Best Brompton colour..?

Ok I know raw lacquer is the best but it costs extra which I’m not paying. What’s people’s opinions on the best colour on a brompton?

Does it really matter, it’s a Brompton?

It’s a bit like going back to 1975 and asking the best colour for an Austin Allegro, isn’t it, really? 😉

You might as well just get a pink one, then… 😉

When I bought mine, the best colour was the one that was in stock with the gear / bars combination I wanted. Otherwise it was wait 3 months and the price would have gone up in the meantime.

Agreed with Greybeard. If you can find one you want in stock thats the best colour. Luckily i found mine in black. But it looks dirty after every ride but then again its sat on a building site all day so dust just covers it!

But i’d have got a green one!

Unfortunately greybeard has a point there. When I bought mine I chose the one in the shop, although in my case it would have been cheaper to wait, and not as long as three months (I think it was three weeks) but I didn’t want to wait.

Laquer is obviously the nicest. But when I bought mine 10 years ago I chose gloss black. Why? Because it is a folding bike that will be knocked, bumped and roll around in the boot of the car. Black is the easiest colour to touch up the scratches.

Now, I’d pick an orange S2LX. I’m less sensible!

When I was a Brompton dealer, it’d always depress me when people ordered black – orange or Turkish green or something is at least interesting. Black works if you can co-ordinate with black components and accessories, though.

If ordering, buy a colour that means something to you. For whatever reason.

Mine is in my old school house colours. A rather natty red and black. (Also, an advantage, as if God forbid I ever came to sell it, I suspect it would be easier to resell in that colorway (sic!) )

Orange mainframe with black forks and swingarm. Well that’s what I went for. But then I like orange.

Tbh the local Evans Cycles only has black or navy in anyway so I may just have to plump for one of those.

I went for the Purple Haze. Mind you, in Winter I wrap the frame in fairy lights so maybe I’m not the best judge of aesthetics…

OMG – they don’t do Purple Haze any more!

Rachel

Pink.
It’s a nice shade and suits the bike.

The yellow looks good too.

Mind you, in Winter I wrap the frame in fairy lights so maybe I’m not the best judge of aesthetics… clearly awesome!

FTFY!

🙂 thanks Flash!

orange its free this year and looks grand.

A dilema I am going through at the moment as I will be shortly replacing my old Brommie with a sparkly new one. I shall be wandering along to Brompton Junction in the very near future to start speccing 8)

I think we need pics Rachel 😀

I think I’d have a black main frame with apple green, err, other framey bits. I was only on their website yesterday having a browse, it seems I’ve reacheed that age where they look like a good idea. 🙁

Cheesy, not been up there yet, but keep meaning to drop by. Do let us all know what it’s like.

Re frame colour – Fork and rear should really be black, IMHO, as that’s the bit of the bike that tends to get the most grime on it (Brake dust, etc)

Sorry – don’t have a recent picture – I’ve added white LEDs near the front and another set of 20 red LEDs to the rack since this photo…

Rachel

That’s excellent!

What colour would Santa go for?

Right I’ve been and seen the lovely people at Brompton Junction and bring grave news.

Price rise from Monday 😮

Anyway, I know what I want, but the only thing stopping me is colours. Too much choice!

Much as I admire my Brompton, no folding bike is ever going to win any awards for beauty. It’s a great tool for the job and makes commuting that bit more bearable. Colour is irrelevant, just get whatever’s available and enjoy.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Turkish Green. Which us quite clearly blue.

Custom blue and red? 😉

[/url]
Custom Rohloff Brompton 1[/url] by Ben Cooper[/url], on Flickr

Oooohh! That’s really nice!

For reasons of madness I keep being drawn to Raw Lacquer.

The spec I want isn’t available off the shelf (and they checked stock in all colours)

S3L, Firm suspension, Marathon + tyres, Shimano Hub Dynamo, Brooks Grips, S bag

Sounds good, Cheezy. I went for M bars for the eeezy-steezy chilled position, and a C bag as it’s a little better looking, IMHO. Am going to get some of the Brooks grips on soon, if I can’t find any short Ergons, which I am strangely drawn to!

Marathons are a must have. OK, so they may not be the quickest, but they’re quicker than a puncture! Keep an eye on the pressure, though. Pumping mine up once a week or more. On my old commuter (Raleigh Cameo, natch!) it was only a couple of times a month.

Orange S11L here (kinetics mods which I can recommend) everyone knows orange bikes are faster.

Got any pics of it built up? That rear triangle was very fiddly, but gave me a bunch of ideas for building my own rear triangles 😉

Black with light greyish ends 😉
But it’s developed an annoying creak in the last 2 weeks 😥

A Brompton is a design classic and likely to be with you for a long time.

Make the investment in raw lacquer. Depreciate it in your head over many years, and every time you look at it, you will thanks yourself.

Well worth it.

But it’s developed an annoying creak in the last 2 weeks

Check the bolt that goes through the suspension rubber block – it might be loose, or if it’s tight bung some grease on it.

If it’s not that, could be the pivot bearings. They make an obscene amount of noise when they wear.

CFH, got m bars at the moment, but there’s a short sharp hill on the way home, and the Ms do flex somewhat

Does the C bag really not fit on the S bike, or can it be ‘made to’?

Yup – simple way to check the rear pivot bushings is to see if you can wiggle the rear triangle sideways at the suspension block – more than 1cm of movement, they need replacing.

If you do get them replaced, go to someone competent – the new bushings need to be reamed with a special reamer after fitting. I’ve seen several cases where a shop has just bashed in the new bushings and pivot pin, and then the pivot bolts keep loosening up.

Cheers. I’ll try the suspension block bolt, will give it a run along the riverbank to check the noyz.

Ben, see below. I hacked the changer up a bit more and used the grey/black non turn washers which are available as an option to turn the axle further around towards the cable stop on the frame. Works a treat but will probably go for a smaller 16t rear sprocket. It now stop and goes properly, not sure why they don’t offer proper brakes and a decent gear range as factory options

FFS, that didn’t work for some reason, photos are here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30537475@N03/

Can recommend Ben’s workmanship, although he’ll probably run and hide if anyone approaches him again with a pile of Brompton bits and an alfine hub

Thanks 😉

I’m now working on building my own rear triangles, and I’m designing them to work with most 135mm-wide hubs, so should be quite a bit easier next time…