Replace / repair Brompton hub

Had my Brommy about 8 months, bought new, and recently the front hub has
been showing signs of wear (grinding noise/feeling when I ride). Opened it
up yesterday for a re-grease / general poke around, and found that the
cones have become pitted in a few places. Regreased and reassembled, but
the grinding is still there.

Took it to Bikefix today where they told me, yes it is a bit worn but you
can't just get new cones or even a new hub - you need to replace the whole
wheel, a cost of about £35, so it's best to wait until the hub's really
knackered and then replace the wheel.

Do Brommy hubs generally not last very long? 8 months isn't very long - it
really doesn't seem right that it wears that quickly but the whole
wheel has to be replaced. Can I really just not replace the hub?

Hel

In article t, Hel
wrote:
Took it to Bikefix today where they told me, yes it is a bit worn
but you can't just get new cones or even a new hub - you need to
replace the whole wheel, a cost of about £35, so it's best to wait
until the hub's really knackered and then replace the wheel.

Don't know specifically about brompton hubs but almost all hubs are
standard size. A new pair of cones with an axle should cost about
£2-50 - hi-tensile ones slightly more.

Do Brommy hubs generally not last very long? 8 months isn't very
long - it really doesn't seem right that it wears that quickly but
the whole wheel has to be replaced. Can I really just not replace
the hub?

Do NOT ride it if the bearings are dodgy - they can jam and cause a
sudden stop - painful at best!

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

At Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:42:02 +0100, message
was posted by Sandy Morton
, including some, all or none of the following:

Don't know specifically about brompton hubs but almost all hubs are
standard size.

Alas, not Brommies. The dropout spacings are much narrower front and
back than a standard bike.


Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

In article , "Just zis
Guy, you know?" wrote:
Don't know specifically about brompton hubs but almost all hubs
are standard size.

Alas, not Brommies. The dropout spacings are much narrower front
and back than a standard bike.

I was thinking more about the cones - all the axles which I have have
the thread rolled much more than necessary.

hth

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

in message t, Hel
') wrote:

Had my Brommy about 8 months, bought new, and recently the front hub
has been showing signs of wear (grinding noise/feeling when I ride).
Opened it up yesterday for a re-grease / general poke around, and
found that the cones have become pitted in a few places. Regreased and
reassembled, but the grinding is still there.

Took it to Bikefix today where they told me, yes it is a bit worn but
you can't just get new cones or even a new hub - you need to replace
the whole wheel, a cost of about £35, so it's best to wait until the
hub's really knackered and then replace the wheel.

Well, it could be that Brompton hubs are so unlike ordinary hubs that
this is true, but it sounds to me like they're spinning you a yarn.
What they may really be saying is 'we don't find it worth our while to
fettle Brompton hubs', and, with central London labour rates and
central London workshop rents, they may well be right.

Still, I'd be very surprised if someone can't sell you a pair of
Brompton cones at a reasonable cost (I really can't see any reason why
the /cones/ should be any different from standard bikes). And if the
hubs really can't be serviced I would say that's a very good reason to
boycott Bromptons - throwing away a wheel because of a dodgy cone is
an /appalling/ waste of resources.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; "If I were a Microsoft Public Relations person, I would probably
;; be sobbing on a desk right now" -- Rob Miller, editor, /.

Hel wrote:

Had my Brommy about 8 months, bought new, and recently the front hub has
been showing signs of wear (grinding noise/feeling when I ride). Opened it
up yesterday for a re-grease / general poke around, and found that the
cones have become pitted in a few places. Regreased and reassembled, but
the grinding is still there.

Took it to Bikefix today where they told me, yes it is a bit worn but you
can't just get new cones or even a new hub - you need to replace the whole
wheel, a cost of about £35, so it's best to wait until the hub's really
knackered and then replace the wheel.

Do Brommy hubs generally not last very long? 8 months isn't very long - it
really doesn't seem right that it wears that quickly but the whole
wheel has to be replaced. Can I really just not replace the hub?

Hel

try the places which sell Bromptons with SON XS dynamo's. I know I've
got quite a few brommie hubs laying around. And why isn't this covered
under guarantee?
--
---
Marten (always greases and adjust the crummy hub pre-delivery)
Gerritsen

INFOapestaartjeM-GINEERINGpuntNL
www.m-gineering.nl

m-gineering wrote:

try the places which sell Bromptons with SON XS dynamo's. I know I've
got quite a few brommie hubs laying around.

Ben had quite a pile even before the XS came out (he spread the forks a
little for the basic SON), so a good suggestion. But it brings up a new
possibility, which is taking the opportunity of a new wheel to get a SON
XS and get an outstanding dynohub for your lighting needs.

And why isn't this covered under guarantee?

Good question, after 8 months. Perhaps possible to arrange some sort of
discount on a SON based front as an option to just a new wheel.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/