Brompton P Line: Ergon Grips and Carbon Handlebar

Another small upgrade that I wanted to do for the Brompton P Line is to use Ergon grips. These are so much more comfortable than the standard round grips, and I have used them on all my flat handlebar bikes, such as the Fnhon DB12, the Birdy AXS 12 speed, the United Trifold, and the Bike Friday Haul-A-Day cargo bike. In fact, I had also changed to the Ergon grips on my previous Brompton M6R, but that was so troublesome as I had to cut the old foam grips off the handlebar.

While changing the grips, I also decided to change the handlebar as well. This change should be easy since it is just a flat handlebar and not a M type handlebar.

Stock handlebar width with grips is 540 mm, which is a bit narrow.

Stock aluminium handlebar width is about 520 mm.

Stock aluminium handlebar weight is 135 mm.

New carbon handlebar!

New carbon handlebar is wider at 560 mm.

New carbon handlebar is lighter at just 95 grams.

Using the old trick of pushing open the clamp, to make installing the new handlebar easier.

Stock lock on foam grips are light at just 54 grams.

Stock foam grips are 130 mm long

Side by side comparison of the stock foam grips with the new Ergon grips.

Apparently these are OEM spec and thus it has black clamps, instead of silver clamps. It is also a large size.

Large size Ergon grips are heavy at 185 grams!

Large Ergon grips on top, Small Ergon grips at bottom. Can you see the differences in shape and size?

When the Large Ergon grips are installed on the Brompton, it tends to get in the way of the thumb when operating the gear shifter due to the large grip diameter.

Quite a large difference in wall thickness and external diameter between the Large and Small Ergon grips!

Another view showing the difference in grip diameter

Small Ergon grips have a diameter of 28.2 mm.

Large Ergon grips are quite a lot larger at 32 mm diameter!

For reference, the external clamp diameter of the stock lock on foam grips are about 29.6 mm.

With the Small Ergon grips installed on the Brompton, it does not get in the way of the thumb, when I'm operating the gear shifter.

With the Small Ergon grips installed on the carbon handlebar, the handlebar width is around 570 mm. Just 15 mm longer on each side, which does not affect the folding.

In the end, I moved the Small Ergon grips from the Birdy over to the Brompton, while the new Large Ergon grips are installed on the Birdy instead. On the Birdy, the larger grip does not interfere with operation of the SRAM AXS shifter, so it is fine.

Large Ergon grips installed on the Birdy instead. Black clamps match well with the bike!

Ergon grips and carbon handlebar installed on the Brompton!

So much more comfortable than round grips.

Out for a test ride! Shown here is near the Ulu Pandan Park Connector, at Clementi.

Specialized Aethos: Assembly with new Frameset

In the previous post, I wrote about the replacement Specialized Aethos frameset, in Maroon colour. With the replacement frameset, there are actually a few options for me.

1) Sell the new frameset and buy another frameset to build up. Cannondale? Trek? Etc.

2) Sell the new frameset, and also the components that I removed from the Aethos.

3) Rebuild the bike using the new frameset and the same components.

Option 1 sounded tempting, as I could get a new frameset from another brand. However, the value of the Aethos frameset was not really good even when brand new, as the prices have dropped a lot since I first got it. In fact I think there is now excessive stock which the shops are trying to sell off.

Option 2 means having no road bike to ride, as the Aethos is my only road bike after selling away the Focus Paralane earlier. Although I do get back some cash if I sell the road bike, I think I still want to keep one road bike for the occasional fast road ride.

That means I eventually decided to go with Option 3, which is to rebuild the Aethos using the same components but the new Maroon frameset. Since I was going to rebuild the Aethos from scratch, I decided to take the opportunity to change some components as well.

I bought a new PRO Vibe superlight carbon handlebar, which is a new generation that is even lighter than the previous version! The previous version weighs 198 grams, which is already lightweight but there are a few others that are even lighter.

This time, the new handlebar is going to weigh even less, check out the actual weight below!

New PRO Vibe superlight carbon handlebar, now lighter than the previous version!

In my preferred width of 400 mm

Just 2 holes at the bottom for the hydraulic brake hoses, instead of 4 in the previous version. It is assumed that you will be using wireless road shifters.

Hole near the drops for routing the hydraulic hose internally from the road shifters to the middle of the handlebar.

Oval hole at the back of the handlebar enables Di2 wires to be routed into the stem, if necessary.

Side view shows a short reach and a standard drop shape, with a flat horizontal end.

See how thin the walls of the carbon handlebar are! Good manufacturing and quality control is needed to ensure that the wall thickness is consistent and fulfils the minimum requirement. It's a delicate balance between weight and strength.

Handlebar is really lightweight at just 160 grams! 38 grams lighter than the previous handlebar.

Inclusive of the Specialized S-Works SL Stem, the stem + handlebar combo weighs just 275 grams! Lighter than many integrated carbon stem + handlebar combo.

Although the new handlebar saves 38 grams of weight, the new Maroon Aethos frameset weighs 56 grams more than the old frame, so there is a net increase of 18 grams. Although it is nice to keep the weight low, I have realized that adding a little bit of weight here and there is not going to matter at all.

Since the components have been completely removed from the bike, I took the chance to clean up the Dura-Ace R9200 cassette as well. Once again, I used the Ultrasonic cleaner to make sure that the cassette is as clean as can be, with minimal effort from me.

Dura-Ace R9200 cassette to be installed onto the Shimano Road L2 spline freehub body, on the Dura-Ace R9270 C50 wheelset.

Shiny cassette after cleaning, looks as good as new!

As the new frameset came with a new fork as well, this means having to cut the fork steerer tube to the correct length again. Since my home workshop is pretty comprehensive, with all the right tools that are commonly used, I was able to do this job at home.

Marking the section to cut, after fitting on the stem for confirmation.

Using the table clamp to hold onto the Topeak Saw Guide, and cutting with the carbon blade on the Park Tool Hack Saw.

After cutting, the fork weighs only 286 grams! 16 grams was removed by cutting it to my required length. This is one of the lightest forks you will ever see.

Specialized S-Works SL Stem installed, with the lightweight expander slightly recessed as per instructions.

Front part of the frameset is ready, with the fork, headset and stem installed.

Glittery Maroon paint job! Looks awesome in sunlight, much like the Cervelo Aspero.

The Maroon colour looks better and better by the day!

With a new frameset, the excitement of building a new bike is here again. At the same time, there is the reassuring thought that I have done this before, and all the components have already been tried and tested to fit this frameset. In fact, even the chain can be reused as it is still in good condition and of the correct length.

For a detailed part by part analysis of the Specialized Aethos, check out the original series where the Champagne Pink frameset was first assembled!

Bestrider Pump Pro 20: Frameset, Handlebar, Seatpost, Saddle

It's time to disassemble the Bestrider Pump Pro 20, before starting the modifications! As there are some  stock components that are pretty good, I will be reusing them. As for the other parts which do not meet my requirements, I will swap them out for something better.

Bike frameset with most of the components removed!

Only the aluminium frame left!

Frame weight is 1370 grams, with one headset bearing. It was stuck and I could not remove both to weigh.

Using sealed headset bearings, which is much nicer than loose ball bearings.

Aluminium front fork, with the super tall crown and large width.

Front fork is 507 grams, which is pretty heavy. It can be lighter as proven by the Fnhon front fork.

Stock super short stem weighs 85 grams.

Stock stem length is just 35 mm, which is like a MTB stem.

Lightweight carbon headset spacers weigh 8 grams.

Freshly cleaned and ready for new components to be installed!

As mentioned in the earlier post, the stock riser handlebar is too wide and too high. Therefore, I will be changing to a straight handlebar that is also narrower.

On the previous Bestrider Pump Pro 16, I got a new carbon handlebar in the preferred width, so that I don't need to cut it myself. However, for this new handlebar, I could not find a stock handlebar that comes in the preferred width, so I need to cut it to the correct length myself.

New carbon handlebar with a width of 580 mm

After cutting to the preferred width of 520 mm, the weight of the carbon handlebar is 131 grams. 

I used a very general formula to calculate the ideal handlebar width. Based on this guide, the handlebar width should be about 0.44 of the rider's height. This gives a handlebar width of 520 mm. The weight is pretty OK but there are lighter ones available. The one I used on the Birdy is just 107 grams for 580 mm width. Not sure why this one is significantly heavier, probably because I got a cheaper one.

As mentioned in the first post, the stock seat post and saddle is pretty bad, which is why I have to change them. 

Stock saddle and suspension seat post! Let's see how much they weigh.

Saddle is only 185 grams which is light, but that it because it does not have saddle rails for adjustment.

Stock suspension seat post is heavy at 408 grams, despite the short length.

The saddle and seat post which I got for the Bestrider Pump Pro 16 was good, which is why I decided to get another set for this bike.

Stock carbon seat post of 350 mm length before cutting. Diameter is 27.2 mm.

As the seat post length is too long to insert into the bike frame, I had to cut 60 mm to ensure it can fit at the lowest saddle position. Weight is 203 grams after cutting.

One more SDG Fly Junior saddle for the new bike!

Blue colour was chosen to match the new bike frame

Weight of 260 grams, which is pretty heavy considering the smaller kids size.

The weight of the original saddle + suspension seat post is 185 + 408 = 593 grams. Changing to the new SDG saddle and carbon seat post is 259 + 203 = 462 grams, a savings of about 130 grams.

There are other new components for the Bestrider Pump Pro 20 kids bike, they will be introduced in the next few posts.