November 2009




Brazing in the couplings, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

I fitted some Bicycle Torque Couplings to an On-One Inbred MTB frame today, and I took a series of pictures – click on the picture above to go to Flickr and see them.

I’ve got a Cotic Burly to do next ;-)



Electric Dahon, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Using an old 24V Heinzmann motor and controller with a 21Ah Li-Ion battery…



Stack of sprockets, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Every time I make an 8-speed Brompton, I replace the standard sprocket with a smaller one – it’s a handy way of keeping count of how many I’ve made…



Black box Lithium cells, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Now possible: fitting brand new Heinzmann lithium cells into an old 36v black-box battery.

The new cells are double the capacity of the old NiCads, and 2kgs lighter…



Brompton Lowrider, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Bromptons are lovely, and their front luggage system is brilliant. But what if you’ve already got some good panniers?

This is a prototype front rack for a Brompton – it fits on to the same luggage block as Brompton’s luggage, but it takes two standard front panniers. It’s mostly stainless steel so it won’t need painting, and it’s about 580g.

This one is a bit rough – if I put it into production I’ll tidy up some details, especially around the mounting bracket…



8-spd Brompton with Rapidfire, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Another 8-speed Brompton, this time with pushbutton gear shifter
instead of twistshifter.