Brompton owners

In all seriousiness, the reason why Brompton drivetrain get dirty alarmingly quickly is because of how close it is to the ground compared to conventional 700c bicycles.

At this point, I must caution those who ride with a 2 speed derailleur to lubicated their chain sparingly, having thick lube will get dirt and grim stick to it and before you know, the derailleur will look like a realistic clay model of a Brompton derailleur.

It won't cause the death of it, just time wasted with a little flathead screwdriver prying off all the cack from it, even when run through the part washer.

How many times do I have to tell you? It's glandular :'(

Sorry, you're a glandular manatee.

Merlin's got some campag and fulcrum carbon power torque cranksets on sale. How much of a ballache would it be to fit them to a Brompton? Assuming I went for 170mm length, would the chain line etc work?

Powertorque is a big no-no

How come? I don't know much/anything about campag stuff.

Also, what about ultra torque? All good or bad idea as well?

Ultratorque is what you want. No idea if it'll fit though.

Didn't @danstuff have Ultratorque on his Brompton?

Square taper i think

Sorry, you're a glandular manatee.

gold

Yep. Square taper Campag Record carbon cranks on a 115mm Centaur triple BB. Might see if I can get outboard bearings to work though as I fancy a P2M on the next one.

Hmm, so is ultratorque a possibility? Can't find much online about anyone trying it. Also can't find much in the way of 110bcd 54t 3/32 chainrings. I'm guessing ramps and pins of a normal road double chainring would be a bit risky?

There's only one real potential problem, which is whether or not there'd be enough clearance between the inside of the crank and the rear triangle during The Fold. Because you can't hinder or prevent The Fold. Personally I would've thought that external bearings would pretty much guarantee you'd be OK on that front. Then it's just a question of getting the chainline right, or close enough to right that you don't care. Even if it's not perfect a combination of spacers/adaptors/bodgery should do the trick.

Oh, and the Fulcrum Ultratorque cranksets are lovely. I have one on my winter bike. Is very nice.

Rear mudguards has started breaking a little. May be fine for a while though... Anyway, I must go for black replacement ones surely!

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Source a replacement one, as one of our customer have perform the most epic skid of all time (of all time) when his mudguard finally gave way.

Good new is that you only need to just get the plastic guard without the additional part (Brompton Rear Mudguard for L Version), 1+ on black replacement, it would look boss.

What handlebar is that BTW? it look perfect as the M bar is too high for me.

BTW is that Dammits floor?

Dammits floor? It's at my work...

What handlebar is that BTW? it look perfect as the M bar is too high for me.

Tioga 60 RISE... Found them on eBay not sure if these exact ones still exist.
I chopped them to match Brompton standard length.

BTW, how much you weight? Really like the look of that carbon seatpost on yours... But I'm neighbouring 95kg... May be looking for trouble...

Even a modest 50kg will still spell trouble.

Even so, nice floor. Well jels. Not so keen on the staircase though. Steels and concrete slabs? OTT.

Another glandular manatee eh?

Thanks @danstuff for the info about the cranks. Think I'll give it a try. I've been looking for 110bcd rings that aren't ramped or pinned and would be compatible with the Brompton but doesn't seem like there's much out there... Any suggestions? Doval do an oval ring but their 110bcd holes are positioned for a regular crank spider so wouldn't work with the campag/fulcrum hidden bolt type.

Edit: wait, those fulcrum cranks on merlin are 39t inner ring, so would be 130bcd, right? Or are campag cranks 135bcd or something weird like that?

135 bcd. Single ring on Ultratorque is a pain, tbh I'd avoid.

Yeah, what started as a fun and relatively cheap way to pimp my Brompton is sounding more and more like a ballache I could do without...