I took another trip to
Portapedal yesterday to take care of a couple of things. First was to take care of my 100-mile service to make adjustments to the Brommie as cables stretch and other things break in. Everything looked pretty good, but then they took a look at my tires. They noticed about half a dozen thorns and a piece of wire in my treads, along with the tell-tale sign of sealant.
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Plugged! |
Thank god for Flat Attack! I ride along some gnarly terrain! I saw that they had Schwalbe Marathon PLUS tires in stock... I'll switch to those when my current ones wear out.
The second item on the agenda was to pick up a B&W hard case for my upcoming trip to Colorado! This case is specifically designed to pack a Brompton and be within size and weight limits for normal check-in baggage (no extra fees!). Here's how it looks:
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The Brompton in the B&W hard case. |
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The Brooks saddle had to be removed in order for the Brompton to fit. |
There are a couple of things to note...
First, the Brooks saddle must be taken off in order for the Brompton to fit (apparently the standard Brompton saddle can be kept on if you slide it forward). At first I was a little concerned about this because I didn't want my seat positioning and angle to change. But as it turns out, it is possible to take the seat off of the seatpost without affecting the seating position by loosening the pentaclip just enough. Loosening it too much will obviously allow seat adjustments.
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Loosening the pentaclip just enough will retain the seat position. |
Secondly, it seems that the case doesn't open or close very well under torsional load (twisting). The latches don't align very well when the case is not lying on a flat surface, making it difficult to open or close.
Al from Portapedal mentioned to me that one time a customer had told him that the latches on his B&W were in pieces after inspection by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration in the USA). Al believes that the TSA agent didn't notice velcro straps that help secure the case and thus used brute force to open it. That may have been the case, but I also think that the agent may not have laid the case down on a flat surface, thus making the case difficult to open. With that in mind, I wrote some helpful hints on the case.
The case does roll on its wheels very nicely. I will probably stuff some of my clothes in the case to act as padding. Slipping socks over the pedals should prevent them from scratching the bike. I'll see how it works very soon!