Brompton owners

Hey Brompton guys,

I've got a problem with my front wheel. Its the cartridge bearing superlight wheel (not the radially laced one which was recalled mind you!). I've not ridden the bike for ages and got it out tonight. I noticed there was a tiny bit of play in the front wheel. Its lateral movement only (between the fork ends).

I've removed the wheel and I can feel the axle play. Removed the axle end caps and one of the cartridges just fell out. I pushed the other one out with little to no effort.

Had a look and nothing seems damaged or wrong. Put back together but I can't seem to eliminate the play. The RHS of the axle doesn't seem to push through the bearing (and end cap) as much as the LHS.I'm not next to the bike right now but I'm sure I tried it both ways with both different end caps (from memory the Red is the left? or at least it was on this bike and I've not stripped the hub before - owned from new).

Images are here:
http://imgur.com/a/QDQGY

My suitcase is 24cm deep, will I be able to get it closed with a Brompton in it? Will taking the pedals and saddle off help?

It's a big enough case to accommodate the X and Y, just a bit worried about the Z...

Gah. New front half of the frame required just because of a stripped thread on one of the luggage block mounts. £200 inc. labour and powdercoating. Check the torque on those little bolts people!

Wouldn't you be better off retapping with a bigger bolt?

can't be done, not enough metal in the braze-on

That's annoying. I can't remember the design but is there no chance of modifying the block and braze-on with a repositioned hole?

none whatsoever. The problem is caused by poorly torqued bolts and/or painted frames (which mine is) where the threads haven't been chased properly afterwards. So check your torque settings if you have a luggage block fitted

Yeah, I've got those dimensions but wanna know if I can lose 3cm by removing something trivial like the pedals or saddle... I've never owned one and don't have one to look at so I can check it out... Anyone?

take suitcase to brixton cycles, see if you can fit one of their brompton's inside, get help from @Object and @hillbilly if necessary..

But I'm in Australia, m8...

Need to know if I should borrow a bigger suitcase or if I'll be fine with my Ol' Faithful 20yr old Samsonite... I'm not gonna leave it behind if it's too small, innit?

The bike will be waiting for me when I get to London...

I'll measure mine for you when I get home (she cried).

Edit: Actually I can't sorry, I've just remembered it's with the inlaws in one of those Ikea holdalls.

Thank you, good Sir... Could you check if the pedals/saddle stick out for me? I'm hoping I can remove those and save an inch or two... 🙃

😭

Don't worry about it... I'll speak to Brompton direct... 😂

If it helps, the [soft] holdall thing it's in has these dims:

Assembled size
Length: 65 cm
Depth: 22 cm
Height: 65 cm

You might gain a cm or two removing the pedals but the right hand one is mostly shielded by the fold and the left hand one folds in on itself.

Tallsam, you mention recall of radially laced front wheel - I can find no reference to this anywhere. I concern, as that is what I have on my Nov 2014 cycle to work machine.
Can you elaborate pls?

Hello everybody, BTW. I have a S2LU Ti in black with £ot$ worth of Brompification applied last Xmas. ~9.5kg if my cheapo spring balance is anything to go by. It doesn't look anywhere as attractive as one or two seen on here. But low-key was always my objective...

ETA It is quiet at work - I've just enjoyed reading 6 year's worth of Brompton posts :)

Bring over the biggest suitcase you can then, no fucking about with sizes then..

Ps don't they have any brompton stockists in the hinterlands that you could lug suitcase to?

This goes back sometime. I first heard of the recall when I still worked in the trade (not sure it was made public knowledge), this was around 2009-2011. I replaced a few customer's wheels under warranty for this reason (they simply swap it for a cross laced wheel).

I then moved to another bike shop and they (initially) weren't a Brompton dealer. I warrantied one wheel (around 2011-2012) through them despite not being a dealer (we later became one). I've not worked in the bike trade (apart from on an ad-hoc casual basis) for 3.5 years now so they may have solved the problem.

If you're at all concerned about it just ask your local Brompton dealer. For ref the fault was that radially lacing put too much stress on the flange walls of the hub causing cracks. From memory Hope used to void your warranty if you radially laced their hubs too, although I believe that has since changed, so its not unusual.

BTW, has anyone got an answer to my original query? (Sorry to do this but @mdcc_tester usually knows all the technical stuff).

EDIT: Double post.

Thanks tallsam - am reassured as mine in newer than the years of which you speak. It came from Compton's - I can't imagine for one minute that Chris would be sticking his neck out selling anything that had been recalled.

Sorry - unable to help with your question.

Rare beasts over here, I've seen an elderly couple on a matching pair in the year I've been here and that's it... I think there's one store in Brissy that can get them, bit out of the way to be lugging a big case up there...

So the only reason you'll be getting one is so you can Lord it over the rest of the non brompton riding populace!
Sneaky.

Taking the saddle off may help as well.

Will a rear luggage rack affect it easily fitting in a case?

@>>>>>>

Nah, super useful thing to have now I'm out in the sticks... Means I can ride to the station in peak hour and then ride to wherever I need to get to in the city when I get off...

Public transport here is infrequent and a bit crap...

And I miss riding a bike when I'm in the city...

Nope, should be OK...