Originally Posted by
dynaryder
Just curious,have you ridden a T Line? Cuz I own one. It's not a heavy bike,nor is it a slow bike. A full derailleur drivetrain would mean a larger folded size,and there would be serious limitations. My gear range is 28-114". What derailleur setup is going to give me that? And fit into 112mm spacing? And not have a cage that hits the ground or has issues with dropping the chain?
I can't think of a single 20"+ folder that I'd own,because none of them fold as small as a Brompton,and that's one of my top priorities for a folding bike. I've had a Mu SL and a Speed Pro TT and didn't keep either because they were way too big when folded(and didn't fold as easy). I also had a Mezzo D10 at the same time I had my S6,the Brompton stayed,the Mezzo got Craigslisted. The Mezzo was a touch lighter with a normal 1x10 105 group,but had limited gear range,dropped its chain,and had a crap fold.
Yes, I tested a T-line 4s and I had a 6s superlight Brompton with the BWR hub which is now upgraded with a Rohloff hub.
The original titanium rear triangle has been enlarged by Ben of Kinetics Glasgow, the enlargement of the rear OLD from112mm to 135mm doesn't change the folded width at all because its done at the end of the triangle where its width doesn't define the folded width.
For the gear inch, the Rohloff has a wider range than the Brompton 4x3s solution.
And there are cassettes compatible with small wheels with a similar or wider gear inch range like the 11s 9-39 and 9-42 (like mounted on the Helix HK specs) or 12s 10-44t.
BTW. the replacement of the original 6s transmission BWR+Brompton 2s derailleur by a Rohloff with some lightweight parts on it almost doesn't increase the weight of the bike (I measured a weight increase of only 150g that was compensated by using a 11s chainring, a lightweight X11SL Gold KMC chain and a singlespeed chain tensionner).