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The seatpost shim need to be reamed after fitting and gluing it in before fitting a seatpost in.
Also check your seatpost as it could be bent ever so slightly which can make a massive difference in being able to drop the pose without any stuttering.
edscoble-
Yeah, I got conflicting messages from the collected wisdom of the internets as to whether or not reaming the shim was necessary. It didn't seem necessary before I glued the shim in place, but it was after I'd glued it in place, so I may have fitted it slightly off-centre. Lots of filing and sanding has made it work. The seat post is definitely straight, as I checked it.
Brommers
Glad you liked it! Here's some more to read, because the bike's just had a fairly major refit.
Some of it was deeply unphotogenic but necessary. The bottom bracket had gone from clicking once per revolution to once per pedal stroke, so I've replaced that. I also had to replace the batteries in the rear hub, as they'd gone flat. The seatpost was starting to rock backwards and forwards despite the clamp being tight, so I removed the old seat tube shim (a hot air gun helped here) and fitted a new one. Despite making sure that the seat tube was spotlessly clean before I fitted the new shim, the new shim needed quite a lot of fettling before I could even get the seatpost in, let alone get it to slide up and down. It's still a bit tight, and requires a bit of wrestling to get the seat post to move up and down, but it's getting better with use.
I also found that the frame and stem hinges were getting stiff (possibly due to having given the bike an unaccustomed wash before doing the work) so I lubed the hinges and they're now nice and smooth again. Oh, and I also removed the 5 speed shifter for the 5 speed rear wheel I've got. I kept it on thinking I might occasionally want to use the 5 speed rear wheel. I haven't in fact used it at all since I fitted the Powertap rear wheel, so the shifter's off the bike and into the Brompton Bits Box.
I also took the opportunity to fit some new bling bits I'd collected together. The first was a block for the front bag mount. The standard Brompton plastic one is effective but fugly, while this one is effective and rather more elegant.
On a smaller scale, I also replaced the plastic clip which grabs the doodah on the stem when it's folded with an ali one:
And I've replaced the firm elastomer suspension block with a machined one with a metal spring inside. It's a lot, lot stiffer than the elastomer block so not so comfortable over the cobbled speed bumps on my way to the station in the morning, but much less bouncy on the way down the hill when I try to see whether my legs have got a 160rpm spin in them that morning. Overall, an improvement.
Hopefully that should see the bike working without trouble for another year or two.