Brompton crank snapped

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Pseudo

Active Member
About to pull away from the traffic lights and... snap!


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Anyone else had this happen?
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
No, wow, manufacturing defect? or would we not like you when you are angry?
 
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Pseudo

Active Member
Well, most of the break is clean, but part of the crack is dirty, so looks like it may have been developing over time. Just the sudden stress of thrusting my foot down was obviously too much for it! Although the shop looked impressed, they did say it wasn't the first one they've seen!
 
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Pseudo

Active Member
Two years - done over 6,000 miles - lots of hills where I live too, so gets a lot of pounding.
 
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Pseudo

Active Member
Ouch! I do find I'm checking everything on it lately - but something unexpected will always evade detection until it fails! The bolt securing the rear brakes to the frame came loose a few weeks ago - the only warning I had was the brake lever juddering when I applied the brake.
 

chris folder

Well-Known Member
Hi I am a new bromptom owner your scaring me with pictures like this:laugh: I will be checking my bromptom all the time now. I have been rideing dahon for years still good as new
 
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Pseudo

Active Member
I think a Brompton is designed for 2-3 miles to and from a station every day, rather than the 17 miles pounding I give it on an uphill slog home from London every day in all weathers!
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
Ouch! I do find I'm checking everything on it lately - but something unexpected will always evade detection until it fails! The bolt securing the rear brakes to the frame came loose a few weeks ago - the only warning I had was the brake lever juddering when I applied the brake.
My front brake assembly fell to pieces not long after buying it. A proper strip down and rebuild at home & its been fine ever since. I do minimum 15 edge of the Pennines miles a day on mine in all but proper snowy weather & I even spotted Rose Bikes (IIRC) offering 16 inch snow tyres but I think the ground clearance would be a problem picking up the grinding paste gritter spray and snow sludge so readily.

On the few niggles people report: I do wonder if Brommy are working at full tilt to grow and meet the demand over the last few years and that final touch of QC has slipped a tad, but shops are taking them on bombproof reputation & trust. A quick bit of home TLC seems to be the thing to keep them as good as public preception.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
I do wonder if Brommy are working at full tilt to grow and meet the demand over the last few years and that final touch of QC has slipped a tad, but shops are taking them on bombproof reputation & trust. A quick bit of home TLC seems to be the thing to keep them as good as public preception.

My Brompton dealer tells me Brommies usually come out of the box ready to go and few require much adjustment.

But I think you could be right about Brompton taking their eye off the quality control ball.

These days they seem more concerned with style, boutique shops and marketing in general.

Ramping up production of any niche product often seems accompanied by a dip in quality, so if there is a problem, Brompton should have seen it coming.
 
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