interesting to know brakes misalign

Yes. I’d say the Brompton’s frame is of excellent quality, but their choice of low-endish components continues to puzzle me.

In my opinion, the brakes rotate on their fixation axle for several reasons: the axle carries a lot of additional stuff (fenders, lighting), the bolting is suboptimal (intermediate pieces, flat washers, etc), the brakes tighten up after folding due to numerous sharp cable turns (and so micro-rotate to grasp even the slightest variations in the wheel and stay in that position for prolonged periods of time).

Question does this mean cycle shop job for punctures?

As John writes above, the answer is definitely “no”.

While more complicated than the derailleur systems with wheel skewers and even some internal gear hub systems (SRAM i-Motion 9…), the Brompton’s rear wheel removal is doable even at night and in the rain. Practice at home though.

small transport wheels can be replaced £13 with industrial type wheels from Brompton

Exactly. That’s what I did for my Brompton.

I don’t feel rear wheel punctures are a pain - just more time consuming. After the gear indicator & chain tensioner is removed (simple operations) the wheel can be removed easily & promptly, without slackening off the brake pads, as the tyre is already flat.

It takes me longer to extract the tube, find thorn in tyre, & refit tube & tyre, than to remove & refit the wheel & tensioner. Definitely don’t need a bike shop to do it.

The Tikit is indeed a very interesting machine, and indeed worth a close look.

I really appreciate your thanks. Helping others to choose, by sharing as much as I know, is one of the main reasons I publish such articles.

Actually, by “folding” I meant an averaged folding / unfolding time. I have since clarified the issue, giving specific, separate folding and unfolding times.

1. I commute 17 miles there and 17 back on awful London streets and the handling is perfectly acceptable for that distance.

I agree. Handling is acceptable. Quite good compared to most 16″ folders. It’s not the best though, in my opinion. Again, I compare the Brompton with the Bike Friday Tikit and with larger bikes. Good with the better.

And I do cycle over 60 km (37 mi) in one go on my Brompton without complaining too much.

2. 30 seconds to fold? Who are you getting to do the test, Abu Hamza?!

Err… No, myself. ;-) Am I that slow?!

I can fold that thing in under 10 secs every time, including taking the front carrier back off!

Cool!

Personally, I double-check the saddle alignment, the latches, the brake cables… I take my time. Swiss-style, I guess…

1. I commute 17 miles there and 17 back on awful London streets and the handling is perfectly acceptable for that distance.

2. 30 seconds to fold? Who are you getting to do the test, Abu Hamza?! I can fold that thing in under 10 secs every time, including taking the front carrier back off!