N+1 Tiddles

[Night Train]

Well that cleared that up! :-D

Tiddles will need new tyres. The front one is a Brompton original and the rear one has a 3" split in the side wall.

Any recommendations for good, but not too costly, tyres?
Cheers.

 

[Night Train]

I took the back wheel off Tiddles today to clean and check the reason for the dodgy hub gears.

The chain was very stretched, next to the new one it was a link and a half longer.

I took the hub apart and along with the huge anount of grit and toffee like grease I found a broken bit. I think it was probably cracked and then broke during the strip down.

It is the little cross bar that the selector chain screws into inside the hub.

I put it in a vice with the chain screwed into it, to align the threads and close the break, and then welded it.

I then filed it flat and refitted it.

Poor photo but it works for now, I will get a new bit to replace it.

 

[Arch]

Yay! Well fettled!

 

[Night Train]

Yay! Well fettled!

I think that is the tinest bit of welding repair I've ever done!

 

[Arch]

I think that is the tinest bit of welding repair I've ever done!

Next you'll be looking for a very tiny splitter to take the indicator chain apart!

 

[Arch]

Well that cleared that up! :-D

Tiddles will need new tyres. The front one is a Brompton original and the rear one has a 3" split in the side wall.

Any recommendations for good, but not too costly, tyres?
Cheers.

Over on YACF, where the Folders section is 95% about Bromptons, the word is that Schwalbe Marathon Pluses are worth the investment for the puncture proofing.

 

[TheDoctor]

I've only had one unanticipated deflation in 2 years on the standard tyres.
They're crap on cobbles though...

 

[TheDoctor]

I took the back wheel off Tiddles today to clean and check the reason for the dodgy hub gears.

The chain was very stretched, next to the new one it was a link and a half longer.

I took the hub apart and along with the huge anount of grit and toffee like grease I found a broken bit. I think it was probably cracked and then broke during the strip down.

It is the little cross bar that the selector chain screws into inside the hub.

I put it in a vice with the chain screwed into it, to align the threads and close the break, and then welded it.

I then filed it flat and refitted it.

Poor photo but it works for now, I will get a new bit to replace it.

Could you not cut cut a piece to size, then drill and tap it?
Hardly worth the bother if the bit only costs a fiver, I suppose...

 

[Arch]

Could you not cut cut a piece to size, then drill and tap it?
Hardly worth the bother if the bit only costs a fiver, I suppose...

I get the feeling that the amount of 'bother' involved in a little job like that for NT would be negligible!

 

[Night Train]

Could you not cut cut a piece to size, then drill and tap it?
Hardly worth the bother if the bit only costs a fiver, I suppose...

When I was filing the weld down the rest of the bar was very hard. I recon it has been heat treated as the break looked very granular and the file skipped off it like glass.
There isn't the space to 'over engineer' a replacement in something softer.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Over on YACF, where the Folders section is 95% about Bromptons, the word is that Schwalbe Marathon Pluses are worth the investment for the puncture proofing.

Agree wholeheartedly, they are great tyres. I had two punctures in a week on Greens (admittedly one was a monstrous screw which would probably have chewed anything in its path); and then since moving to Marathon Plusses have had one flat tyre in 2 years (which I think was the inner tube gracefully giving up the ghost; as it was the original factory fitted one which doesn't seem as good as a replacement Schwalbe).

 

[Night Train]

Fettling update.

Given Tiddles only has one good tyre and so can't go out to play yet I have been fettling, Granville should have warned him by now!

I started with a bit of 6mm gavanised steel plate and cut out a shape. I then bent a spring from a V brake spring nicked from a BSO.

Can you tell what it is yet?

This is it fitted. Much nicer and easier then the aftermarket spring clip and cheaper as my labours are free at the moment.

I took it all off and added some heat shrink sleeving to both bits.

Fitted it again.

Didn't stop there.
This one may hurt as I had to drill a 4mm hole and tap out to M5 for a bolt.

But it does stop the folding pedal from hitting the frame.

 

[Arch]

Oooooooooooooooooh! I like your clip. I've got the Spa cycles aftermarket one, and it's a bit of a fiddle to do and undo.

Um..... <does hopeful doggy look with head on one side> For cash?

Clever thing with the pedal too. I have a piece of electrical cable outer, split lengthways, ziptied to the edge of mine so that even though it makes contact, it's cushioned.

 

[Night Train]

Oooooooooooooooooh! I like your clip. I've got the Spa cycles aftermarket one, and it's a bit of a fiddle to do and undo.

Um..... <does hopeful doggy look with head on one side> For cash?

I'll see what I can do tonight. I might have another bit of off cut and a spring.

 

[Arch]

That would be fab. There's no great rush, as I said I have a clip, but yours looks cool! I'm guessing it engages automatically, which is an improvement on mine.