Yeah, looks like I'm going to be fine with 135/100 OLD's and Alfine/Rohloff/whatever compliant design. There are aftermarket steel rear triangles out there that fit regular internal geared hubs (Kinetics is one). No titanium though - might be on to something here.

Chinese market-wise, I think there were a couple of interviews with Butler-Adams regarding the issue. From the looks of it, they are a bit scared to mass sell in China. Baby steps. That's why they don't sell through distributors in the Mainland, as far as I know. Couple of shops managed by Brompton directly (BJ, Shanghai). But I could be mistaken.