New colors due for Brompton in 2015

It appears that Brompton will be producing some new colors for the 2015 model year.  I haven't seen them in person yet, but Portapedal has some pictures up here.  They really don't look to drastically different from the colors they will replace, but it's a nice change to have nonetheless.

I'll be at Interbike next week and hopefully will be able to see these new colors in person.

Portapedal visit (December 2013)

I went up to Portapedal earlier this month to pick up the revised Brompton toolkit tire levers, say hi to my friends Donna and Al, and check out any new stuff that they've got.

Donna and Al from Portapedal

There were a couple of cool things in the store.  They have received the new Brooks Cambium saddles.  These saddles are made of rubber and cotton, and actually look and feel awesome.

Portapedal also has one of the last limited edition Moulton 60 bicycles (only 191 of them were made).  These beautiful bikes have as stainless steel frame that is silver brazed and incorporate Moulton's legendary suspension.  The bike is already sold and will be shipped soon.

Limited edition Moulton 60

That's it for now!

One year and counting...

Today is my one year anniversary with my Brompton that I picked up at Portapedal!  By this time I should have came up with a pet name for it, but alas I haven't (I should probably use ODB...Ol' Dirty Brompton).  Of course I celebrated by riding the ODB!  I explored the new separated bike path down Harrison Rd., which is a part of the expanding Tucson LOOP system.  Parts of it had a bunch of mud due to our recent flash flooding, but it was a minor inconvenience.

It's been a great year, meeting great people (both virtually and in real life) and having great adventures.  I hope to do a more comprehensive post about my year and have it up on another famous site.  I'll keep ya posted.

Getting the B ready for the BUSC!

I took my Brompton up to Portapedal to have Tom take a look at the brake cable issue that I've been having (where it's been knocking the chain off of the chainring when folding) and to also get it prepared to race in the Brompton U.S. Championships.

Race preparation consisted of removal of the rear rack & fender (which required an alternate mounting point for the dynamo-powered rear light) and installation of the lightweight Kojak tires (kevlar bead).  Tom handled this pretty quickly, which is something you would expect from a pro!

The brake cable issue was a little trickier to diagnose.  We kept comparing it to a similarly built new Brompton that they had in stock and really couldn't tell much of a difference.  We ended up trying to zip-tie the cables in slightly varying locations and also adding some grease to the outside of the brake cable (where it contacts the loop on the front part of the top tube) to try to get it to not catch as easy.  Seems to have worked!

The Brompton does indeed look slightly different with the rack removed and is much more difficult to move around when folded!  I've still got to take the mudflap off of the front fender!

Need advice - Chain falls of chainring after unfolding

OK y'all, I need some help.  Ever since I've installed the standard size chainring (and installed a longer chain with 100 links) I've had trouble with the chain falling off the chainring when unfolding "briskly". That is, unfolding fast in one motion.  This doesn't happen every time, but probably about 2/3rds of the time.  The B never did that with the original (reduced) chainring.  Any ideas?

Al from Portapedal said that I might be a tired (worn) chain tensioner and is going to be sending me one to see if it helps.

Saturday in Phoenix

Social media, despite its tendency to be a huge timewaster, can be a wonderful thing.  I've been posting Brompton related pictures on Instagram an have been followed by a dude in Phoenix named Opahippie.  I check out his pics, and he has some of himself riding his Brompton around downtown Phoenix with a Burley Travoy trailer.  Opa says that he's got a gang meeting up on Saturday at 8th Day Coffee & Culture.  Great!  I'll be up there anyways to go to Portapedal to get some work done.  I met a great group of people!

Dan (of Urban Cookies), Opa (of Bike Force) & Myself at 8th Day Coffee & Culture 

I also got to check out Bike Force and the Travoy Trailer that they use to carry large cargo around town.

My B with the Travoy

Another view of the B with the Travoy

 Back at 8th Day, someone pointed out I had a lump in my rear tire.

Bump in rear tire

Another bump in the rear tire

Fortunately the folks at Portapedal were able to replace it.  I also changed my chainring to the 50 tooth, going from -12% reduction to standard 6 speed gearing.  I also bought the last pair of kevlar folding Kojaks that they had.  I'm hoping all of that will keep me from being embarrassed at the US championships.

Brompton Toolkit - sneak preview

I received my toolkit today from Portapedal. Full review to follow very shortly!

B&W was the case that they gave me

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.

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:

The Brompton in the B&W hard case. 

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.

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!

It's finally here!

I went and picked up my Brompton right when Portapedal opened this morning.  To my surprise, John McConaghay (one of the US reps for Brompton) was also there.  Anyway, I talked with the rep and Al & Donna from Portapedal and they answered questions I had as well as just talking about Brompton stuff in general.

John gave me the lowdown on what happened with the co-ordination of this year's Brompton US Championships - which I won't post in this public forum - but kudos to Minneapolis for stepping up!  After a quick test ride I high-tailed it back the 100 miles to Tucson (in a car - sorry) to take care of some urgent unrelated business.

When I finally got home, I took the bike out for a few miles (even though it was threatening to rain) along the Pantano Wash bike path.  The brommie felt although solid, it's gonna take me a little time to get used to riding it, particularly shifting.  The Brooks leather saddle is hard as a rock (as advertised), but I applied some proofide after the ride and it should break in nicely over the next couple of months.

On to the gratuitous pics!

Picking up the Brommie at Portapedal

Folded view from the other side

Another folded view 

"Parked" view with the rear third folded under

Ready to ride!

Take it outside!

Welcome to the USA!

Finally got the call / email today that my Brompton has finally arrived at Portapedal!  They'll be doing the final assembly and I'll be making the 100 mile trek to Tempe this weekend to pick it up.  Word.

Finally, some loot! No main prize though (yet)...

While I was taking care of some other business up in Scottsdale I took the opportunity to swing by Portapedal Bike in Tempe to chat and pick up some of the accessories that I had ordered and to see if anything was new.  I also wanted to check out the Jubilee edition while they still had it.

Jubilee Edition Brompton at Portapedal

The Jubilee Edition is limited to 500 units and included a limited edition S bag with the Union Jack on the flop,  This model is basically a tri-colored M3L (white main frame, red handlebar stem and fork, cobalt blue rear frame) with a Union Jack design under the Brompton logo.  Very cool looking!

Also new was a Brompton polo shirt.  Looked sharp, had to have, and did!

I was also given this trouser cuff (basically a big slap bracelet) for being a good sport for waiting so long for the bike.

Here's all the other stuff I had ordered and picked up:

Spare tubes - Essential since this size may be difficult to find.

Brooks Proofide (12g) - Helps break in the Brooks leather saddle. 

Cover & Saddle bag - It'll be handy when I have to kinda conceal the bike, plus I can stash a spare tube and  levers in there.

C-bag - To carry all my stuff while commuting.  I brought my worst-case commuting cargo load  and tried stuffing the C-bag at Portapedal.  It was a tight fit, but everything fit.  I'll do some posts outlining what kinds of loads I'm able to carry in this.

Waterproof zippers on the C-bag... a very nice touch!

Birth Week!

So after two months or so of waiting, my Brommie is finally scheduled to be built this week. Portapedal should let me know when it ships, hopefully late this week or early next.

In other news, I have plans made to go to Colorado in August to see the US Pro Cycling Challenge with a buddy of mine who lives up there and will hoping to bring the Brompton along.