Thread necromancy.
I've been looking at a friend's Brompton. He actually ended up buying a replacement bike, owing to the frightening repair bill from our (very good) LBS, and needing to be able to get to work. I don't think they gave him bad advice, but I'm trying to make sure I understand what's happened to his old one, as he's looking at selling it on either as is (as a project) or repaired (and to be honest, I'd find it a fun project to take on).
The problem is that the jobs are specialist, so it may have to go to a shop anyway.
So, the LBS were worried about the "lack of metal" in the hinge owing to wear (it's a pretty old model and has served him well). I've now seen that, and it's clearly play in the bushes. These are pretty-obviously
this kind of thing (his new Brompton looks to have nylon ones?) I'm aware of
rust issues in Bromptons, but I can't see any - this one looks good to me.
I can see from that page and this thread, though, that a shop equipped with spectacularly expensive tools is needed to replace the bushes. Any update on discussions here?
The other non-trivial job is a slipping seat-post, which I gather is tricky because of ungluing the old bush to replace that.
So that's the summary explanation I'm going to give. Anything I've missed or options I could give? If it ends up on eBay, he wants to give a fair summary, or if I have a go I don't want to take on anything I can't do (or turn down something I can).