Brompton folding bike - silver to black wheel refit advice

[snazpizaz]

Hi

I have a couple of questions on switching my Brompton Folding Bike silver/wheel set out for black rimmed versions.

1. The sets tend to come in pairs - front / back wheel.
As my Brompton is 6 standard gears, (2019 superlight model) , can i get away with purchasing a 3 gear hub set or do i need to purchase one which states 6 gear hub ?
I'm a bit confused as i thought the 6 standard gears runs off a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub.

My Brompton is a 2019 superlight
6 standard gears
h type
with mudguards / no luggage rack

I've found several options :
mini mods 1
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/wheelsb...-28h-with-bwr-3-speed-hub-minimods-rim-black/
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/wheelsb...with-jtek-extra-light-hub-minimods-rim-black/
mini mods 2
https://www.bikegang.co.uk/bikegang...28-holes-Wide-Rims-Schrader-Valves-p408880468
original (2nd hand)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/32509915...z9FuBB4l6yGYyx89qgbwYjzv8EVdrAfoaAlJGEALw_wcB
or
https://www.bikegang.co.uk/bikegang...28-holes-Wide-Rims-Schrader-Valves-p187533568

If anyone can recommend or advise on this project or on these or other available wheel sets, i would be greatful.

cheers
sp

 

[Kell]

The key thing to look out for when buying the rear hub is what you've already picked in the first link - the BWR (or Brompton Wide Range).

This is different from the standard 3-speed hub as the gaps between gears are comically wide - which is where the sprocket gears come in - as they give you the additional gears in between.

If you buy the standard 3-speed, you'd have a much narrower spread of gears. From memory, the standard 3-speed's 1st gear is taller than both 1 and 2 on the 6-speed, and 3rd is shorter than 6th.

 

[Kell]

Just trawling through the links.

Both of the Bikegang versions do not use an internal hub. It's a standard two-speed wheel, but with the option of fitting two, three or four sprockets - hence why it's labelled up as a 2/3 speed.

 

[12boy]

I have the 177% SA hub on one wheel and the one piece 3 sprocket option for another. I like them both, but I tend to the SA in the winter because the sprocket is easily and cheaply replaced when worn out by winter road grit. The Bikegang one is much lighter but does not allow you to only relace one sprocket as it is one piece. I am saving that for dryer summer months.

 

[T4tomo]

Is your old 3 speed hub still working fine?

If so why not just buy 2 black rims & correct spoke sets and get a wheel builder to rebuild them?

https://brilliantbikes.co.uk/84-brompton-rims-spokes#/colour_-black/front_rear-both-front-rear

 

[Kell]

Is your old 3 speed hub still working fine?

If so why not just buy 2 black rims & correct spoke sets and get a wheel builder to rebuild them?

https://brilliantbikes.co.uk/84-brompton-rims-spokes#/colour_-black/front_rear-both-front-rear

I'm guessing the answer will be "Because then you'd have silver hubs"

 

[snazpizaz]

Is your old 3 speed hub still working fine?

If so why not just buy 2 black rims & correct spoke sets and get a wheel builder to rebuild them?

https://brilliantbikes.co.uk/84-brompton-rims-spokes#/colour_-black/front_rear-both-front-rear

Thanks - yes this is certainly some kind of cheaper option - though the rims and spoke nipples listed in the link are only part black .
1. Whats the view on spraying them black with car paint ? Or are folks preferences for the baked powder route ?
2. Which of those spoke bundles should i buy if i went this route ?
3. What did others think of the SJS cycles ready built rims , branded MiniMod which seem to qualify as the rear is listed as BWR which i now understand is what the standard 6 speed gears use ?
cheers - appreciated
sp

 

[rualexander]

Hi

I have a couple of questions on switching my Brompton Folding Bike silver/wheel set out for black rimmed versions.

1. The sets tend to come in pairs - front / back wheel.
As my Brompton is 6 standard gears, (2019 superlight model) , can i get away with purchasing a 3 gear hub set or do i need to purchase one which states 6 gear hub ?
I'm a bit confused as i thought the 6 standard gears runs off a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub.

If you are replacing the whole built wheel and you want to continue to have 6 gears you need to buy a 6 speed hub wheel not a 3 speed hub wheel. The hubs have different drivers on them, so you can't fit your two sprockets onto a 3 speed hub without also changing the driver.

 

[T4tomo]

Thanks - yes this is certainly some kind of cheaper option - though the rims and spoke nipples listed in the link are only part black .
1. Whats the view on spraying them black with car paint ? Or are folks preferences for the baked powder route ?
2. Which of those spoke bundles should i buy if i went this route ?
3. What did others think of the SJS cycles ready built rims , branded MiniMod which seem to qualify as the rear is listed as BWR which i now understand is what the standard 6 speed gears use ?
cheers - appreciated
sp

A phone call to SJS and Brilliant bikes etc would be the way forward to work out which of their wheels would suit.

Point taken on black hubs, although side on the "Black" SA hub is still quite silvery.

 

[CEBEP]

I'm guessing the answer will be "Because then you'd have silver hubs"

Why not paint the current one to matte black? Could be an option as the black one is painted just the same by the factory. I’m pretty sure it will be cheaper than burying a new hub.

They didn’t have black cable guard on stock so I bought silver one and painted it. Worked just fine.

 

[snazpizaz]

Thanks folks -

Do you think the brake pads / does the brake pad rub off the black colour on a rim be it DIY or even bought from SJS cycles ? Or are multi coloured rims normal these days and surivive brake-block wear ?

 

[CEBEP]

Thanks folks -

Do you think the brake pads / does the brake pad rub off the black colour on a rim be it DIY or even bought from SJS cycles ? Or are multi coloured rims normal these days and surivive brake-block wear ?

Brake pads side of the black rim is not painted.

 

[snazpizaz]

Why not paint the current one to matte black? Could be an option as the black one is painted just the same by the factory. I’m pretty sure it will be cheaper than burying a new hub.

They didn’t have black cable guard on stock so I bought silver one and painted it. Worked just fine.


View attachment 642026

Regarding the post above re: i have to buy an advertised 3 gear hub - i understand that wheels with gear hubs advertised as 3 speed BWR are in fact the 6 speed type hubs for Bromptons - few are advertised as 6 speed, See: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brompton-wheels/
So is that the case - 3 gear BWR hubs are for 6 gear bikes ?

cheers
sp

 

[Schwinnsta]

The hubs themselves are 3 speed with wide ratio gearing and come such that two or more sprockets can be installed on them. They are made this way for Brompton by Sturmey-Archer. Hub and sprockets are usually spoken of as two separate parts. Front hubs don't have sprockets, usually.

 

[Kell]

I don't know if they're exactly the same, but the 3-speed hub is essentially the same as the 6-speed hub in that they both have 3 gear ratios. It's just that the ratios you get are different.

As I said above, the BWR is the one to buy for a 6-speed bike. This is because the gear ratios have a much broader spread. Because it's designed to use the sprockets to give an intermediary gear so that you two speeds for each gear in the internal hub.

When I was looking to buy mine, the guy in the Brompton junction explained it really well. He said 'You get three gears on your right shifter, then you have a high and low in each gear which is controlled by your left shifter"

Even with the intermediate sprocket gears, the RPMs are quite far apart on the 6-speed. From my seat-of-the-pants calculations the difference between 5 and 6 (for example) is around 17RPM. If you tried to run the BWR as a three speed bike, you could roughly double that. So you'd be pedalling along at 15MPH at say 80RPM, then try and change up and suddenly you'd be doing 50RPM and never get over the top of the gear. From personal experience when my Chain pusher bolt came out, having the use of only three gears (1, 3 and 5 OR 2, 4 and 6) on the speed made it almost unrideable.

As someone mentioned above, you can't physically do it the other way either - i.e. run the 3-speed hub as a 6-speed bike as the fittings for the sprockets don't play together.

If in doubt, ask the shop before ordering.

Regarding the post above re: i have to buy an advertised 3 gear hub - i understand that wheels with gear hubs advertised as 3 speed BWR are in fact the 6 speed type hubs for Bromptons - few are advertised as 6 speed, See: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brompton-wheels/
So is that the case - 3 gear BWR hubs are for 6 gear bikes ?

cheers
sp