Brompton - Rebuild
- Thread starter marsross
- Start date
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steveindenmark
Legendary Member
Ask the guys in the London Brompton Club on Facebook. They organise regular ride outs that you may want to join in with.
gom
Über Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
I used https://www.brompton.com/find-a-store to find my nearest 'Premier Store'. C H White in Malmesbury in my case. They recently replaced the bushes of my rear triangle. They appear to be very Brompton-knowledgeable , and are generally a very good, well stocked LBS.
There seem to be a few not too far from Bromley.
There seem to be a few not too far from Bromley.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Was looking at places I've used in the past in London - 3 have all shut down! Evans branches in London used to be OK with brommies, but Ashley may have ruined it and drove the good mechanics away, but you might be better off finding a more local specialist with cheaper labour rates. i could recommend one in rural Hertfordshire, but you want his SE london equivalent...
tinywheels
Über Member
- Location
- South of hades
compton cycles Catford. You sure you live in Bromley matey?
The boys at Comptons been there for donkeys, you won't regret using them.
The boys at Comptons been there for donkeys, you won't regret using them.
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
It can get very expensive if you use a dealer. I saw a Brompton for sale on eBay, cheap, because the quote from the dealer was over £400 to fix its various issues. Having totally rebuilt four or five, and having some spares and most of the tools (and knowing where I can borrow the other one), I could have fixed it for £40.
tinywheels
Über Member
- Location
- South of hades
this is a problem for many. the cost of all things is soaring. unfortunately some of us don't have the time or inclination to do semi complicated work on our bikes.
oldies among us hark back to the days of the shops run by grumpy old gits,who worked reasonably cheaply.
modern buisness costs are stratospheric.
in the case of brompton I think their dealer costs are acceptable.
if I was running a clunker then I might get the spanners out more often.
the two shops I frequent mostly are absolutely outstandingly customer focused. if something can be done cheaply they advise accordingly.
Rapha type man on an expensive cycle probably wants his steed pampering and is willing to pay.
it's horses for courses.
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
In Brompton's case, the supply of certain tools and parts is restricted to authorised dealers, at least in the UK. It was not always like that.
tinywheels
Über Member
- Location
- South of hades
I think they have taken the car dealer ship model.
the same thing is evident in bmw, mercedes etc.
they consider it a premium product and don't want any old rif raf working on it, plus it protects the dealer investment.
Fields Electric
Active Member
The only specialist tools that I have for my Brompton. Are an adjustable Reamer to do the seat tube bush. A 9.5 mm reamer for the bottom swivel bushes.
Kell
Veteran
- Location
- High Wycombe/London
I'm sure that's true about car dealers. And not only that, they tend to want to replace things rather than fix them*.
Case in point the last BMW we owned (and it will be the last BMW I own) had a problem with the self-levelling rear suspension (it was an E61 530d). It kept going up and down and was un-drivable when it was down as it was on the bump stops. There was clearly a problem as it burned out three alternators in a row trying to level the suspension.
It took forever for them to diagnose the problem. They couldn't do it at dealer level and the car had to be plugged in and given remote access to some super computer in Brackley.
It diagnosed it to a faulty connector. So BMW told me the ONLY solution was to replace the entire wiring loom (£1,300) and it was a 20 hour job to do it. I think the hourly rate back then was £130. Total cost was Just under £4,000 as the car was out of warranty - even though it was just 6 years old and had always been serviced by a main dealer.
At this point I was using a back-street BMW specialist as I was getting very effed off with the main dealer treatment and once it was diagnosed, he said "That's the same connector they used to use for the electric windows on the previous model. We're breaking one of those and we can just solder it on for you"
Total cost £350.
On a related note, the govt introduced a digital log book so that there's an electronic record of a car's service history. But, in our case, the garage that services our current car (Audi - which we get serviced at the same garage as above) is 'not allowed' to access the online service record as it's for Audi dealers only. So I had to buy a separate paper log book to get stamped.
*A point also backed up by my Dad who was a mechanic all his life. When he first started, they'd take things apart and fix them. By the time he retired, he said no one does that anymore - they just take things off and replace them.
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rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Mazda use the electronic service book but at least you can download a dump of the whole history via their app.
Fastpedaller
Senior Member
The comments about cars are typical. My Daughter's car had a fault last weekend- windscreen washer wouldn't work. I said fuse may have blown - did she try to wash the screen when the weather was freezing? There was the airbag light showing on the dash. When I looked at the wiring diagram the fuse was the same for both! result..... well almost. Unable to remove the fuse with fingers or pliers, I had to use a pair of nail clippers which could dig into the plastic. With a hefty pull it eventually came out. No where between Cambridge and Thetford had a replacement fuse, but we eventually got one in North East Norfolk. 'special fuse' I don't know.... The car is 7 years old and the fuse has 3 pins. I shudder to think what the cost for 'repair' would have been Hmm...... "Airbag light, that'll be a new air bag and a new washer pump and......... for a 55p fuse and 10 minutes to fit it.
