First off this isn’t an attempt to generate a for sale ad for my Brompton.

I had provisionally sold it (not on here), but the chap buying it (retired) had a lot of time on his hands to investigate the age of my Brompton, which was ok with me, as I didn’t know how old it was. Once I’d got it, I just started using it and never looked back.

But long story short, there is a manufacture date on the old sturney archer hubs.

So the brompton I was using for a year in that there landahn, was made in 1991.

Now looking at it it’s damn near immaculate – which is frankly astonishing for a commuting bike that’s 26 years old.

I’ve got no use for it – as I bit the bullet and bought a new one.

So my question to the STW massive – what on earth is it worth ?

I will give to $100 with postage to Aus.

I’ll bet it’s worth more than you think it is.

Quick scout on filthbay tells me a need to move that offer a decimal place and some change I reckon.

From keeping a casual eye on the Brompton Facebook groups there is some interest in older ones, and that while it’s not a very early example it would be pretty close to the start of proper mass production in 1988.

They don’t seem to drop much below £300 (even for well used ones that need attention) but you might get more if you find someone who really wants an early one.

You’ve asked Bencooper ?

I sold my old one with a broken frame for £100, so presumably its worth quite a bit more than that.

Who is bencooper ?

If it’s mint and doesn’t need anything (hinge, tyres, chain, suspension rubber etc) then it could go for £450 but would need to be boxfresh. An easy sell at £350.

It is mint, last thing I did was have the full gold service at Evans, it has the puncture proof schwalbe tyres, brooks saddle (which was on it when I got it – but not my cup of tea), new chain, rear block thing, main chainring.

All the rest of it is good, it’s in better nick than my mountain bike, which is nowhere near as old

i cant a single Brompton for less than $1800 over here in aus.

Who is bencooper ?

Infamy, they’ve all got it in for me 😉

If it really is in good shape – no wobbly rear pivot, no rust on the rear triangle, stuff like that – then £300-£500 wouldn’t be unreasonable. It’s a short-whelbase with rubbish brakes and tyres, but someone might want to ride it as is, or upgrade it.

I see quite a few which are that age and completely wrecked, though. Two years in a row, I’ve been donated bikes like that, and I rebuild them and sell them with all profits to MSF, but it’s not really economic to do that.

May I be the first to suggest £500 plus VAT?

This is now the default STW ‘How much us it worth?’ response 🙂

Thanks Ben

There’s no wobbliness anywhere – which is why I thought it would only be 10 years or so old.

Tyres are good too, new schwalbe puncture proof tyres not long put on it !

I can’t post a pic while at work, but I’ll post one up tonight, it’s not 100% pristine, but no rust, gears all work as they should – esp now I know there are only 5 – without realising I asked Evans at the service to look at why there weren’t six !! Obviously they couldn’t track that one down !

Hey ho – you live and learn.

I’ve decided regardless to hang onto it, as I’m unlikely to get another in this condition from that early on !

AU 1800 bucks is a hole lot of mullah for a folding bike

If it makes any difference I’ve just been sniffing around eBay for one.

So if it’s a reasonable amount I may be interested

Ben was only mentioned twice before he appeared surely it’s supposed to be 3 times!

Is it a 3 speed or a 5 or 7? 5’s & 7’s are rarer and more desirable

T1000

It’s a 5 speed.

Is it a 3 speed or a 5 or 7? 5’s & 7’s are rarer and more desirable

A 7 would be really rare 😀

I’m still not sure I understand why it’s only a 5, and there aren’t 6 gears like the new Bromptons ?

As it’s largely the same arrangement – right ?

5 speed hub – I think it stopped production when Sturmey Archer’s UK manufacturing did, and the new Taiwan production didn’t include it.

Current 6 speed is a 3 speed hub with a 2-speed derailleur.

The 5-speed was a special narrow version of the hub made by Sturmey – when Sturmey went bust, Brompton were in big trouble. For about a year, they could only sell 3-speeds. They vowed never to be in that situation again, hence the solution using a 3-speed hub and 2-speed derailleur to get 6 speeds.

Interestingly, the old 5-speeds used two shifters as well – One shifter did 3 speeds, the other did narrow-wide. It was a bit confusing!

Ben, I worked with a guy with. 7 speed, It was back in about 1999 so my memories a bit hazy he did know a guy based near Bristol who modified Bromptons so possibly it wasn’t standard?

Anyway I really liked the 5sped that I bought of him although I wasn’t keen on the bar brace as it had a recall as the bars used to fail.

That might’ve been a Steve Parry Brompton – he did some modifications a while ago.

I now do them with 8, 11, 14 or ? gears 😀

Yes..S.Parry modded my bike years ago …an interesting character!

I had the rear triangle bushings replaced on mine, too many canal towpath miles. Q an expensive fix but then failure could be dangerous too.

On gumtree theres v little decent sub 500, i bought mine for 425 7 years ago so its been a good investment.