Rusty nuts and bolts and a few mods on Brompton

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I recently bought (another :smile: Brompton - a 2002 M3L. I'd like to change some of the nuts and bolts, ie on the wheel axles and pedal nut - just ad they're rusty. Can I do this myself? (I managed to take the mudguards off, thats about as far as my skills go!). And does anyone know where I can get replacements from?
I have also bought new handlebars (and Ergon grips) but I can't seem to find any way to remove the brakes from the current bar. There is no screw on the brake levers - on both sides there is simply a flat, solid smooth metal rivet. Its got me baffled! I'm starting to wonder if I've bought a turkey!
 

rafiki

Retired Brit living in Spain
Location
Seville
brompton-levers.jpg


Are your current levers not like that on the left?
 
OP
OP
Littlewheels

Littlewheels

Member
Yes - those are the brakes on the left but strangely they don't have that screw on the bottom left (above the bracket). Not even a hole where it should be. They literally only have the flat one to the right of it. On both sides. Its a mystery! I wonder if you have to take the entire brake mechanism apart?!
 

roley poley

Über Member
Location
leeds
check out brilliant bikes vids on YouTube they can give you some good knowledge on how to go about many things:hello:
 

berlinonaut

Veteran
Location
Berlin Germany
pedal nut
You'll probably have issues here. You need a 14mm nut but one that is thinner on it's outside wall than the usual ones you can buy. Newer bolts use a hex/alan key, the older ones need the special nut - easiest way to remove is you local Brompton dealer (and upgrade to the newer bolt version after that) as one can build the tool by "customizing" a nut, just it's not worth the effort for one usage.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
If you're removing the brakes anyway, I'd be tempted to upgrade them at the same time.

The newer versions are so much better and way more confidence-inspiring.

I agree, probably the best mod you can do, and less than £20 for set of Clark’s or Shimano levers. Yours also doesn’t have the frame clip, again well worth fitting, stops the bike folding up.
 
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