Glasgow in '91 I still didn't get one, I got a custom built MTB.

A few years later I didn't get a Brompton once again. I got a custom built trike from George Longstaff.

Eventually in 2001 I got what was then known as a Brompton T3. T for traveller and 3 because it had a three speed hub. It's now known as a M6R because it has M style bars, 6 speed gears and a rack on the back. It's also an old style short wheel base.

In 2006 I got a new S6L which has S style bars, 6 speed gears and no rack.

Why?

2009-04-04T19:44:00.004+01:00

Errr... well I was setting things up to follow Subrosa's blog and it asked for an account name. I could have used a real one but Sub used to write in the Herald before they broke it and I wrote there as weefoldingbike so it seemed reasonable to continue.

Having got that far it seemed like a reasonable idea to keep a log of what my Bromptons get up to so I know when I changed chains, sprockets and so on.

Expect a lot about folding bikes, a bit about Apple Inc and some things about Scotland.