one-eyed_jim
Old School Grand Master
I have to disagree with this part (and while I'm disagreeing, I'll take issue with a couple of your other points as well).Rod_Saetan":3bk603e0 said:Difficult to get the rear wheel out if you get a puncture? No, maybe if you don't know what you are doing, but its a damn sight easier than sorting out a flat on the back of a fixed gear bike, and definitely easier than a Nexus or Alfine drive.
I don't have much experience of Nexus hubs, and none at all of Alfines, but removing and replacing a Brompton rear wheel is substantially more hassle than on a typical fixie, complicated as it is by the chain tensioner and the hub-gear's toggle chain. It's certainly not a deal breaker, and a straightforward job in the warm and comfort of a garage, but a pain if you need to tackle it out on the road in the rain. One advantage of a Brompton, of course, is that you can always take it home in a taxi to fix later, but that's not always practical.
Well, they're like Shimano M900 in that they have adjustable bearings. Other than that the comparison is misleading. Brompton components are basic. Serviceable, given the relatively low mileages that many Bromptons see, but not of the quality that many cyclists might expect on a bike of comparable price. Of course that's because a handmade folding frame built in the UK eats up a larger chunk of the total price than is typical, and things like narrow front hubs are produced in small volumes at higher cost than their mass-market equivalents.Hubs are cup and cone variety on the front, you know, like a Shimano M900
I don't know what Rob meant by "proper road calipers". Modern Bromptons come with dual pivot brakes front and rear, and they accommodate the reversed cable pull without problems. They're longer than most road calipers because they have to clear a fatter tyre and mudguard, but the design is pretty much identical. Older Bromptons had fairly basic single-pivot calipers, and mine didn't work all that well, but they did work. Given time (my bike was stolen before I got around to upgrading) I would probably have fitted Maguras.A proper road caliper would mean you would not be able to route the cable from the bottom, hence metres of spare cable outer lolling around and getting in the way, they come as standard with 2 piece brake pads that take a slot in replacement pad too.
If this sounds like criticism of the Brompton, it isn't intended to be. I was generally very happy with mine, and if I were to buy another folding bike today, it would probably be another Brompton. That's not to say they don't have failings that come from the compromises inherent in building a specialised machine to a reasonable cost in the UK. They are eminently upgradeable though, and the likes of Ben Cooper (Kinetics) and Steve Parry can do wonderful things for high-mileage Bromptoneers with deep pockets.