Hi all,

My Brompton has a standard front hub, and I'm interested in new, a better than standard, hub.

I've got a quote from Phil Wood (one of the best, if not THE best) to specially produce a front hub that would fit the standard Brompton fork and rim.

The hub would be 74mm OLD (Over-Locknut-Dimension, should fit the Moulton NS as well?) 28 holes (standard Brompton 349 rims), and sealed cartridge bearings.

It comes with a lifetime warranty on hub shell and axle.

This would be the last front hub you'd ever buy for their bike!

The quote is 140 USD per hub, plus one 250 USD for the programming / setup.
Meaning, each hub would cost:
140 + (250 / NumberOfBuyers)

For me, 390 USD (to be the lone buyer) is a bit expensive, but am willing to pay a lower price even with just a few other buyers.

Do you know of anyone that would be interested as well?


I'm not in it for the profit. I will pay the same price. I just want the best.
You understand me, don't you?


To be fair, I should say that the other option would be to get the SON XS dynamo hub, for a similar price (the whole set, with lights and fittings.)
See here:
https://www.biketrax.co.uk/products.p...d=m6b0s157p851
That's 410 USD, and it's not even an E6 lamp. Not to mention SolidLights...


I also posted this in The Folding Society blog, with a pic I got from Phil Wood of a similar 74mm hub with non standard 24 holes, to get an idea how it would look.
https://foldsoc.blogspot.com/2007/02/...-brompton.html

Regards, Tal Katzir.

Did you post this on the YAHOO group BromptonTalk?

Yes, as well as the Yahoo group moultonbicycle, maybe someone there would be interested.

Tal.

I have found some pictures online of this front hub, obviously someone got it made.

Looking at the Phil website they say "We can be contacted for replacement hubs for Brompton wheels". I have e-mailed them to find out more, will post the result here.

Could be interesting and sure nice to see, these hubs.
The Son is also a serious option, just like https://www.flickr.com/photos/plooifiets/3671516172/

Jos

The word from Phil is:

"We do make a 74mm OLD hub for the Brompton. We offer it in a spoke hole count from 16 to 32. The cost for the 16h is US$159, the 24h and 28h are US$119, and the 32h is US$99."

That 32 hole seems cheap to me (for a Phil hub) maybe they realised that very few people need 32 spoke 16" wheels and have made a whole bunch....

To be quite honest, I think that Brompton have stolen some of Phil's thunder here, by offering a sealed bearing front hub in their 2009 product range.

I'm very keen on the idea of the SON as the 'ultimate' front hub, although I don't think one can be had for US$99.

out of curiosity, what rim would you lace the 16h and 24h to? for 406mm there's CR-18 which comes in 28h, 32h and 36h. so something from velocity?

you can even lace the 32h to a 32h rim using only 16 holes and still get a pretty sturdy wheel using 1x or radial.

I understand that if you ask Velocity nicely they will drill any number of holes you want, you might need to buy a large quantity though. You can also get undrilled rims from them...

looks like they might use the wheelchair hub, with different spacers?

I got 24-hole rims from Bike Friday. The 406 is an Alex DM-18, the 451 is an Alex DA-22. I'm planning on lacing a 32-hole Sun M14A rim to a 16-hole hub, just because.

doesn't the M14A have staggered drilling?