Originally Posted by
leoho5
I would check to make sure your Shimano brake levers are actually short pull levers. Long pull levers (v-brake levers) do not provide good stopping power for caliper brakes. Congrats on your new Brompton.
Shimanos were a very common replacement for the factory break levers before 2013 and work flawlessly. As this bike comes from the uk and has been ridden for a couple of years I'd assume there should be no issue. These break levers could possibly be Shimano BL-R780 or something similar.