Originally Posted by
Jipe
Its possible to make a reliable hinge system for the Brompton without any cable.
This has been sufficiently demonstrated with the high amount of 16" steel Brompton produced and used since decades without any problem.
The issue came because Brompton decided to make a new design for the hinge and spindle of the 20" G-line. Sometime a new design is not better than an old one!
Now, it seems that the problem was caused by corrosion but Brompton doesn't mention that in its official announcement only saying that they "have taken the decision to change the Hinge Spindle to one which has increased durability. "
Corrosion: Interesting. I don't know pin material difference. Could be switch away from or to stainless steel, or stress-corrosion-cracking issue. As an example, Rene Herse sells a high quality BB cartridge from SKF, and notes:
The entire bottom bracket is made from stainless steel and aluminum, so it won’t rust. However, this also makes the spindle more brittle than Cromoly. The SKF bottom brackets meet the ‘City/Trekking Bike’ standards for fatigue resistance, but not the highest ‘Racing Bike’ standards to which other Rene Herse components are designed. Many other high-end bottom brackets also use stainless steel spindles, and SKF bottom brackets perform fine under most riders, including very strong ones. (Jan and Mark on the BQ Team have put 10,000s of miles on theirs with no problems.) However, if you tend to break components, we suggest you look elsewhere for a bottom bracket.
Cable: Understood, has worked fine for decades. But cable does make it stronger, and if strength not needed, it may also make the hinge tighter; this may be zero issue on brompton because of how the hinge closes with a V-clamp screwed tight on the outside of both hinge halves. On the standard Dahon over-center latch, the cable really improves the tightness of the hinge when closed. Their more advanced hinge closures are better on this.