Miscellaneous

I received a note and a few pics from Mark, one of our Brompton US Championship 2012 Racers. Mark and his partner Deb were riding on Vancouver Island and had a flat on the rear of Deb's Brompton. Mark decided to try and patch the flat without removing the wheel. This seemed like great info to pass on as it's a nice trick that could work on any bike.

Thanks Mark!

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Hey Perennial Cycle-ites,

Just thought I’d share this with you. Deb and I were on a little tour of Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia via Bromptons when Deb encountered a flat on her rear tire. All of the gearing and whatnot on the rear wheel can be a bit intimidating so thought I’d try a quick patch job without removing the rear wheel. I was able to pop the tire bead off and expose the tube and locate the metal staple in the tire pretty easily and made a pretty quick repair of the flat in about 10 minutes. One thing I’d do differently is pop the bead off the non drive side. Wouldn’t recommend this for all flat repairs, but this one proved to be easy to find the leak and the Park glueless patch held on the first try.

This may be old news, but I had not done this before. I actually saw them doing this on the Amazing Race in Africa, as one of the challenges, where the street mechanics often don’t have the proper wrench to remove the wheel or the axle is actually welded to the frame.

I have since watched the YouTube video from Brompton on the repair and now know that removing the tire wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but this sure seemed quicker and cleaner, without having to remove and readjust everything.

Have got about 25,000 flight miles on the Brompton's B&W case and have been amazed at how well it’s held up. I use the Brompton in our tradeshow display and to get around while traveling. Did have a wheel housing crack due to some rough luggage handling and a drop onto the wheel, but it was easily replaceable with pop rivets and a lightning fast wheel assembly replacement from Perennial and Brompton.

Thanks Perennial staff and Brompton for all your help.

Cheers!

Mark and Deb

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Here are a few pictures. Two are from their ride and the others are Mark at BUSC • 2012
You can see from the great duct tape Union Jack helmet to the custom spray painted sport jacket that he's an awesomely creative guy.

I'd guess that Mark had all the tools he needed to make the repair, but for what he specifically did I'm thinking he used a tire lever (we like this one from PDW for the Brompton as well, the included wrench will remove the wheel) and a glueless patch. It's also possible Mark didn't have a tire lever; the Brompton tires can be wrestled off without one if absolutely necessary.

If you haven't seen the technical videos that Brompton has available (Mark mentions one in the note), you should check them out here.

This Thursday is the Tiny Bike Shop Concert at Perennial Cycle. We’re excited to have Ann Reed and Dan Chouinard back to the shop for our first Tiny Bike Shop Concert of 2012. Last fall when they put on a show for us we had a great time yakking up bikes and hearing some fabulous music from a couple of local legends.

Ann was just on Prairie Home Companion where she wowed us all with her amazing talent and Dan, being comfortable with any keyboard instrument will knock our socks off with his accordion at the show. Together they put on a phenomenal show that you will not want to miss.

Not only is the show FREE, but there’s rumor of a bit ‘o grilling going on out back and snacks and lemonade area sure bet.

Lastly: Prizes, Lots of Good Ones… When you show up be sure and go through registration to be placed in a drawing to win A Linus Dutchi Bicycle, a Jon Nielson custom art-ified Banjo Brothers Backpack, three Walz Caps, and more.

SMILE : )

We’ll have a camera set up as well as a willingness to snap another with your camera.

-From 6:00-6:45 you can get an extra ticket in the drawing by having your picture taken trying on a Walz Cap

-From 6:30 to 6:45 you can get your picture taken with Dan and Ann on stage!

Here's the full schedule:
6:00 - Drawing registration begins
6:00 - (until Gone, limited supply) Weinie/Brat Roast on Grill Out Back
6:00 - 6:45 Walz Cap picture
6:15 - 6:45 O2 Rainwear's Adam Ziskin will be available for questions
6:30-6:45 pictures on the stage with Ann & Dan
7:00-8:00 Ann Reed and Dan Chouinard will performing on stage

This morning was the Twin Cities Bike-Walk Celebration. Perennial Cycle had a booth in downtown Minneapolis showing off a variety of bikes and bags. Being a commuting crowd we were sure to have Brompton Folding Bikes along with us. Mayor Rybak rode into work today and stopped into the celebration to pick up a banana and cup of coffee. Next thing you know I'm chatting with him and this leads to a fold and unfold of the Brompton and he was stoked to get a ride in on the bike. I love this guy!

John and I got a chance to talk to a lot of people about Brommies, commuting bikes and commuting bags as well as cargo bikes.

We had a Civia Halsted along to show off and thanks to Civia's Sales Manager Andy Lambert we had a belt drive Civia Kingfield. Andy rode it into our booth and worked with us a bit selling the Civia brand.

You can see Mayor Rybak riding the Brommie in a video clip here

Nice Morning!