[Brompton] Broken rear axle
 

My rear axle sheared off right at the guide nut. This is on my 2013 6 speed.

Also, does anyone know a source for these parts in the USA or Canada?

"Steve Cartwright > Can I Buy Just The Axle As One Side On The Thread Is Damaged

SJS Customer Service > Unfortunately not, it is only available with the planet cage assembly pre-fitted and the axle for the BWR is unique so there is not a compatible alternative either I'm afraid."

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spar...sembly-hsa797/

not willing to import from the UK*, Check with your CDN Brompton dealer,
you may have to go thru channels as Sturmey-Archer Sun Tour
only makes the BWR hub for OEM supply to Brompton..

Sun gear is part of the axle, so not generic..

*NB: SJS will not sell Brompton parts, exporting, to any country with Brompton dealerships.

buying a whole core of the internals inside the hubshell may be less complex.

BF member Dan Burkhardt, in Ontario Province, may service your wheel,
if you ship it to him.



....

Interesting thread. I assumed the BWR hub was near identical to the old AW hubs but seems quite a lot of differences. Interesting article here about them and comparing to the AW version. Maybe I'm wrong to assume but reads to me like the BWR hub is not quite as good or strong as the old classic AW hub especially with the pitting mentioned and plastic bearing retainer. I wonder which is the best 3 speed hub nowadays, Sturmey Archer or Shimano Nexus for strength and reliability. A lot of bikes have Nexus 3 hubs much more than SA it seems nowadays yet you don't hear much about them which I suspect is a good thing they just work although saying that the same is true pretty much of SA most of the time.

https://chestercycling.wordpress.com...range-bwr-hub/

BSR is the .75, 1, 1.33, gear ratios of the AW3, S for standard ,
W is for Wider in the BWR .64,1, 1.57.
driver 9 spline 2 cog, rather than 3 spline 1 cog.

NIG design* is a bit different from the old AW, with its in between gears possibility.
your Blog link is missing that Fact.. BSR is all using that NIG Design..

* an engineering product of the English company ,
the new owners make only that for the 3 speeds..





...

Could be because of the OLD: Unless I'm mistaken, SA = 120mm, Nexus/Alfine/Rohloff = 135mm.

Maybe Brompton will finally offer a 135mm OLD rear triangle + Nexus 8 as an option.

For 3 speeds, both SA and Shimano offer a variety of OLD options.

I doubt Brompton wants to do that. Nexus 8 maybe more reliable than the Nexus 7 and Alfine 11 by a reasonable margin but still can be broken easily by heavier riders, mashers etc. I think it would damage their reputation. Rohloff seems a decent quality option but at a high cost.

It could be as an option, like we do now for colors, steel/titanium, number of speeds, etc.

I called three Canadian Brompton shops and none of them carry the part. This is the part since I somehow edited it away in the original message:

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spar...sembly-hsa797/

All the Canadian shops want to replace the entire hub.

So now I have a message to some USA dealers. I guess I'll probably end up ordering from the UK. I can't imagine why this part would not be available in North America. I've done some Google and I'm not the first one to break the axle.

Would love to have the contact info for Dan Burkhardt. I'm in Ontario as well.

Maybe this is an opportunity to switch up the rear hub. Shimano Nexus or Rohloff?

https://www.facebook.com/dan.burkhart.14
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-burkhart-02878965/
https://www.bikeforums.net/members/d...art-19437.html
https://www.youtube.com/user/2wagondragon/discussion

Can you build a rear triangle?

No but I could buy one from Kinetics!

Thanks for the contact info.

I'm a bit surprised no Taiwanese or Chinese company offers a Brompton rear triangle with a standard OLD.

That would be a lot more useful than all those super expensive titanium parts.

How did you break it?

I have absolutely no idea. I rode one morning and couldn't shift. Looked down - broken axle.

Email Brompton Support and tell them and show picture. Ask them to recommend best fix.

wouldn't fold as small in width , but go for it find a contract manufacturer,
in Taiwan, send them CAD . ... and your international line of credit..

What we really need is for Rolhoff or Shimano to mod a wider range IGH to the Brompton rear triangle width.

I suspect they would sell well.

That's crazy that Curbside won't or can't order that part from Brompton. The advice to email Brompton themselves is what I would do. Even if you get the axle, it is over $100 Cdn. dollars plus the cost of replacing it.This is one expensive repair no matter what direction you go. I hope it works out for you.

Email those Brompton shops in the UK, to check if they could ship just the axle.

TillerCycles <graham@tillercycles.co.uk>
CH White & Son <chwhite@btinternet.com>
Compton Cycles <info@comptoncycles.co.uk>
Kinetics <mail@kinetics.bike>

So I emailed Brompton and they said the axle and planet cage assembly cannot be sold separately. They are only willing to supply the entire hub. They offered to sell it to me at a discount (exact discount not stated due to "exchange rates and duties") but will not sell it to me directly, only through an authorized dealer. I told them that I want to install it myself but they refuse to send it to me due to the requirement for "specialist tools".

This doesn't sound right to me. I own the bike. It's my right to fix it myself, is it not? Didn't BMW and other car companies get their wrists slapped for this kind of approach to servicing their vehicles?

Ah, yes..Brompton...
 

...a broken axle becomes an international imbroglio. And then you have to suffer the 'specislists tools' rigmarole, while paying top dollar right out of the gate.

Brompton clarified in a follow-up email that I am free to do my own repair although they discourage it. Still don't know what the part will cost.

Does anyone know what specialist tools they are referring to?

You have to open the hub shell, to even start the repair..

Even with two left hands — and the recommended Sturmey Archer HTR 145 Classic Ball Ring Spanner —, I managed to perform open-heart surgery on the BWR… and the patient is still alive and kicking.

https://www.google.fr/search?q=sturmey+archer+bwr+maintenance&tbm=vid

s/.fr/.ca/

I thought I would close the loop on this thread.

I bought the Sturmey Archer BWR Axle / Planet Cage Assembly from SJS, received it quickly and proceeded to break down my hub. Then I got to the point where I needed the Ring Spanner. It took me a month to get that and then I went on a two week holiday. So all the hub parts lay on my work bench with a note "Do Not Touch. Do not Even Breathe".

Got everything back together yesterday and the hub did not shift properly. The cable would not retract back into hub. I disassembled the drive side again and realized that I had the clutch spring cap on the inside of the spring and not the outside. That little detail prevented the spring from working properly.

Reassembled and this time, I attached the gear chain to the hub and tested it periodically during the reassembly. This is something I should have done the first time.

Overall, the job is not nearly as complex as it looks. Thanks for all the advice.

Well I am glad you finally fix it. Happy riding.

physical problem using a R'off in a 16" wheel, is its 10 reduction gears, & only 3 overdrive gears ..
with a 20" wheel I have a 53t chainring, with a 26" wheel its a 38.. same gear range , same hub cog.


Alfine / Nexus 8 have the 1:1 in the center .. and the Sram i9, in my Tikit 18:53 ..

Alfine 11 adds 2 more high, overdrive, gear ratios.. to what my 9 speed did.




...

Understood. You could use a large chainring but that has it's own issues.

The Alfine 11 is also an oil bath IGH so it should be durable over a long time.

Looking at the cross section it appears one could narrow the hub's width by changing the nuts and washers, but maybe not sufficently.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2cb6ba1973.png

This Shop in Scotland hand makes new front and rear portions

to add Disc brakes and the 135 wide IGH , also with disc brakes ..

On such a small wheel , a 160 disc is relatively huge, almost 2:1...

Brompton ? Kinetics
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bf568339bb.jpg