Cycling UK Forum

Me my missus have a schlumpf speed drive on our brommie '6 speeds & I also swapped to an SA SRF5(w) hub with double sprockets. So the better half has 12 gears & I have 20. We like the speed drives....BUT they are expensive. Hers was £400 when the exchange rate was good & mine was £500. Some special tools are needed to fit them and maintain. Very few outlets in UK sell or fit them. You can order direct, but they require chamferring of the bottom bracket shell with special tool that you can hire from them. I had mine fitted by Madgetts cycles in DIss (it was handy as I live in Wales).

If you use the website below you can play around with the various options of hubs,schlumpf drives,chain rings and sprockets to work out gearing that looks sensible for you on a pimped Brompton.

http://xldev.co.uk/bgc.html

my LBS uses PTFE tape on the thread instead of oiling and I think their reasoning was it both lubricates when building the wheel and helps prevent loosening up. ( I have no idea how it could do both ? but their wheels seemed to stay straight)

I don't know as I haven't ridden a Dahon. However a Brompton has limitations in set-up that 'normal' bikes don't i.e. the frames are all the same size with limited scope to adjust reach/handlebar height. The shorter you are the more upright you sit. I'm 5'8" in old money and don't find the position worse really than my flat handlebar 26" wheel tourer.

(I should add the steering is naturally v twitchy ( with a small wheel and no forward projecting stem to moderate the rate of push to turn) . This can make you feel less balanced. However when touring I attach an Ortlieb front bag to the stem/handlebars using an old Rixen & Kaul bar bag mount arrangement & this counteracts the twitchyness without adversely affecting balance.....I'd say it makes it better).

Just to add on Brompton touring ( as I have done a bit in hilly and non hilly areas ).

The fold and being able to use most types of public transport without much risk of not getting on, is it's main benefit ( or stowing it in the tent or under the bed in a hostel). On smooth roads a sensibly loaded Brompton can handle well and do reasonable distances, but I wouldn't recommend long distances). A standard BWR 6 speed Brompton with 40t chainset can get up pretty steep hills ( & if you are very macho Alps and Pyraneesss ) but on bumpy or soft roads you slow down a lot. You can't let the tyre pressure down a bit on roughish surfaces which helps with the judderyness.....but ultimately small wheels do not work will on bumpy surfaces. On a BWR 6 speed you have a reasonable gear range but the gaps between gears are quite large which affects efficiency as you often don't quite have the gear you want. I found the Brompton saddle and it's seam not good for distance & reckon a softer saddle helps with the judderyness . stumpy bar ends help greatly for comfort and leverage up hills/on longer trips, but there is less you can do about bar position/reach without affecting the fold. Settle up to get the best saddleposition with the pentaclip can be fiddly if the saddle rails are close to the saddle top.

However, despite the niggles, I found it good fun,particularly for trips that jumped here and there using public transport to miss bits out/get to places, but for longer hauls or places where there may be tracks/offroad routes I use a more conventional tourer.

You can pimp a Brompton to have extra gears and better range/spacing, but the bike starts expensive and the pimping can leave you with £1500-£2000+ bike to guard.....that still has small wheels. It's a case of flexibility vs practicality.

As it's pretty straight forward undoing the left hand locknuts and removing the internals, option b) seems sensible ? I have a can of Molyslip spray which is SFG. So is it likely to be sufficient just to spray, in a limited unzealous fashion, into the gear assembly and spin the whole axle arrangement in hand a bit to try and distribute whilst its runny, then reassemble when
not too runny and ride it a bit changing gear to try to further distribute. or will this just not get to where its needed, or on bits it isn't ?
(I'm thinking that as much as I like taking things apart, they don't always go back together so easily)

(Yes the sealing seems limited to non-existent and I am now wondering how water hasn't got in. I guess not enough mileage and luck with the trips and weather. Anyway I have a small stock of spares and we'll see who dies first. If I out survive both the SA SRF5(w) & SRAM hubs..I'll see what SA are producing then. In the interim I'll be taking the more reliable SRAM touring and hoping it doesn't rain too much, rather than the SRF5(w) and wondering if the hub will destroy itself !- actually I'll probably just be enjoying myself looking at the views).

Thanks for reporting back. Glad to hear of there was an obvious improvement. (I shall have to look at re-fettling likewise the cantis on my Randonneur)

yes this one again.

On my Brompton SRAM the gearing assembly is coated in what could be a semi fluid grease ( not runny not gloopy), but the main hub bearings/cones use a thick standard looking grease.

I note the suggestion for good maintenance of removing the gear chain and feeding gear oil or semi fluid grease through the hollow spindle . Will this not feed out and mix with the bearing grease ? If yes why is this not a problem ?

ditto. I point the anti-sway hooks forward, partly as I guess I'm more likely to stop hurriedly than speed up v fast. Also as I tend to move the bags in from back to attach. However mainly I think it is just find a position that fits pretty closely and minimises movement when you hit a bump in the road.

FWIW I've used Continental Contact Travel tyres since 2000 ish and Schwalbe marathons. My experience is that the continentals degrade like the picture shown for the 4 season tyres over 5+years, even if not heavily used, but not over 12 months/3000 miles. Whereas the tread on the marthon's don't seem to crack/break up like that. The Continentals lifespan has always irked me, but I hadn't found another semi-slick I liked for tracks and road. I'd presumed it was just the compound continental used and built in obsolescence.

OK. Seems beyond me then. Thanks for spelling it out. For now I'll carry on being careful to push the lever back to the detent before applying any pedal pressure.

Have just been googling to look at alternative levers and try to work out how big they are and whether they'll fit fine with the Brompton fold. In a previous post, for a trigger shifter you indicated SA trigger shifter DLS52 (HSJ958).This seems to be discontined, but still available to buy. The SA website lists a HSJ206 C50 Rotary 5 speed Dual Trigger Shifter. I can't work out if that is also compatible with the SA SRF5(w) hub ? Is it ?

Gattonero:
I do have a BWR hub but didn't use it for long as I found the gaps too big ( for me anyway) when do any distance/touring. It's great for range and getting up hills, but I spent most of my time not being in a gear that really fitted the slope/terrain ( in Wales there is a fair bit of this)

Brucey
I do in deed have a sl-s50 lever which is relatively new and I have to ensure when changing the level is pushed back to the indent. I think you said before the modification to the lever is not that straight forward ? whatever I would be very grateful if sometime you can do a post showing what it entale's. As you say it's bonkers to have to dump a hub as the lever is unreliable. Whilst teh hub is fussy it would be good to get the most out of it. As it is I wouldn't trust my SRF5(W) set up on my Brompton to go touring, whereas the SRAM T3 and schlumpf speed drive was reliable.

Having searched to see what spares are around, now that SRAM have discontinued making them, I agree that finding spares for the T3 is difficult already. So not a sensible option for the future. If I can fix the lever issue I'll keep on using the SRF5(W) whilst it lasts, for general use, but unless I get more confidence in it I can see the SRAM will go back on if I do any proper touring again.

Just been searching and their old website (www.feve.es) is down and I can find no train times on other sites.

Anyone know if they are still running ? hope so as they were great with bikes

Was hoping to head over and Galicia and cycle back.

Thanks for that Brucey.

I had fitted the SRF5 (W) hub with an N driver with touring in mind. With the Schlumpf speed drive it has 20 relatively sensible spaced gears ( although all over the place to find). However, I have been having difficulty with the the sensitivity of the adjustment and the lever, hence seems sensible to me revert to 12 reliable gears as I had when the SRAM T3 was fitted. I still have it and as my missus' brommie is on a SRAM T3, I might as well start by looking to find a T3 hub/internal as future spares.

Cheers.

Is one hub likely to be more reliable/serviceable in the long term than the other?

I ask as on my '6-speed' Brommie, I had swapped my SRAM hub for an S-RF5(W) ...but having read Brucey's dog locking hub review I'm presuming it will fail in due course and will need to be replaced.

So is my best option to refit the SRAM ( and try to find some spares to future proof it ) or do I try to put an N-driver on ?BSR hub .

(The SRAM has a slightly wider range - 185% as opposed to 177% for the BSR ...but similar enough)( I also have a schlumpf speed drive fitted and the gear ratios don't work well with a BWR. You get a nice wide range, but the gaps between gears are too big really )

I had a similar problem.

Eventually worked with allen key and the small special spannery-thing via a combination of:
- spraying loads of wd 40
- lots of tapping of allen key in bolt with small hammer
- heat using a a jet cigarette lighter to focus the heat on the bolt
- putting the whole chainset in the freezer for an hour or two before reapplying the heat