Brompton owners

Why so sassy? ;)

Will do. Thanks

More a case of getting to point without going round the houses.

No comment!

Told Ben (kinetics) I wanted to buy a stainless fork for stock to match the stainless triangles... first prototype

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Any chance a black minimods Seatpost might appear in stock at SJS? Otherwise any other recommendations for seatposts outside of titanium?

Unlikely because I won’t order it ;)

It’s built on an idea I don’t agree with

Why not ti?

Purely price. Are they a shady company?

Good company, but the grooved section will abrade the seat sleeve, which causes the issue of the seatpost slipping. So the post won’t resolve the issue for longer than a few rides...

That's fair, anything that you'd recommend in black?

Ti parts are lovely, but the most weight saving is with a jtek

Is that for disc? Any idea of price?

Yes disc, not 100% yet ben hasn’t given me any info.

I have taken the liberty to ask him but as yet, no reply. It is similar in style to the Vostok Ti forks from Denmark/Russia.

It’s a first proto, not priceable yet.

Fuck Vostok.

Well I have asked as he building me a Rohloff rear end and can't for a Columbus fork as his painter is out of commission.

Maybe but the design is similar and it [Vostok 1] did get Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April 1961!

Sjs cycles have stock of painted, raw and brushed triangles and paint/raw forks

What colour forks apart from black? Ben's chap can do pink...but the SS forks also interest me considerably especially as I won't be getting a new fork for a while as I just went for the Rohloff option as opposed to Alfine 11.

The rear triangle is now sorted via Ben at Kinetics.

PS: What don't you like about Vostok?

Red, green, navy, raw and unpainted.

Sjs became a stockist, first order takes ages; fine it’s from Russia.

Second order takes even longer. 7/8 months after paying most stuff has arrived, sends none of the 10 chain tensioners (£170 ish each) and all contact has been lost. Tried on many media’s and dead in the water.

Fair comment and point taken on Vostok.

Actual product is great, no faulting the bits tbh. Just the company...

Maybe so, but a company is measured both by its products and it's probity towards its customers..and as they failed on the latter...not much of a company and wrong that SJS is out of pocket because of such sharp practice.

Agreed. Had a good personal rapport with Sergey so do feel pretty let down by him.

Sadly you thought you did and that probably makes it worse. They still advertise and so have not gone out of business...so that is beyond wrong.

I only made the Vostok comment as the Kinetics fork looks similar...but looks are not everything! Daft thing is Vostok made a huge mistake as SJS do a lot of Brompton business and Vostok would have benefitted from a trade alliance with you...not just morally wrong but economically stupid.

I was looking at Kinetics 8sped conversion and was wondering if he simply uses an 8spd standard hub? Would all I need to do is build a Brompton rim onto a SA 8spd hub and away we go. Or will I have to start altering the rear triangle?

Thanks for pointing out Kinetics SA 8-speed hub conversion. I wasn't aware of this option. Reading through the detailed replies by Kinetics to queries on their website suggest these issues:

• Original Brompton rear triangle is retained, unmodified for steel, but that a small amount grinding off the chainstay may be required with a titanium rear triangle.
  
• SA hub only allows a minimum rear sprocket of 20t which leads to a requirement for very small chain rings (30 to 33t).
  
• Modified chain tensioner is required to clear the 20t sprocket, which Kinetics supplies in its kit.
  
• Weight increase over standard Brompton models is 1kg vs 2-speed and 750g vs 6-speed.
  
• Metal thumb-shifter is available as an alternative to the twist-grip shifter.
  
  

As the conversion to a SA 8-speed hub looks much simpler than the more expensive requirement for an entirely new (wider) rear triangle, why would someone go to the trouble of fitting a Shimano Alfine 8-speed hub, rather than the SA alternative?