Aussie on a Brompton

My new ebike world is progressing nicely. So far, rides on Ralph-e (a recent electric conversion of my Alfine 11-speed Brompton) have totaled about 200km along mostly coastal bike paths. Mrs Aussie has laboured somewhat while I basically cruised (the reverse of our previous ride efforts for some years?). I coped with savage headwinds & stiff hills without much concern, although a certain amount of guilt nags away (for a while?).

My technicalities recipe is to take one Brompton, add a 250watt Crystalyte motor to the front wheel & mount a 20amp GrinTech controller above the rear of the front mudguard…
Fit a TDCM torque sensing bottom bracket, with a hole drilled in the bottom of the frame for the cable connection…
Mount a GrinTech Cycle Analyst computer to the handlebars & join everything together with a wiring loom…
…and finally, include a battery (in my case, an eZee Lithium-manganese 36volt 15AmpHour, i.e. 540WattHours) within a Brompton bag at the front…
The whole experience has been an illuminating & exciting learning curve, from the ride characteristics (sounds, power-off lag (especially on slow-speed maneuvers) & smooth power) to the technical data available from the computer system (up to 11 displays for ride, motor power, human power & energy data). Choosing to “go electric” was a concern for an appropriate ride experience (brilliantly answered?), a quality product (very satisfied, even considering the likelihood of an eventual Brompton ebike release?) & a deciphering of all manner of ebike jargon & implications (eg cost, weight, power & range?).

The info & stats from the computer display has provided insights & understanding for my ebike adventure. Rather than the experience of observing a series of lights representing battery level or power levels, while riding I can see the exact consumption from the battery (amphours), my output level (human watts), economy (watthours consumed from the battery per km ridden), the usual bike computer data – & other stuff I’m still getting my head around. However, determining the all-important battery range is still a work-in-progress while my economy level has been improving with re-configuring & fine-tuning for power output. So far, a range exceeding 100kms (depending on the demands of the ride?) is on the cards – although probably not on my agenda?

Brompton weight was something I could estimate pretty accurately (about 4kg?) before the conversion although battery weight was an unknown while I was unsure what battery size to use. The 540Wh unit I decided on is great for range but adds another 4kg in weight. As usual, front luggage weight on a Brompton has virtually no affect on ride handling. I’m becoming quite proficient at folding Ralph-e with the front bag in place & the folded handling has been helped with the inclusion of a rear rack.

The final word on my Brompton ebike experience to date: priceless!

i.e. “Ralph” (my Brompton Alfine 11speed) plus a Grin Technologies Brompton conversion kit equals “Ralph-e”

My previous blog post on “Electric patience” mentioned a coming electric conversion of one of my Bromptons, rather than wait out the eventual (?) release of a factory electric Brompton. What I’ve now got from Glow Worm Bicycles (thanks Ali, Maurice, Tim, Manny, et al) is possibly my ideal setup: a Pedelec Brompton, requiring that I still have to pedal everywhere but providing electric motor assistance for hills, etc.

Ralph-e has a torque sensor bottom bracket (& no throttle control), a comprehensive computer display & a whopper battery. There, that’s my technical info nicely simplified – until a future post? (Oh, & the setup is capable of regenerative braking if I add the e-brake levers but for now I’m unsure if I’ll bother.)

So far my little solo test riding has shown an enhancement to my “Brompton Grin” & I’m quite hopeful of comfortably keeping up with Mrs Aussie? We’ll see.

I’m trying to be patient & any day/week now there should be a call? My patience for the electric Brompton has been frustrating, with so many rumours & release expectations. It’s been a constant for many years, as has my need for low geared bikes to provide assistance for riding with a heart condition. I can choose between six-speed Bromptons with 40T cranksets or an Alfine 11-speed with 44T but under some riding conditions I’m still struggling at walking pace. So the desire for a Pedelec Brompton (one that I still have to pedal to get electric motor assistance, rather than just push/twist a throttle) has been a hope for “normal cycling”. Will the electric Brompton dream eventuate?

Recent news from Brompton on a likely introduction is the latest release info, but wasn’t very encouraging from my point of view. The Brompton announcement (http://www.brompton.com/News/Posts/2016/Electric-bike/) has expressed the release as “selected European cities in Summer 2017” (i.e. maybe July 2017?) but who knows when for the global market?

Armed with some “UK-trip scuttlebut” & fresh research, I decided to check out local offerings for the possibility of a Brompton conversion. My initial findings weren’t very encouraging for obtaining a satisfactory product – but then I visited a shop where their conversions matched my quality & engineering expectations. At present I’m not going to mention the business name owing to various reasons – & Brompton restrictions? – but suffice to say they now have one of my Bromptons for conversion.

Progress has been slower than I’d like due to workloads & component supply but really, everything is bearable in comparison to the alternatives? The conversion components are from Grin Technologies, a Canadian company that offers a Brompton kit (http://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/brompton-kit.html/) with various options; my choices to be revealed once my Brompton is completed. Fingers crossed for that call soon?

Brompton luggage

“Oh dear! That didn’t work!”, were my words for a little tweaking I was trying in my quest for the perfect luggage solution.

Robinson, my original (used) Brompton came with a C bag & by chance this bag also suits my second acquisition, Ralph, a flat bar S-type Brompton. Normally the C bag ought not to be used with the S model Bromptons (owing to bag handle clearance issues around the brake cables) but because Ralph has a set of Shimano brake levers, the brake cable angle raises the cable above the C bag handle & avoids any conflict.

Mrs Aussie’s Brompton, Peregrine, is a standard S model & we purchased an S bag for her use. With the arrival of Clarence (an S model again) there was likely to be a need for another S bag, this time for my use. However, it seemed a shame that the C bag couldn’t be used with Clarence, as the latest brake lever design seems to allow more cable clearance & the cables aren’t snagging enough to start applying the brakes when turning the handlebars?

Yes, I’ve seen some C bag hacks on the Internet, where the handle is cut off & maybe replaced with a strap or cord arrangement? Maybe I could do better? Maybe it just needed the handle to slope forward a little more & provide enough cable clearance? With the handle of the frame clamped in a vice, I tried a little flexing to see if the handle could be made to bend forward? After a bit more pressure I had my answer when the handle snapped off the frame! Oh dear, bother, etc… (apologies for no pics of the destruction – “too occupied”?)

The opportunity to fashion my own strap was “now available” & I started giving it some thought. Before long I had my resolution with a couple of large cable-ties & the original handle…

Once the “Aussied” C bag was fitted to Clarence it seems an ideal solution, with the new handle being nicely flexible (& strong enough?) Will it work out? We shall see…

Brompton storage

Our hallway has a funny little glass-panelled alcove beside the front door. A hat rack has lived there for some time but very recently Mrs Aussie made the observation that “a Brompton would look good there”! With me grappling with the “Brompton storage” demands of late, it seemed to be an inspired suggestion – but not for just one Brompton! Those cube-structures that you see at all the best Brompton shops would be ideal but as yet I’ve not seen anyone producing them for sale? I started thinking that I’d need to construct something so took to measuring up the space a Brompton occupies & deciding on the optimum sizing (eg not too squeezy, as some shop displays seem to be?).

While considering design & manufacturing requirements, I noticed that our IKEA “Billy” bookcases seemed to fit the bill very well – suitable width for a Brompton & a good match to the alcove size (width & height). Billy bookcases are also exceptional value when you consider the price of the raw materials I would need & so before long I was unboxing a new unit & looking very hard at the pieces! The taller Billy design has three shelves (at top, bottom & centre) bolting to the sides & 4 relocatable shelves, as well as a back panel which gives the structure some rigidity – & keeps your books from sliding right through? I decided to re-drill the sides so that I could move the central fixed shelf down to “Brompton size” & to dispense with the back panel to allow the frosted glass alcove to do its job. An upper relocatable shelf forms a “Bag shelf” with a Brompton-size space below. Voila! – a new home for Clarence & Peregrine & 2 large luggage bags!

The lack of rigidity was resolved by screwing the supplied fixing strap to the top of the alcove. The one fault with the Billy bookcase however, is that the shelf-depth is not really ideal for a Brompton! While the Brompton “base footprint” is about 50cm x 23cm, the Billy shelf is only 26cm deep, which means the folded bars protrude in front of the “Bromptoncase”. Fortunately our alcove has an extra 10cm at the rear before the glass & so I was able to slice up one of the surplus shelves & mount the pieces to the rear of the fixed shelves that the Bromptons sat on. (I used aluminium angle strips under the fixed shelf to support the new extended shelf portion – & disguised the slight gaps (my sawing quality?) with adhesive white cloth tape.) Now the Bromptons can sit further back on the shelves, contained within their Bromptoncase.

Brompton Australian Championship

I do believe Ralph is ready for the weekend activities. My bike/blog decal has gone on –

…& the GoPro has got a K-Edge adapter (to replace the fragile GoPro adapter) ready for the pavé on the race course?

As for our Sunday outfits, yes everything is to hand – bring it on!

Training? Mrs Aussie has been quite diligent. Me? Hmm… does Lawn Bowling count? Hopefully I won’t get in the way when being regularly lapped?

Brompton bidon cage system

My interim solution before Brompton introduce their magnetic water bottle system*, is heading towards its second birthday. It’s given excellent service & still (in my opinion) betters any bidon carrier for Bromptons that I’ve observed. Being an assumed temporary system, I’ve been surprised at its effectiveness & durability.

That is, until a few days ago! It was somewhat shocking to realise that the dense foam insulation used to pad the bidon cage legs from contact with the Brompton stem, was not going to last much longer! The foam had long shown evidence of compression but now was breaking up under the forces applied from bidon weight & cage movements. (The bidon cage is normally positioned directly behind the stem but is often moved to the left or right to suit practicalities of bike storage, access, etc – an aspect that has become a great “feature” over the rigid mounting of other systems?)

There was no other choice than to “improve my mousetrap”, rather than just replace/refresh the foam padding. A visit to a rubber materials outlet & thorough browsing through the range of rubber extrusions has provided the latest solution: a firm, solid rubber u-shaped channel. (I had been thinking of a rubber tube to slide over the cage legs – while leaving enough of the leg ends free for the O-rings to hook over – but couldn’t locate something of a suitable size & material.)

Along with addressing the cage leg padding issue, it was an ideal time to produce some more legs. Ralph & Peregrine have been wearing my only two cage units & Robinson has been somewhat naked since donating its cage to Peregrine. Readers of my previous post may remember that there’s also another Brompton on the way, so I’ll soon be needing another bidon cage anyway? Accordingly, I cranked up my production line & fabricated the required legs – & some “spares” (an enquiry from Mrs Aussie coming up very soon?)

* Is the mythical Brompton magnetic water bottle system any closer? Who knows? – although some interesting/intriguing tweets took place recently! (snips below)

So, the release info of something is in the pipeline? None the wiser but just as curious?

Ralph’s serial number reveals a September 2011 build but I’m unaware of any info about when the conversion to an Alfine 11-speed came about. When I acquired Ralph in Australia in late 2012 I’ve concluded that the local seller had the Brompton about a year. Within that time Ralph probably travelled a lot as cargo (courtesy of the owner’s profession) & I suspect the on-road kms weren’t excessive? From my observation the Alfine rear hub operation seemed fine – although I’ve been puzzled how the right side hub cap/seal came to be butchered (replaced earlier by me – refer “Ralph refreshed” posting – & my assumption is that it was removed & replaced without use of the special tool?). No service history is known & I expect that nothing was due for the hub, considering the likely non-excessive use?

Rear hub gear lubrication is usually via the hub being packed with grease but for the Alfine 11-speed (& the Rohloff 14-speed) the lubrication comes from the hub containing oil. Instead of dismantling the hub, the Alfine 11-speed has an “oil port” in the hub shell & the design provides for oil to be injected via a syringe. Shimano has produced an oiling kit & a special oil (no spec stated but it seems akin to an automatic transmission fluid?). An Internet search located the basic kit at a very reasonable price (with 50ml oil rather than the commercial 1 litre can) & my purchase duly arrived – from Estonia!?

Why have I purchased an oiling kit? Ralph had developed an occasional “gear skip” when changing into 6th gear & I suspected that an oil change may be in order? (contrary to my assumption of limited kms but…)

The oiling kit instructions seemed straight-forward: basically the syringe is connected to the oil port & used to suck the oil out of the hub & then fresh oil is injected via the syringe. However, some practicalities didn’t seem to match the simple steps but fortunately, I discovered a web blog from a young lady who gave far more detail on the difficulties she encountered when servicing her recumbent trike. Her revelations warned me of the need for patience when using the syringe to withdraw or inject oil (owing to pressure in the hub).

Here’s a pic of Ralph with syringe connected, ready to have the old oil sucked out of the hub

In extracting the oil I was surprised to only get about 5ml of oil & that it looked fairly clean? (I was expecting 25ml & that the oil would be black – ie “dirty”?) The next stage of an oil change was to inject 25ml of clean oil, drive the hub while changing gears for a minute & then extract that oil (ie to “flush” the hub). With the seeming cleanliness of my initial extracted oil, I decided to inject about 15ml & see how the extraction went. After the hub & gear operations, the extraction process showed about 15ml of really clean-looking oil. From this I concluded the extraction process was working ok (& my initial 5ml extraction was probably all the oil that was in the hub?) & that the hub was fairly clean inside (as evidenced by “flushed” oil looking pristine?).

With my limited stock of (normally rather expensive) oil, I resolved to re-inject the 15ml & then top that up with another 10ml. (If the hub required extra work then I would still have another 25ml of oil to use.) Here’s a pic of Ralph with the syringe ready for an injection

On completion – & with some trepidation & curiosity – I took Ralph out for a little test-ride. All seems well; smooth changes & no skipping! Phew!

So, quite a mystery how Ralph came to have so little oil in the hub? From the oil cleanliness it seems to confirm the limited kms of riding (pre-purchase & my own use). I’ve read that Shimano Alfine hub seals can leak but I’ve only seen the slightest of evidence with Ralph. Was the limited oil via servicing? (still puzzled as to who butchered the hub dust cap? While the cap wasn’t intended to retain the oil, it’s mangling was indicative of someone “servicing” the hub!) Maybe the lack of oil came from the initial Alfine conversion company? (or Shimano not filling the hub initially?)

Sorry Ralph, hopefully all’s well?