Looking at the T-Line brompton

[Fastpedaller]

Whiling away some time, I was looking at the T-line. Looks good, but as I already have a superlight I don't think the weight saving will be great. I'm not the first owner of my bike, and I think it must have a Ti seatpost, as the previous owner was a perfectionist who wanted the best - how can I tell if it's a Ti stem? It's certainly not magnetic, has a thin wall so therefore it can't be aluminium alloy as it would be VERY bendy, so I can only guess i's Ti (Black finish) Did Brompton (or maybe anyone else) supply such a beast in 2007?
Anyway, back to the T-line....... Likes:- the 4 speed gears, the revised hinge clamps. Dislikes:- the external bearing BB, which would put me off buying a T if I was so minded.

 

[T4tomo]

I bought a superlight in 2005, with Ti seatpost, forks and rear triangle. the seat post is titanium coloured i.e. silvery blue-ish grey. the seat post had more of a bluey tinge than the frame parts, which we silver / grey bare Ti. They didn't offer the Ti seatpost for that long, as had a supplier issue, the replacement supplier quality wasnt there so they reverted to all steel. there are a number of aftermarket Ti posts though.

standard seat posts are steel. if yours is painted black it will be steel, but must be a later replacement as the black edition parts are much later. there was never an alu post that I can remember, but that doesnt rule one out.

 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

My partner’s Superlight had a nickel-plated, thick-wall, aluminium seatpost. They came after the Ti post but the plating tended to lift and the aluminium corroded.

 

[rogerzilla]

I have a 2-speed superlight with original Ti post. I ought to weigh it.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I bought a superlight in 2005, with Ti seatpost, forks and rear triangle. the seat post is titanium coloured i.e. silvery blue-ish grey. the seat post had more of a bluey tinge than the frame parts, which we silver / grey bare Ti. They didn't offer the Ti seatpost for that long, as had a supplier issue, the replacement supplier quality wasnt there so they reverted to all steel. there are a number of aftermarket Ti posts though.

standard seat posts are steel. if yours is painted black it will be steel, but must be a later replacement as the black edition parts are much later. there was never an alu post that I can remember, but that doesnt rule one out.

Ah - that could be it ....... I have colour deficient vision (colour blind) so I may see it differently, or may even not pay it as much attention as I should I don't think it has Bromptom marked on it. It certainly isn't painted, and certainly not aluminium or steel. I'll take a closer look

 

[berlinonaut]

I think it must have a Ti seatpost, as the previous owner was a perfectionist who wanted the best - how can I tell if it's a Ti stem? It's certainly not magnetic, has a thin wall so therefore it can't be aluminium alloy as it would be VERY bendy, so I can only guess i's Ti (Black finish) Did Brompton (or maybe anyone else) supply such a beast in 2007?

Ti-Posts were offered from Brompton between 2005 and 2009. In the UK they have as far as I know always been a paid extra, even on ti-bikes. The surface changes with many of them after some years of use: while some stay in a kind of mate silver, some darken to a dark grey and many become shaded in blue.

So if your seat post is not magnetic, has a thin wall and is ~100g lighter than the steel one you got a ti one.

As you are not the first owner it is also possible that the first owner upgraded some time in the past to one of the aftermarket posts that are on the market. However: A black Ti-post was/is as far as I know only on offer by one of the many aftermarket companies, so not very common and a bit on the pricy side as well.

 

[Fastpedaller]

Ti-Posts were offered from Brompton between 2005 and 2009. In the UK they have as far as I know always been a paid extra, even on ti-bikes. The surface changes with many of them after some years of use: while some stay in a kind of mate silver, some darken to a dark grey and many become shaded in blue.

So if your seat post is not magnetic, has a thin wall and is ~100g lighter than the steel one you got a ti one.

As you are not the first owner it is also possible that the first owner upgraded some time in the past to one of the aftermarket posts that are on the market. However: A black Ti-post was/is as far as I know only on offer by one of the many aftermarket companies, so not very common and a bit on the pricy side as well.

I looked yesterday, it does indeed have a bluish tinge, so is a Brompton Ti post

 

[brommieinkorea]

Just a little something I've noticed about Bromptons during my travels. Brompton did a survey, and coincidentally they decided to go all out making their product lighter. Do not know if these things are related. What I find interesting is that 'Europeans' who have good bikes to compare it to, seem to find the steel Brompton heavy. Whereas 'Rednecks' in the US who lift the thing all say it is very light, quite possibly because their basis for comparison is a 50lb pos bso from Walmart. For what its worth, the regular steel Brompton is not much heavier than anything close in price so it seems odd that the T line was developed.

 

[berlinonaut]

Brompton did a survey, and coincidentally they decided to go all out making their product lighter. Do not know if these things are related.

I do have my doubts. Brompton have been making the bikes lighter since 2000 in tiny bits and a massive bit in 2005 with the invention of the x-light models. It is no secret that a low weight is attractive to a lot of people (and unimportant to some) - the remaining questions are:
• how light can it go w/o affecting endurance or usability
• what are people willig to spend additionally for a lighter bike
The x-lights have always been a very small fraction of all Bromptons produced and so will bei P-and T-line models.

What I find interesting is that 'Europeans' who have good bikes to compare it to, seem to find the steel Brompton heavy. Whereas 'Rednecks' in the US who lift the thing all say it is very light, quite possibly because their basis for comparison is a 50lb pos bso from Walmart.

Sounds like a lot of prejucides to me. People in Europe are different from each other as are pepole in the US: Not every European has a cycling history or culture let alone that everyone from the US would be a Redneck...

For what its worth, the regular steel Brompton is not much heavier than anything close in price so it seems odd that the T line was developed.

To follow your own argumentation: It was probably developed because Asians buy everything - the more expensive the better.
And - more realistically - it was developed because it is possible now (and was not only a couple of years ago. The methods that they used were not available back then. At the same time they realized that there's room for an upper range model and that cloners form Asia started to offer ti-frames (that were not worth the money most of the time) and slightly got better with cloning the classical steel Brompton. So Brompton did need to move on, do develop and to make a statement about who's boss and they called this statement the t-line.

 

[lkingscott]

Going light weight at the expense of bendiness, even if it is strong enough is not great.
I have an old Bickerton, which was plenty strong enough, but I hardly rode it because it felt like it was made of chocolate.

 

[brommieinkorea]

I do have my doubts. Brompton have been making the bikes lighter since 2000 in tiny bits and a massive bit in 2005 with the invention of the x-light models. It is no secret that a low weight is attractive to a lot of people (and unimportant to some) - the remaining questions are:
• how light can it go w/o affecting endurance or usability
• what are people willig to spend additionally for a lighter bike
The x-lights have always been a very small fraction of all Bromptons produced and so will bei P-and T-line models.

Sounds like a lot of prejucides to me. People in Europe are different from each other as are pepole in the US: Not every European has a cycling history or culture let alone that everyone from the US would be a Redneck...


To follow your own argumentation: It was probably developed because Asians buy everything - the more expensive the better.
And - more realistically - it was developed because it is possible now (and was not only a couple of years ago. The methods that they used were not available back then. At the same time they realized that there's room for an upper range model and that cloners form Asia started to offer ti-frames (that were not worth the money most of the time) and slightly got better with cloning the classical steel Brompton. So Brompton did need to move on, do develop and to make a statement about who's boss and they called this statement the t-line.

My light weight observation is from having fellow truck drivers want to lift the bike, I am one of these rednecks I speak of. I didn't want to exclude or offend anyone on the other side of the Atlantic so I just used "European" meaning the UK and whoever, bad idea? Yeah, you seem to have a good idea of what's up with Brompton logic.

 

[Gunk]

There's certainly a lot of choice out there - Brompton Easy Wheels (large, decent looking, apparently use large O-rings as tyres - so replaceable - but expensive

they are the best option

 

[EltonFrog]

they are the best option

This seems to have jumped threads!

 

[CaptainWheezy]

Whiling away some time, I was looking at the T-line. Looks good, but as I already have a superlight I don't think the weight saving will be great.

For what its worth, I've got 3 Bromptons:
1) A full steel bike with dynamo and rear rack (very heavy!)
2) A Superlight S6L which has had many of the original components swapped out for lighter alternatives (at significant cost) but still retains the BWR gear hub (~9.3Kg I think)
3) A T-Line (the 4 speed variant) with an aftermarket seatpost (slightly lighter than the OEM part), removed mudguards and heavier Continental Contact Urban tyres. (<8Kg)

The T-Line is still noticeably lighter than the heavily modified Superlight. It's actually lighter than my Canyon Endurace (Carbon road bike). The only drawback is the limited gear range (and the price tag!)

 

[Gunk]

@wafter any good?


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