Brompton rear hinge: how many here service it themselves?
 

I don't like the idea of not being able to service any part of my bike myself. I've read a bunch of threads about the rear hinge and it's made me wonder if as a self-servicer it would be better to use a weaker threadlock when screwing the bolts into the spindle so that they don't have to be drilled out at a later date, i.e. with the assurance of checking the bolts ever so often to be sure they're not coming loose.

I also wonder how easy it'd be to get the reaming right without the £200 Brompton tool. . . I have no experience in that area. I like the idea that there could be ways to organize collective ownership of such tools so that, .e.g all east-london Brompton owners could jointly buy one and somehow have it kept safe and available on behalf of everyone. Which sounds a bit 'Big Society-ish', somewhat unintentionally.

I'm if it aint broke don't fix it on that bushing. thread lock is already the way to go,
blue, in the color coding regime of Loc Tite Corp's chemical recipes ..

reamer tool is likely so expensive because its Unique and had to be custom made,
just for the manufacturing and servicing of Bromptons in a really small batch.

there the dealer has the pay for the tool by the use fee, over time,
and depreciates the cost over time as part of the business' tax filing, option,
at least here..

Torx head bolt rather than Hex head, would probably be a good change.
you could put an impact wrench socket driver on then..