Height and reach.

[Gunk]

Yipee!! Yipee!! Bought one!! Red T6 Brompton!! Picking it up tomorrow!!............
Looking at the replies...Amazing knowledge and ideas!! cant thank you all enough. Think about the replies, I think the way to go will be to try the M stem with the S bars!! Dont think putting the saddle too far forward would work, it could do my back in, thinking I would more or less be peddling 'backwards' meaning the peddling would be behind me!! (if that makes sense). Really looking forward to picking the bike up tomorrow!! Pics to follow (if I can get them on here!!). Appreciate your help and advice. Terry

Photos please!

 

[Gunk]

I wish my bike looked that clean these days.

Mine is super clean, most I see in Oxford are filthy!

 

[tel123]

Aint they lovely.....cant wait til tomorrow to pick my one up!!!!

 

[Gunk]

Aint they lovely.....cant wait til tomorrow to pick my one up!!!!

You’ll love it, they’re a really nice thing to own.

 

[rogerzilla]

You'd be surprised at how far forward the saddle is from the factory.

In every official Brompton picture I've seen, it's about as far forward as the rails will allow.

(Below pics all currently on their website).

View attachment 531942

View attachment 531943

View attachment 531944

Like the too-short-for-most-men standard seatpost, the forward saddle is how they achieve the claimed folded size.

 

[berlinonaut]

For riders on the standard seatpost - which is really for those shorter than male average height these days - S bars on an M stem is indeed a good hack. You might have to have a dealer do this for you, as Brompton have gone a bit fascist with end user parts supply. One snag is that there are no prescribed cable lengths for such an arrangement, and cable lengths are critical if you want them to lie together neatly when riding AND still fold.

True that the mod is more complex than the innocent might suspect, still cables and bars are available as spare parts for the end-user even in the UK as far as I know. And IMHO the mod is doable at home, even for a non-professional, though a total newbie to the Brompton may have a bit of a hard time before finishing successfully.

OT: Here in Germany we are a little bit careful with using the term "fascist" but I can accept that that this is an UK forum and there things are different. /OT

 

[rogerzilla]

Apologies - with a small "f" it means "total control of the people". Anyway, the point is that Brompton won't sell a stem to end users. You have to order one through a dealer and pay them to fit it. A stem!

 

[berlinonaut]

Anyway, the point is that Brompton won't sell a stem to end users. You have to order one through a dealer and pay them to fit it.

As said countless times before: This is true for the UK and only for the UK. In other countries an end user currently has no problem of buying a stem from a dealer. And possibly you could order one from dealers in most European countries and get it shipped to the UK - kind of ridiculous but should work.

A stem!

Mounting a stem involves using the correct amount of torque and Brompton has had an issue recently with the head tube on titanium forks being shot, probably by overtightening the mounting screw of the stem. Shamefully it seems that sometimes this even happened already at the factory. Quite recently Brompton added the information about torque on the stem to their support article - it has not been there before and even less there was the infomation about a special, lower torque value on titanium forks. This information seems to be a consequence of the fork issues on titanium Bromptons.

How Do I Adjust The Handlebar Alignment?
This is a job which we do not recommend is performed at home as it does require specific tooling and knowledge. If the correct procedure and correctly calibrated tooling is not used, it is possible that the Handlebar Pin may not be secured properly, or you may damage the Handlebar Pin or fork. Please do contact your local dealer to have this work performed.

It is important to note that there are two different designs of handlebar pins fitted to our bike, these are the expander cone design and the angled wedge design.

The expander cone design was supplied on all bikes prior to 2018 and on some 2018 models. The expander cone design requires the handlebar pin bolt to be tightened to:

- 16Nm on steel forks

- 15Nm on titanium forks

The angled wedge design was supplied on all bikes from 2019 onwards and on some 2018 models. The angled wedge design requires the handlebar pin bolt to be tightened to 30Nm.

If you have a 2018 model bike it will be necessary to remove the bike to check which design you have.

So the question is: How many "home mechanics" do know this? How many do own a torque spanner? How many know how to use it properly? How many are willing to use it on a Brompton stem? And how many think in opposite: "more power is the way to go to make it stick"? (if they think at all.) I do not want to defend Brompton here - but definitively one can damage a Brompton by incompetence or ignorance and in case of the stem this may in the worst case end badly. A fool with a tool is still a fool...

 

[rogerzilla]

15Nm vs 16Nm is within the margin of error for torque wrench calibration, though. I can see why they changed from the cone; these things always get stuck on old Cinelli stems. The wedges are much more foolproof.

Why does a Brompton need special instructions, though? Are they using steerers with a thinner wall, and a special fatter stem to match? We know the OD of the steerer is ISO 1 1/8" as any threaded headset will fit. It smells of woo to me.

 

[berlinonaut]

15Nm vs 16Nm is within the margin of error for torque wrench calibration, though.

Totally agree and it does not convince me too much regarding the technical competence of the guys writing these support articles. However: 15/16NM is not too much and can easily be overtightened by an ambitious mechanic w/o a torque wrench unintendedly. As said before: No judgement on the construction - if the construction is suboptimal this does not change the risk of damage. The interesting fact to me is that these torque values have not been communicated before a couple of months ago as far as I know and I highly doubt that many dealers are aware of them (let alone end users).

 

[Schwinnsta]

A couple years back, I took mine apart to lube the bearings. It seemed to me construction was typical of threaded stems. It was easy to align. Just have wheel straight and set the stem "locked" in its clip in the stem folded position, tighten the wedge and good to go. And yea this DIY mechanic tightened without a torque wrench.

 

[Gunk]

this DIY mechanic tightened without a torque wrench.

Me too, I know from 40 years of building cycles and motorcycles that when it's tight it's tight. All the mishaps I've had have usually involved a bloody torque wrench.