Brompton Toolkit Review, Part 2: On the bike & what it can fix

This is part 2 of the Brompton Toolkit review.  To see the first part, click here.

The toolkit only enters the bike in one way, with the wrench closest to the hinge.

And the way the toolkit sits in the bike leads me to this minor caveat for a the few owners who use the Brompfication hinges:

THE TOOLKIT WILL NOT FIT IF YOU USE THE BROMPFICATION LEVER BOLT AND LOCKING NUT!  The longer bolt will interfere with the wrench during closing.  You must switch back to the stock length lever bolt in order to use the toolkit as designed.

Locking nut is impeding the path of the wrench into the bike.

The stock lever bolt provides sufficient clearance for the wrench.

Once the toolkit is installed and the bike is ready to go, the toolkit is essentially forgotten.  You don't notice it at all while riding... no weird sounds or anything of the sort.

As for the using the tools themselves, I am going to shamelessly copy and modify the list that The Bromptontalk Wiki has for which tools fix what.  I have not personally confirmed all of these, so if a correction or addition needs to be made please let me know in the comments.

Spanners:
15mm: Back wheel and standard front wheel, chain tensioner.
10mm: Brake arms, brake wire, brake central bolt, front light (Edelux, Cyo), seat post clamp, suspension unit.
8mm: Back light, back fender.

Allen Keys:
6mm: Handlebar.
5mm: Brake arms, brake pad holder, brake lever (Shimano BLR5500), gear lever (SA SLS50 T5), Pentaclip.
4mm: Front wheel (SON), front light (Edelux, Cyo), gear lever (SA SLS50 T5), luggage block, back frame hinge.
3mm: Powergrips, Blackburn mirror.
2.5mm: Alignment brake arms, back fender.
2mm: Brake pad insert.

Screwdrivers:
Slot: Front fender.
Phillips: Luggage block lever, gear lever (SA SLS3C R3).

Brompfication Hinge Clamps Review

After seeing a bunch of my Brompton blogging contemporaries post reviews of gear I figure I'd better get off my ass and finish the one I've been sitting on for a while.  I ordered the brass & black hinge clamp set from Brompfication a few weeks ago and have had some time to try them out.  They are made and shipped from Singapore and costs $88.86 shipped to Arizona and taking Euro conversion rates into account.

Brass & Black Brompfication Hinge Plate Set on my Brompton.

Brompfication Hinge Clamp Set Video (by Brompfication)

The hinge plates are asymmetrical so that, when properly installed, they are not allowed to rotate when opened.  This makes closing the clamp much faster because the hinge plate is locked in place and no manual alignment is required.  I didn't think this would be a such big deal, but the more that I use the Brompton the more aligning the plate bugged me.

There are a couple of other features to this product.  A spring that surrounds the lever bolt keeps the plate pushed out away from the hinge when clamp is loosened.  This keeps the plate "ready" to close anytime that the hinge is open.  The other feature is the locking nut on the end of the lever bolt.  The locking nut, when properly adjusted, stops the lever bolt when there is enough clearance for the hinge to open.  This eliminates wasted effort and quickens both the opening and closing of the clamp.

Here's my experience:

The upper hinge clamp works beautifully.  The lower hinge clamp, however, is kinda rough.  I think the spring surrounding the lower lever bolt is not clearing the hole between the two sides of the hinge and it's getting caught, not allowing the spring to function normally.  Perhaps I have closer tolerances between the the two halves of the clamp on my particular Brompton.

Although the brass lever bolt looks very nice, it is not as comfortable to use as the stock lever bolt.  The stock lever bolt is too short to accommodate the locking nut, but Brompfication states that the bolt part can be pressed out of the stock part and replaced with a longer bolt (M8 x 55mm).

A bonus benefit of the locking nut is that I'm no longer worried that some hooligan will steal the clamp bolt on those rare occasions that I have to lock up the Brompton outside.

Overall, I think this hinge clamp set is very nice and makes folding and unfolding less of a hassle.  It's a solid upgrade.  

Appendix:

Brompfication Hinge Clamp Set Manual