Grumbling Brompton "freehub"

[Chris S]

I use Vaseline in my hub so I suppose any similar consistency grease would do.

PS - most people use a hammer and punch on the ball-ring, not just bell ends!

 

[Chris S]

I've done a bit more digging and come across the very useful video below which shows pretty much complete disassembly of the hub:



This shows three sets of ball races in the hub (irritatingly working chronologically backwards for the sake of this exercise):

2:45 - hub assy to axle - NDS
2:37 - freewheel body to axle - DS
0:53 - freewheel body to hub assy

I'd forgotten about the bearings in the driver. In the original AW hub there was just a cruciform clutch and a physical gap between second and third gears to stop them being selected simultaneously. However the hub could slip into this if it wasn't properly adjusted and send the rider over the handlebars. The modified design allowed the driver to 'freewheel' while changing between second and third gears and so eliminated the need for the physical gap.

 

[Kell]

In other news I had a look for appropriate spanners and it appears that the HTR145 is the correct one - available from SJS for £38.

Brilliant Bikes don't charge delivery and look to have the same spanner - but it's more expensive to begin with.

https://brilliantbikes.co.uk/hub-an...TR+145+Classic+Ball+Ring+Spanner&results=2433