Wife's new Brompton

[berlinonaut]

That decal was being used at least as late as 2010. Might even have been new for that year. The steel ones (well, they're all steel in the main frame) had a different and IMO nicer logo.

I'd say it's post-2010 if it has a steel seatpost. Ti Bromptons used to have a Ti seatpost but no longer. It was the best bang for buck weight-saver, too.

The OP has already clarified ist is a 2013. Possibly by checking the serial number. Just from looking at it one can say it was made between 2013 and 2015 due to the combination of rims, the bar-stem-shifter-combo, chainset, brake-levers, carrier and rolling wheels.

 

[T4tomo]

Out of interest, Why did they stop making the titatanium seat post? I'd better look after mine if its not replaceable.

That decal was being used at least as late as 2010. Might even have been new for that year. The steel ones (well, they're all steel in the main frame) had a different and IMO nicer logo.

I'd say it's post-2010 if it has a steel seatpost. Ti Bromptons used to have a Ti seatpost but no longer. It was the best bang for buck weight-saver, too.

 

[rogerzilla]

They tried to replace it with aluminium but that didn't work out and they reverted to steel. I don't know why they didn't go back to titanium.

 

[Banjo]

Lucky find. I hope your wife gets many happy miles on it.

 

[berlinonaut]

They tried to replace it with aluminium but that didn't work out and they reverted to steel. I don't know why they didn't go back to titanium.

At that time Brompton had huge issues sourcing the titanium parts reliably, affordably and in time - lead times for ti-Brommis were very long and for some longer periods between 2010 and maybe about 2015 no ti-bikes were available at all and most of the time only in small amounts.

Replacing the ti-post with an aluminium one was as far as I know one step to ease that problem at least a little bit. The aluminium post turned out not to be of suffient quality - the surface coating vanished quickly, giving the post an ugly look after only a short period of time. So they went back to steel.

Regarding why they did not return to ti: One thing about the ti-posts is that the surface is rougher, thus the plastic shim inside the frame wears quicker. With many of the ti-posts the surface showed signs of wear over time with the post getting a blue-ish look. Very, very occasionally one could read about breaks as well. But I agree that it would be a good move to replace the steel post with something lighter at least on ti-bikes. An easy and affordable way to safe surprisingly many grams. The more as aluminium posts, black or silver, are standard on most folders w/o issues regarding the surface coating. Due to the weight I would personally prefer a ti-version. The more as I run the extra-heavy telescopic post.

Weights, roughly:

Brompton ti-posts:
standard: 270g
long: 305g
telescopic: 490-540g

Brompton steel-posts:
standard: 397g
long: 434g
telescopic: 700g

Currently can't find the weight for the Brompton aluminium posts (I know I wrote it down somewhere) but it has been said that the aluminium posts were ~50g lighter than the steel ones but not as light as the ti ones.

 

[srw]

At that time Brompton had huge issues sourcing the titanium parts reliably, affordably and in time - lead times for ti-Brommis were very long and for some longer periods between 2010 and maybe about 2015 no ti-bikes were available at all and most of the time only in small amounts.

Replacing the ti-post with an aluminium one was as far as I know one step to ease that problem at least a little bit. The aluminium post turned out not to be of suffient quality - the surface coating vanished quickly, giving the post an ugly look after only a short period of time. So they went back to steel.

Regarding why they did not return to ti: One thing about the ti-posts is that the surface is rougher, thus the plastic shim inside the frame wears quicker. With many of the ti-posts the surface showed signs of wear over time with the post getting a blue-ish look. Very, very occasionally one could read about breaks as well. But I agree that it would be a good move to replace the steel post with something lighter at least on ti-bikes. An easy and affordable way to safe surprisingly many grams. The more as aluminium posts, black or silver, are standard on most folders w/o issues regarding the surface coating. Due to the weight I would personally prefer a ti-version. The more as I run the extra-heavy telescopic post.

Weights, roughly:

Brompton ti-posts:
standard: 270g
long: 305g
telescopic: 490-540g

Brompton steel-posts:
standard: 397g
long: 434g
telescopic: 700g

Currently can't find the weight for the Brompton aluminium posts (I know I wrote it down somewhere) but it has been said that the aluminium posts were ~50g lighter than the steel ones but not as light as the ti ones.

100g (which is the weight saving over steel) is the weight of 100ml of water. That's a small mouthful. It's the amount you'll sweat in a half hour ride.

Spending large amounts of money to save that sort of weight is, for most Brompton riders, a triumph of marketing.

 

[Tenkaykev]

100g (which is the weight saving over steel) is the weight of 100ml of water. That's a small mouthful. It's the amount you'll sweat in a half hour ride.

Spending large amounts of money to save that sort of weight is, for most Brompton riders, a triumph of marketing.

I have a black/orange M6L.
A minor niggle was that they use the same bright steel handlebar clamp bolt on all models, why not use black bolts on the black stem/handlebar models?

I replaced the bolt with one in black Titanium. OK, so it cost me a fiver, but a weight saving of 3g is not to be sniffed at 😉

 

[simongt]

bikes aren't allowed in any other room in the house.

Yew wot- ? ! With so many bikes in our house, no room is safe - !

 

[rogerzilla]

I've had no problems with my titanium post. I replaced the seat tube insert after a year when the bike needed a respray (yes, the factory finish was that bad).

I added up the weight savings elsewhere: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=34295.msg1899830#msg1899830

One of the biggest weight savings with the Ti bike was omitting the pump!

 

[berlinonaut]

100g (which is the weight saving over steel) is the weight of 100ml of water. That's a small mouthful. It's the amount you'll sweat in a half hour ride.

Spending large amounts of money to save that sort of weight is, for most Brompton riders, a triumph of marketing.

Well, quoting the pitch from your profile: It's a bit more complicated than that...
If you want a light bike it is not about saving massive kilogramms in a single point but about 100g here, 50g there, 10g there - they add up and if you watch our for those possible weight savings (and do not compensate them by adding fancy accessories ) you'll end up with a light bike. If you don't you'll end up with a heavy pig. Bromptons are available and out there from 6kg up to maybe 18kg, so a lot is possible in both directions.

Regarding the price-tag: Ti-Bromptons come at a premium and included in the price was the ti-post (at least here in Germany, I think in the UK it was a paid extra at least in the beginning). Prices did not go down when the ti-post was dumped and they did not get down when the UL-front-wheel-hub was dumped. And they did not go up when it was reinvented. So I'd assume and hope with the ti-Brommis being called "Ultralight" a lighter seatpost would not come at an extra charge.