Hi, I have a 1999 brompton with stock standard parts from the time... It sat in a shed by the bottom of a roller door for almost 10 years so it was a little exposed by whatever moisture etc got underneath it... I sold my bike friday pl after touring asia for 2 years as it was not a convenient fold and the brompton i can put in my tent with me when sleeping in built up areas etc... although the ride of the bf was excellent.... Anyway i now plan to overhaul this brompton completely and will have many questions along the way as i am definitely no bike mechanic and i would like to draw upon the expertise of some of you guys... Right now i these are my questions....

1. I want to put double chainring on it, i know there are threads about it but i couldnt really get it and most were talking about square taper cranks... Can i put a different type of bb on a brompton? Why wont any kind eg octalink fit? Also is there a specific length of bb you can reccomend or does it depend what particular double chainset i get?

2. The hub... This hub hasnt done many km as i know the previous owner bought it, had some problem with it (which after my own research i guess wouldve been from cable) anyway they took off the tensioner n toggle chain which is now missing & i didnt get the chance to even ride it yet... Tried to open it gave up and then put it in the shed n forgot about it.... The whole bike n hub was covered in a kind of mouldy dust mixture but not really rusty so im wondering if this will effect the hub, if so can i put the internals from an old aw3 into a brompton hub? As they are cheap and so many of them conpared to expensive brompton hubs.

3. The brakes... Like i said i didnt get to test yet but they are the old calipers if i get these shimano bl 550 levers and some pads (im thinking these as they are cheaper than the kool stop) Clarks 72mm Alumium Triple Contour Brake Shoes | Chain Reaction Cycles.... Will it improve much?

4. The wheels... My bfri had xt hubs, dt swiss spokes on a alex dm18 dw rim... And these old brompton wheels look erm... Fragile... Will they stand up to 100km a day rides with 25kg of gear? As they are small maybe theyre stronger than they appear, brompton owners how did your old single wall rims hold up?

Thats a lot i know, and im sure as i go there will be more questions, im learning as i go from internet and my local bike shops are unfriendly, very money hungry and uninterested in this bike they said they "don't touch those old internal hubs" so help me out guys....


Thanks in advance