New Brompton H6L 2019 Folding Bike making continuous clicking noise

[rogerzilla]

Sturmey-Archer hubs drive from the left-hand side in low gear (sprocket clutched to gear ring, gear ring pawls tripped out by the clutch, gear ring drives planet cage and the planet cage pawls drive the shell). There is no noise when pedalling in that gear.

In medium gear, the sprocket is clutched to the gear ring and its pawls drive the shell directly at the right-hand side. The planet cage still rotates but, because the shell is turning faster than the cage, the planet cage pawls are overrun and make the ticking noise.

In high gear, the sprocket is clutched to the planet cage, which drives the gear ring, and the gear ring pawls drive the shell as above, but faster than the sprocket turns. Again, the planet cage is turning slower than the shell so you get the ticking noise.

Your hub is quite normal. What often surprises people, if they haven't ridden a Brompton before but have ridden hub-geared bikes, is how fast the ticking is. This is simply because of the small wheels. On a bike with full-size wheels, the ticking when pedalling is quite slow and easily distinguishable from the freewheeling sound.

 

[Mark pallister]

Thank you all for your answers, and yes I will need to start looking at video tutorial on how to tune my bike and take care of it.

I made a video here:

View: https://vimeo.com/379466644

At the beginning and end you can clearly tell the freewheel clicking sound is there while pedalling. Changing gear makes it more quiet, but my first ride made me feel like something is wrong. Let me know what you think, thanks

I think I will drop by Evans early next week and see what they say.

If that’s normal I’d be taking it back and getting a normal bike
I couldn’t live with that racket

 

[roley poley]

to ease your mind ask to ride the demo bike and see if it sounds the same

 

[Kell]

The reality is that they all do that, but once you're out on the road, with other noises, I'd be surprised if you even notice it.

I'm normally too busy worrying about what cars, lorries, taxis and pedestrians are liable to do to concern myself with a little bit of ticking.

 

[Wadey]

I've got Brompton (it's my favorite bike) and having watched the video, I can say it sounds perfectly normal.
Btw: Good advice from @12boy re. 5/20 oil

 

[rogerzilla]

It'll get quieter as it gunges up with age. The older SA hubs run in oil rather than grease and can be much louder, especially if the oil has evaporated. A loud dry tick from an older hub means it's time to add a few drops of oil.

 

[12boy]

The new ones run fine with oil, as well.