Took my Brompton for a larger ride in the wind and rain today and then took the N Judah back home. I continue to be impressed with how capable and comfortable it is. I’d say that every Brompton proposition doesn’t quite live up to its stated value. It’s a little inconvenient to bring on to a crowded train, but it is still great.
I put it in a shopping cart and took it into Gus’ community market. Haven’t been bringing a lock so far.
Also the Bubbly Ezy pedals were so easy to get off when trying to get the bike as compact as possible! And I love the Borough bag — I’m pretty sure it’s my favourite bike bag.
Yikes, e-bikes in the winter with resin brake pads. Replaced brake pads on egret at ~3476.2 km — 575 km on this pair 🥴
Topped off the sealant in egret at ~3450km after several months. I was accidentally running both tires dry for a while.
Also I checked my waxed chain yesterday and it is past 0.75% wear ☹️. Only 1400km on the waxed chain, not good. Might’ve done something wrong or this might just be how a mid-drive e-bike in a rainy season is. I left it out in the rain quite a lot and didn’t top off the wax as much as I should. I’ll probably write a post with more thoughts soon. But uh, yeah, if you have an e-bike you should check your chain frequently!
Waxed Kat’s new chain for the BB-1. I was way more thorough with the chain stripper this time and I’m pretty happy with the cleaning results. I did two rounds of Silca chain stripper. The second pour of chain stripper ended up remaining fairly clean, so that’s a good sign. I ended up putting egret’s chain in the stripper after boiling the old wax away.
Unfortunately neither chain came out super shiny from their wax baths. I think my wax pot is just slowly getting dirty and I think that’s fine? I’m really curious what the long-term results are gonna be. Also, it’s still not that much effort but it’s more of a project than I’d like.
I’m definitely getting some rust on my waxed chain because of all the rain. There aren’t any symptoms, like squeaking, but I worry about this developing more. Will I still get the expected longevity out of a waxed chain like this? I suppose I should be more diligent about wiping the chain dry.
Over 3000 km on egret in 181 days of having it!
Rotated egret’s bars away from me a bit and that helped reduce the effect back sweep with the larger grips a lot, I think. Only a ~14km ride though. It looks like a more neutral wrist angle to me.
Just went out for a ride on the Hardtack and considering reducing the stack some to get more power when climbing. I like it the way it is on the road but trails are a little less fun because I don’t feel like I’m getting enough out of my pedal stroke.
Took the long way to and from an errand in reasonably heavy rain and it was amazing! I love biking in the rain!
- No squeaking from the waxed chain and I don’t think any rust developed but we’ll see on the next ride when dry. Update from the next day — a little bit of rust but no squeaking. Maybe just surface rust?
- Played chicken with my e-bike battery — had one bar of battery left while in the Marina and went through the Presidio and up Arguello back home. Success!
- Rain cape and rain pants did admirably. Still haven’t quite figured out having the hood over my helmet but my head didn’t get very wet anyway.
- Regretted not bringing my overshoes. I think I want to get a custom pair of waterproof boots made somewhere (my feet are weirdly sized).
- I didn’t have a camera on me so I don’t have any photos and I really regret that. I took the bike path up to the Presidio Promenade and everywhere I looked was beautiful. The skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge through the thick rain make me want to bike right back there but my shoes are soaked and I have plans.
- My janky too-small fender setup was insufficient for heavier rain :(
Is there a difference between M05 and B05S Shimano brake pads? There’s not much mention from Shimano about the M05 ones but they seem to be older and for mechanical brakes. They’re the same B-type shape. I can’t imagine it matters much??
Also a bit of a bummer that egret came with resin-only brake calipers and rotors.
Why is my Brompton so comfortable? It really feels like it shouldn’t be — 16" x 35mm tires and narrow bars with barely any backsweep. But it is! I wonder if I could go multi-modal touring on it with some fairly long bike distances. I still want to try riding it to my day job office in the South Bay off the 8 at Bayshore & Tunnel Ave.
And it climbs quite well! For having an easiest gear of 25 gear inches.
Also I passed by a very British™ sounding person on my ride today (who was riding and sheperding two kids on bikes) and she told her kids to “say hi to the Brompton” and told me she missed her Brompton so much.
A cliffhanger rim in a biplane fork is such a good aesthetic.