2014 BUSC Recap Part 2: Brompton Urban Challenge

The Brompton Urban Challenge took place on Saturday during the 2014 BUSC weekend.  The BUC is basically a scavenger hunt where we post silly pictures of ourselves in front of landmarks in Washington DC and share them on social media.

I teamed up with with the Tucson crew (Todd and Mike) and we teamed up with a couple of locals (Amy & Mike) to go conquer DC.  They gave out numbers to each of the teams and we were Team 5.

Todd and Mike, both from Tucson and on Team 5

Gathering in front of BicycleSpace 

Lining up

Jordan from BicycleSpace yelling out the instructions for the BUC

The clue sheet had something like 40 clues to solve... way to many for us to accomplish in about 4 hours.  The following pictures are some of the clues that we solved and shared on Instagram and Twitter:

A dude with one of those 3-letter shirts

The glass-enclosed Kogod courtyard at the National Portrait Museum

Capital Bromptonshare

Teaching a stranger to fold a Brommie

Team 5 posing in front of the big maze at the National Building Museum

H Bar on H Street

Todd waiting to do the fastest time at the compulsary Tow & Slalom checkpoint 

The biggest Union Jack we could find

Buying our White Elephant gift (a Washington DC shopping bag) for  a lucky team

In the line with some protesters

Nice fanny...pack

Kicking down the Washington Monument

The Smithsonian Institute Castle

Thinker on a Rock statue at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Rocking out with some street musicians

Bromptons at rest at The Brixton Bar

There were also some videos taken, but I haven't been able to figure out how to show them on here.  Anyway, when it was all said and done we ended up taking first place!

Team 5 at the finish line at Brixton Bar... Winners!

We got our pick from a pile of stuff that BicycleSpace graciously provided... I got a BUSC hat and some Ergon cork grips!

I'm going to try to put together a video from my GoPro footage... the battery died about halfway into it, but I should be able to make something interesting.

Here is a link to the Tagboard which has most of the pictures from all of the teams:  https://tagboard.com/bucdc

An once again, Marty at Brompton Diaries has a great writeup of this event: http://www.thebromptondiaries.com/2014/07/bnc-2014-the-brompton-urban-dc-challenge/

Ergon GP2 Grips - Installation

The first aftermarket upgrade most people do to their M, H or S bar Bromptons are to change out the underwhelming foam grips.  The Ergon line of grips are the most popular by far, and for good reason.  They are intelligently designed to be more comfortable.

After fondling a selection of Ergon grips at Metrognome Music & Cycle to go,  I decided to go with the GP2 small sized grips.  These grips have a small bar end that will allow you to change hand positions during a ride.  It's kinda hard to tell how these will feel without riding them... I hope I chose wisely!

Ergon GP2 grips (small size).

Loosening 2-speed gear shifter with a 3mm hex key and moving it towards the center.

Loosening the brake lever mounts with a 3mm hex key and moving them both to the center.

I tried to remove the grips non-destructively, but ultimately I just cut them off with a box cutter.

Use a razor blade to scrape off the old adhesive.

Slide on the Ergon GP2 grips with the bar ends removed so that you can see when you reached the end.  This is how I initially set it up (with the end of the grip is flush with the end of the handlebar) and Jeff from Ergon states in the comment below, THIS IS NOT HOW YOU WANT TO DO IT!

The correct distance is used by this template included in the packaging.  I used a permanent marker to mark the spot where the inner edge of the grip should be.

THIS is how much the handlebar should stick out from the grip!

Bar ends snapped on.  They are a bit tough to get on... I used a rubber mallet to help get it in position.  Use a 4mm hex key to tighten on the bar ends after adjusting to taste.  Re-adjust the brake levers and gear shifter.

The Ergon GP2 grips do not affect the fold.  No cutting of the grips were necessary on a S-bar Brompton.