A five grand Brompton

[Pale Rider]

There's a heavily modified Brompton on ebay with an asking price of £5,500.

It appears the bike is owned by someone in Reading, Berkshire, who says it weighs 8kg, but is still practical to use.

Looks a bit lacking in the spoke department to me.

Interesting as an exercise of the possible.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brompton...582064?hash=item2631761f30:g:-XsAAOSw-eZdxXJG

 

[Rocky]

Indeed - very interesting. Thanks for posting.

I'm not sure it's for me - particularly as you could get 5 nice looking ordinary Brommies for the same price - one for each day of the working week!! You are right about it being an exercise of the possible. I'm never sure about the benefits of putting loads of Ti components on a bike like this......also, I wouldn't leave it locked up outside my local railway station.

 

[Tenkaykev]

No mudguards, I'm out 😉

 

[Cycleops]

I'm just wondering who is going to buy it. A very wealthy commuter who values light weight above all else and is prepared to pay a heavy premium? Even they might not appreciate or want the racy add ons and no mudguards would be a turn off. It certainly isn't going to be bought by a Brompton modder such as @chriscross1966 as he would prefer to do his own.
Be interesting to see how quickly it's snapped up.

 

[Racing roadkill]

If I’m remembering my Brompton ‘spec Speak’ correctly S3E means sports / short bus dodger bars, 3 speeds, and all the racks and stuff come with it originally. If it weighs 8Kgs I’d want more gears myself, other than that, good effort, but 5.5K?

 

[Blue Hills]

I wouldn't trust those wheels.
I have a brommie.
What i value about is its sheer practicality and the fact that it's built like a tank.

Ie, not those damn wheels.

 

[Pale Rider]

not those damn wheels.

They would make it nice and easy to get a pump on the valve after the inevitable punctures in the Kojaks.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Is it even a Brompton if it was built in Hong Kong?

 

[berlinonaut]

This bike has been on ebay.uk for quite a while already w/o being sold... Beautiful to look at but in my eyes more a build to look at than to ride, let alone on a daily basis. This kind of bling-bling-customization is to a degree common in Asia and in the description it is stated: Custom Build in Ti Parts Workshop, Hong Kong
Trouble is that many of those aftermarket parts come from Asia and are build with a lightweight Asian rider in mind (if with any rider at all). Sometimes the quality of those tuning part leaves something to be desired as well - most of the manufacturers only arose a short time ago and some do either not have the competence or do not care for robustness or the makers to not understand the bike - optics is king. Look i.e. at this thread at bikeforums: https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bikes/1185364-flawed-aftermarket-parts-accessories.html

While less weight is always desirable it always comes at a price - at least money but often also less robustness. This build goes far beyond any sweet spot, so not a bike for me.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Thanks for the link Berlinonaut.

It's good to read of someone's hands on experiences with the aftermarket Brompton bits.
I have fitted a Ti seatpost to my Brommie, and a Ti handlebar clamp bolt in black to match the colour scheme.
As the Ti seatpost is a single tube I'd expect it to fare better than something that is mechanically more intricate but time will tell.

 

[berlinonaut]

I have fitted a Ti seatpost to my Brommie, and a Ti handlebar clamp bolt in black to match the colour scheme.
As the Ti seatpost is a single tube I'd expect it to fare better than something that is mechanically more intricate but time will tell.

A couple of years ago there were some mentions of aftermarket ti-post breaking, I read about a handful such experiences. They broke at the slimmer part on the top end. I hope the manufacturers have learned their lesson in the meantime.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Indeed - very interesting. Thanks for posting.

I'm not sure it's for me - particularly as you could get 5 nice looking ordinary Brommies for the same price - one for each day of the working week!!

Indeed, Mrs Tenkay and I each have 2 Bromptons, one for regular knocking about shopping/ when it's raining etc, and one for Sunday best 😉

The various colour combinations still leave us needing yellow, blue and green to complete the " Rainbow Collection"

 

[rogerzilla]

Mine's under 10kg, has three (close) gears and didn't cost that much to put together!

 

[chriscross1966]

I'm just wondering who is going to buy it. A very wealthy commuter who values light weight above all else and is prepared to pay a heavy premium? Even they might not appreciate or want the racy add ons and no mudguards would be a turn off. It certainly isn't going to be bought by a Brompton modder such as @chriscross1966 as he would prefer to do his own.
Be interesting to see how quickly it's snapped up.

Yeah I did look at it... if you want that sort of thing then it's very nice and would cost you pretty much that to build, though to me the DIY aspects of building super-modifieds and solving the problems of fitting high-end big-wheel components is a big part of the fun...

I might debate whether the ORZ wheelset is up to commuting, but you could stick a pair of 28-spoke Kinlins with Marathon Racers in there for day-to-day and save the ORZ for the weekend...

It's nice, I would consider it fairly priced for what you get in terms of components, it's not for me though :-)

 

[chriscross1966]

A couple of years ago there were some mentions of aftermarket ti-post breaking, I read about a handful such experiences. They broke at the slimmer part on the top end. I hope the manufacturers have learned their lesson in the meantime.

If you're going for a Ti podt get the integrated seatclamp style, no point in shaving 100g off the post to bolt a Pentaclip to the top of it...