leoho5

Has anyone powder coated one of their Bromptons? Did you remove the 2 hinge pins or did you just powder coat over the hinges? It seems that you the hinge pins can be removed without much difficulty but a special tool from Brompton is needed to press the new hinge pins in place and to flare the ends of the hinge pins. Thanks.

fietsbob

No but I have a friend in town here that runs a powder coating business..

I expect to do a good job, you should press out the hinge pin

the type of pin used is not exclusive to Brompton.. but getting their tool *, to use once, per pivot pin,
vs having a machine shop set a new rivet of that type

is for you to budget & sort out..

*[ I can imagine an oversized chain rivet tool with pointed ends to spread out those ends just enough. an arbor press is a useful machine shop tool]

why are you feeling a need to do the refinish?

leoho5

I picked up a couple older Bromptons recently with fairly scratched up paint/powder coat. With a new powder coat, they would look brand new and I could have them in any color.

12boy

To get a good powder coat I have understood that each piece should be separate, be devoid of paint and scrupulously clean. I talked to Perennial Cycles about this once and I believe they echoed this. That means all 3 hinges should be disassembled if you want the whole bike powder coated. I would imagine that removing all existing powder coat on the little bits of the rear triangle would be a PITA.

leoho5

Thanks for the input. Seems like there are some on the internet who have powder coated without removing the hinge pins, even some who left the rear triangle on. I agree though that if you're gonna do a powder coat, do it right by removing all the hinges. When the time comes I'll try to borrow the hinge pin press tool or go to the Brompton dealer in town and see how much they would ask. Cheers.

badmother

What is all this I read on the interwebs about pressing out hinge pins? I recently replaced the rear triangle on my B and only had to lean the bike to one side and blow to get the pin out. Rust and generally a hard life I guess? Do peopel grease a new pin to stop it from seizing in there?

leoho5

We're talking about the frame and stem hinge pins. The rear frame hinge spindle doesn't need any tools other than an allen key. I would definitely remove the rear triangle prior to powder coating. It's probably ok to leave the frame and stem hinges intact but better to dismantle.

badmother

Ahh, I get it now