My (well, my wife's, but she doesn't know it yet) cheap, well-used Brompton. I have:
- cleaned it (it hadn't been done since new, I don't think)
- got a matching front tyre, and changed the tubes
- rebuilt both hubs (the SRAM Spectro T3 is better designed and made than a Sturmey, but I wouldn't trust one on a 700c wheel with proper torque going through it - the planet pinions are *tiny*)
- cleaned the headset, replaced the cages with loose balls and secured the bottom cup with Loctite bearing fit, because the head tube has stretched
- replaced all the cables, which a bike shop (suspected to be *vans) had made a right pig's ear of before
- got the front brake working properly - a shredded nylon washer popped out, but it seems to work fine without it
- fitted a 14T 1/8" sprocket and new 1/8" chain (it was formerly a 13T sprocket and 3/32")
- put it all back together and test rode it, trying to break stuff (I didn't).
It's quite a fun thing to cruise around on, but the high bars flex even worse than normal when braking and the position doesn't let me get any power down - the seatpost is too short, which doesn't help.
To do:
- Change bars, since they must be near the point of snapping; the previous owner was a big bloke and they do flex alarmingly
- Touch up all the gouged paint from its life on Surrey commuter trains
- Replace the Brompton sticker, which is beginning to peel
- Tighten and true the wheels, although they're quite usable at the moment
- Get a washer kit for the rear hub; one of the special tab washers was bent, and snapped when I tried to bend it back.
Isn't it pretty?
The mudguards are horrible, although not actually cracked
Park position
Main hinge (which is a bit stiff from lack of recent use; I've been marinating it in oil)
Handlebars down
The money shot
Here's an unsharpened 100% crop from the above picture using the Lumix FX150, showing the peeling sticker.
