alienbogey

I can't resist showing off my new Brompton:



My wife rather insisted on the raw lacquer finish which shows off the brazing:



I got interested in Bromptons when I saw a fellow airline pilot with his that he takes on layovers. Here's mine as I hope to be carrying it on trips:

Still Pedaling

. . . and I can't resist looking at it . Very nice. Welcome to the Brommie Club. Aren't they just the "Bees Knees". I wonder how many out there have heard of that expression before? How about the "Cat's Meow". I'm not dating myself because those expressions were before my time. They were often heard around the house years ago expressed by my grandparents. Anyway, congrats on the Brommie mate. They ride awesome. I had to go into debt for mine, but I don't regret it one bit.

Cheers
Wayne

stevel610 

Sweet looking bike. God luck with it.

bargainguy

The missus insisted on raw lacquer finish? Yep, she's a keeper.

There are photos somewhere - I saw some in A to B mag - that describe the new computer-controlled brazing machine. It's a kick.

fietsbob

and increasing unemployment figures are surprising ?

bargainguy

If I'm remembering the article correctly, even the experienced Brompton brazing staff all had minute variations in how they performed their brazing: some a little hotter, some a little cooler, some more brazing material, some less, etc., etc. All these variations led to less frame stability in their view since there was more sample-to-sample variation. Since the folding bike often undergoes much more stress than a non-folder, a critical difference.

I remember seeing a machine that magnetically compared the folding clamps to a known standard, rejecting anything which didn't approximate it almost completely, leading to a lot of discards. Hidden stresses and defects might not appear until it's been folded the umpteenth time and then it fails spectacularly. This company doesn't mess around.

On the other hand, they're still using fairly archaic equipment for non-critical jobs. I remember seeing an ancient punch press.

jerrysimon

That's a lovely looking bike. The Brooks saddle really finishes it off.

I still cant make up my mind if I prefer the brazed finished over a painted one, given I have a the X model I don't think a brazed version would look so good with Ti frame parts back and front.




I have since fitted an after market Ti post and the new Brompton brakes which are so much better. Mine also has a tiny 1.4kg hub motor on the front which increases its carry weight to 11.5kg all up. More details on the Bromptontalk Wiki link.

Regards

Jerry

MrSchwinn

Congrats on a beautiful bike!

fietsbob

mine is Green ,2nd hand, buyer went 2 speed after selling the 3 speed to Mois.

Ciwan

Congrats, looks lovely

alienbogey

Thanks for the kind words.

It has rained so hard in our neck of the woods that all I've been able to do so far is ride it round and round our kitchen table, but I'm now on my first trip with it.

Jerry: I may electric-assist mine some day, I recently did it to my hybrid.

I started a new thread on my repurposed seat bag that really works well with the Brompton and the B17:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...6#post16121556

alienbogey

OBTW, the shop I bought it from, Clever Cycles in Portland, Oregon, said that they could tell which craftsman built the bike by the look of the brazing. They also said that a signature of the builder was somewhere. I meant to ask where, but over the course of the hours that it took me to test ride everything and make a decision I forgot to.

But, if a machine now does the brazing maybe they can't ID the builder anymore, or maybe that was just a story...?

DoubleDiamonDog

Maybe they mean that one can identify who turned on the brazing machine...

I am sure that you already know this, living in western WA and having purchased your lovely Brommie at Clever, but Portland is a great city to ride in. They have an excellent system of bike paths and separated lanes, well documented online. It is fun to ride along the river and many great places to stop for a refreshment. Your kitchen table riding experience may come in handy - it reminds me of a trip we took to Portland from Seattle (down by train, back by Boltbus) this summer. After riding the so called 40-mile loop we were puttering around up on Broadway, waiting for the Pour wine bar to open, just kind of slow rolling on the sidewalk, window shopping, chatting and it occurred to me that this was another fun thing to do on a bike. Just slowly cruising along, maybe doubling back to check something out, just chatting, not really going from point a to b. The very slow movement doesn't come easily to everyone - a friend of mine just seems to lack the balance, but your kitchen table loop should have you good to go.

By the way - I really like the Pour wine bar but have tried to go there during their posted hours on three different occasions and they were only open once. The owner is kind of a flakey businessman but is fun and knowledgable about wine - good value, nice atmosphere when they trouble themselves to clear the tables.

Purpleorchid

If you flip the bike upside down, you will find two initials stamped into the bottom plate of the seat post. Congrats on the gorgeous Brompton! I have a raw lacquer and brown Brooks saddle too! Somewhere on the internet is a listing of whose initials match up to the brazer.

kmcrawford111

That is one nice finish you opted for!