# Wife's new Brompton



## fossala (2 Oct 2019)

Managed to score my wife a M6R-X (titanium) for £500. Very good condition, hardly used with all paperwork.

Think this is the best bargain I've had!


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## flake99please (2 Oct 2019)

Excellent price. Im a little jealous right now. Congrats.


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## fossala (2 Oct 2019)

flake99please said:


> Excellent price. Im a little jealous right now. Congrats


Got him to drop it off as well. When I gave him the cash he tried to give me £50 back as I didn't haggle, I obviously declined.


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## Smudge (2 Oct 2019)

An absolute bargain price for that model of Brommie in that condition.


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## cisamcgu (2 Oct 2019)

Same wall tiles we have !

Different Brommie though


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## fossala (2 Oct 2019)

Smudge said:


> An absolute bargain price for that model of Brommie in that condition.


Lad had a heart attack not long after purchase so didn't really get used. Now has a BMW ebike.


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## biggs682 (2 Oct 2019)

Hope your wife enjoys it


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## Pale Rider (2 Oct 2019)

I wonder what year is is.

The Brompton logo in that style on the cross bar hasn't been used for a long time.

My guess is 2004 or 2005.


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## fossala (2 Oct 2019)

Pale Rider said:


> I wonder what year is is.
> 
> The Brompton logo in that style on the cross bar hasn't been used for a long time.
> 
> My guess is 2004 or 2005.


2012
Edit:2013


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## Smudge (2 Oct 2019)

I assumed it was quite recent considering it looks new, but i'm not up on the differences in years of Bromptons.
What would that spec cost new, must be getting on for £2K now ?


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## Pale Rider (2 Oct 2019)

Smudge said:


> I assumed it was quite recent considering it looks new, but i'm not up on the differences in years of Bromptons.
> What would that spec cost new, must be getting on for £2K now ?



Yes, about £1,900 give or take.

It being a Brompton it will be more or less the same as new.

The last worthwhile upgrade was improved brakes and levers, which the OP's bike might have.


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## southcoast (2 Oct 2019)

She must really like it to let you put it on the kitchen worktop.


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## fossala (2 Oct 2019)

southcoast said:


> She must really like it to let you put it on the kitchen worktop.


I have a long narrow kitchen and bikes aren't allowed in any other room in the house.


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## berlinonaut (3 Oct 2019)

This was an incredible bargain! If I had spotted an ad for that my reaction would have been "too good to be true!"


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## rogerzilla (3 Oct 2019)

That decal was being used at least as late as 2010. Might even have been new for that year. The steel ones (well, they're all steel in the main frame) had a different and IMO nicer logo.

I'd say it's post-2010 if it has a steel seatpost. Ti Bromptons used to have a Ti seatpost but no longer. It was the best bang for buck weight-saver, too.


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## berlinonaut (3 Oct 2019)

rogerzilla said:


> That decal was being used at least as late as 2010. Might even have been new for that year. The steel ones (well, they're all steel in the main frame) had a different and IMO nicer logo.
> 
> I'd say it's post-2010 if it has a steel seatpost. Ti Bromptons used to have a Ti seatpost but no longer. It was the best bang for buck weight-saver, too.


The OP has already clarified ist is a 2013. Possibly by checking the serial number. Just from looking at it one can say it was made between 2013 and 2015 due to the combination of rims, the bar-stem-shifter-combo, chainset, brake-levers, carrier and rolling wheels.


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## T4tomo (3 Oct 2019)

Out of interest, Why did they stop making the titatanium seat post? I'd better look after mine if its not replaceable. 


rogerzilla said:


> That decal was being used at least as late as 2010. Might even have been new for that year. The steel ones (well, they're all steel in the main frame) had a different and IMO nicer logo.
> 
> I'd say it's post-2010 if it has a steel seatpost. Ti Bromptons used to have a Ti seatpost but no longer. It was the best bang for buck weight-saver, too.


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## rogerzilla (4 Oct 2019)

They tried to replace it with aluminium but that didn't work out and they reverted to steel. I don't know why they didn't go back to titanium.


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## Banjo (5 Oct 2019)

Lucky find. I hope your wife gets many happy miles on it.


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## berlinonaut (6 Oct 2019)

rogerzilla said:


> They tried to replace it with aluminium but that didn't work out and they reverted to steel. I don't know why they didn't go back to titanium.


At that time Brompton had huge issues sourcing the titanium parts reliably, affordably and in time - lead times for ti-Brommis were very long and for some longer periods between 2010 and maybe about 2015 no ti-bikes were available at all and most of the time only in small amounts.

Replacing the ti-post with an aluminium one was as far as I know one step to ease that problem at least a little bit. The aluminium post turned out not to be of suffient quality - the surface coating vanished quickly, giving the post an ugly look after only a short period of time. So they went back to steel.

Regarding why they did not return to ti: One thing about the ti-posts is that the surface is rougher, thus the plastic shim inside the frame wears quicker. With many of the ti-posts the surface showed signs of wear over time with the post getting a blue-ish look. Very, very occasionally one could read about breaks as well. But I agree that it would be a good move to replace the steel post with something lighter at least on ti-bikes. An easy and affordable way to safe surprisingly many grams. The more as aluminium posts, black or silver, are standard on most folders w/o issues regarding the surface coating. Due to the weight I would personally prefer a ti-version. The more as I run the extra-heavy telescopic post.

Weights, roughly:

Brompton ti-posts:
standard: 270g
long: 305g
telescopic: 490-540g

Brompton steel-posts:
standard: 397g
long: 434g
telescopic: 700g

Currently can't find the weight for the Brompton aluminium posts (I know I wrote it down somewhere) but it has been said that the aluminium posts were ~50g lighter than the steel ones but not as light as the ti ones.


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## srw (6 Oct 2019)

berlinonaut said:


> At that time Brompton had huge issues sourcing the titanium parts reliably, affordably and in time - lead times for ti-Brommis were very long and for some longer periods between 2010 and maybe about 2015 no ti-bikes were available at all and most of the time only in small amounts.
> 
> Replacing the ti-post with an aluminium one was as far as I know one step to ease that problem at least a little bit. The aluminium post turned out not to be of suffient quality - the surface coating vanished quickly, giving the post an ugly look after only a short period of time. So they went back to steel.
> 
> ...


100g (which is the weight saving over steel) is the weight of 100ml of water. That's a small mouthful. It's the amount you'll sweat in a half hour ride.

Spending large amounts of money to save that sort of weight is, for most Brompton riders, a triumph of marketing.


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## Tenkaykev (6 Oct 2019)

srw said:


> 100g (which is the weight saving over steel) is the weight of 100ml of water. That's a small mouthful. It's the amount you'll sweat in a half hour ride.
> 
> Spending large amounts of money to save that sort of weight is, for most Brompton riders, a triumph of marketing.



I have a black/orange M6L.
A minor niggle was that they use the same bright steel handlebar clamp bolt on all models, why not use black bolts on the black stem/handlebar models? 

I replaced the bolt with one in black Titanium. OK, so it cost me a fiver, but a weight saving of 3g is not to be sniffed at 😉


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## simongt (6 Oct 2019)

fossala said:


> bikes aren't allowed in any other room in the house.


Yew wot- ? !  With so many bikes in our house, no room is safe - !


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## rogerzilla (6 Oct 2019)

I've had no problems with my titanium post. I replaced the seat tube insert after a year when the bike needed a respray (yes, the factory finish was that bad).

I added up the weight savings elsewhere: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=34295.msg1899830#msg1899830

One of the biggest weight savings with the Ti bike was omitting the pump!


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## berlinonaut (6 Oct 2019)

srw said:


> 100g (which is the weight saving over steel) is the weight of 100ml of water. That's a small mouthful. It's the amount you'll sweat in a half hour ride.
> 
> Spending large amounts of money to save that sort of weight is, for most Brompton riders, a triumph of marketing.



Well, quoting the pitch from your profile: *It's a bit more complicated than that...*
If you want a light bike it is not about saving massive kilogramms in a single point but about 100g here, 50g there, 10g there - they add up and if you watch our for those possible weight savings (and do not compensate them by adding fancy accessories ) you'll end up with a light bike. If you don't you'll end up with a heavy pig. Bromptons are available and out there from 6kg up to maybe 18kg, so a lot is possible in both directions.

Regarding the price-tag: Ti-Bromptons come at a premium and included in the price was the ti-post (at least here in Germany, I think in the UK it was a paid extra at least in the beginning). Prices did not go down when the ti-post was dumped and they did not get down when the UL-front-wheel-hub was dumped. And they did not go up when it was reinvented. So I'd assume and hope with the ti-Brommis being called "Ultralight" a lighter seatpost would not come at an extra charge.


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