Modifications to Flamingo London NX7: Brompton Firm Suspension Block + Riser Bar

What suspension block does your Brompton or Flamingo use? If you have not changed the suspension block on the bike before, most likely it will be the stock suspension block with standard hardness. This is good for most people on leisurely rides, where the pedaling is smooth with low torque. 

However, some people do use their Brompton for fast rides and they do pedal hard in order to go fast. In this case, the standard suspension block may not be suitable for this type of riding. This is because when you push down on the pedals hard with high torque, the chain tension tends to pull the rear triangle forward/upward and compress the suspension block. When this happens, the bike will start bobbing up and down in sync with your pedaling motion. Not only is this motion uncomfortable, it actually saps a lot of your energy by repeatedly compressing the suspension block instead of powering the bike forward.

The rear suspension block and the rear triangle on the Flamingo

For myself, I have been quite happy with the original suspension block on my Flamingo. Just as an experiment, I got the standard Brompton suspension block and installed it on the Flamingo a few months back. After quite a bit of riding, there does not seem to be any noticeable difference between these two suspension blocks. Both work well, but are also soft enough that bobbing occurs during hard pedaling.

My recent riding style on my Flamingo has changed, from a more casual riding style to a slightly more sporty style. I used to only use my Flamingo for mixed mode commuting to work, riding from my house to the MRT, and then riding from the MRT station to my workplace. After work, I will ride to the nearest MRT station again and take the MRT home with the bike.

 Size of the folded Flamingo that goes onto the MRT

This used to work very well, until the MRT timings in the morning changed. The trains used to arrive every 2-3 mins at 630am in the morning, which means that there is no problem for me to get on the train with the bike. However, a couple of months back, the train frequency decreased for some reason, and the wait stretches to 4 mins or more half the time. This means a very crowded train that makes it difficult and inconsiderate for me to squeeze the bike onto the MRT.

That was when I decided to just try riding my Flamingo directly to work. It is about 12km one way, and it takes me 40 mins to ride to work, door to door, on my Dahon Boardwalk, including grabbing the newspapers along the way. With the Flamingo, it takes longer even though I have to ride harder, because the Flamingo is not built for speed. 

To solve the bike bobbing issue, I decided to try out the firm suspension block that is used on the Brompton. It is said to be designed for use for heavier riders or for riders with a strong pedaling style. 

Swapping out the block is easy, as I was already using the Brompton standard suspension block. After installing the firm suspension block, I did some riding to test it out by cycling all the way home, riding reasonable hard. I found that there is actually a lot of difference! Not only does the bobbing problem disappear, the bike also feels more rigid overall. When you lay down the power on the pedals, more of the energy goes to driving the bike forward and not to compress the suspension block. 

Brompton firm suspension block shown on the right

I do not have any numerical data to say how much more efficient it is, but the pedaling feeling has been greatly improved. At the same time, the comfort level of the bike has not been affected significantly. Theoretically speaking, the ride should be harsher due to the harder suspension, but it does not feel that way. The ride is still very comfortable, even though the suspension block is now much firmer. This may be due to the fact that I am still using the original Flamingo tires, which has a max PSI rating of 55, giving some degree of suspension. Another reason may be because there was too much suspension in the first place!

My initial aim to convert the Flamingo into a sportier ride was to change out the suspension block AND also change the handlebars. The stock M handlebars are a bit too tall for faster riding, with a grip height of 1080mm. For comparison, my Dahon Boardwalk has a grip height of 1000mm on the flat portion, and it is already considered higher than average for a drop bar.

To lower the body posture and to reduce the flex on the handlebars, I bought a 60mm riser bar to lower the handlebar height. Since it is a MTB handlebar, it is very wide at 680mm, it needed to be cut down to an appropriate width. For comparison, the stock M handlebar has a rise of almost 160mm, and are about 580mm wide.

The new riser bar would have lowered the grip height by this much

Comparing the handlebar widths

About 80mm difference in grip height 

After removing the shifter and brake levers and grips from the handlebar, I took out the M handlebar from the handlepost clamp. This is actually quite difficult due to the bends in the handlebar. I managed to hold the clamps open by using a bolt to help push open the clamp and hold it open, while I wriggled out the handlebar.

Inserting the original bolt from the other direction. By placing a metal plate in the opening, tightening the bolt will push open the clamp, making it easier to insert or remove the handlebar

Upon inserting the new MTB handlebar, I realized that there was a big problem! The handlebar can’t fit in the C shaped clamp. Only upon closer inspection I found that the reason the original handlebars could fit, was that only the handlebar centre clamp area is 25.4mm diameter, the rest of the handlebar is a smaller 22.2mm diameter. This was how the bends of the handlebar can be wriggled through the clamp.

But for this new MTB riser bar, the diameter starts to increase from 22.2mm to 25.4mm at the bends, making it impossible to squeeze it through the clamp. The increased diameter together with the bends means that the clamp would probably have to be at least 30mm wide in order to put the handlebar through.

This was something that I overlooked when I bought the new handlebar. There is no way the clamp can be opened this wide without breaking it. The only consolation for this error is that the new MTB riser handlebar is a relatively cheap one. 

The riser bar cannot fit through the clamp!

 Reason is because the riser bar starts to increase its diameter at the bends

A straight handlebar will work, but it will be too low for comfort. The only way a riser bar will work is if the handlebar is narrow all the way, and only widens to 25.4mm at the middle clamp area. Otherwise, if the diameter at the bends are more than 22.2mm, it will not fit.

So, the only change that was made to the Flamingo is the new firm suspension block. I’m really happy with the firm suspension block, as it enables more efficient pedaling without energy loss, while at the same time the comfort level is hardly reduced!

Bicycle Lights for Night Riding

For night riding, it is always a good idea to be well lighted. The more lights the better, as you can be seen more clearly by other vehicles on the road. There are two main types of lights for bicycles:

1) To See
This will refer to lights that you mount on your bike/helmet, for the purpose of enabling you to see the road clearly. These type of lights will have powerful beams, with spot lighting to light up the path ahead. For on-road riding in Singapore, these are usually not necessary as the roads are generally well lighted.

For off-road riding at night, these are essential. You will need a light that is powerful with a good spread to see the terrain ahead. The drawback for these type of lights is that it usually requires a separate lithium battery pack for the power, and the runtime is usually limited to only a few hours at the highest setting.

2) To Be Seen
It is very important to be well lighted during night rides. The aim of being well lighted is so that the drivers can see you and your bike. To be seen clearly is not that easy, as there are a lot of other distractions and lighting on the road, such as from traffic lights, street lights, other cars' lights etc.

A good blinker will be able to draw the attention of road users and announce your presence. The brighter the blinker, the better. If you have a bright flashing light, drivers will be able to spot you from further away, giving them more time to avoid you. No point having a weak blinker that can only be seen when the driver is 50 metres behind you. This gives them too little time to change lanes completely, and indirectly contributes to close encounters.

Front Lights
For me, I have many many lights on my bike. At the front, I have two lights, a S-Sun 1 watt blinker and a powerful headlight in the form of a Busch & Muller IXON IQ light.

S-Sun 1 Watt light

Busch & Muller IXON IQ mounted at front of frame.

The IXON IQ light serves as a dual purpose light. On dark roads, it will be used to light up the path. On well-lit roads, I also turn on the light, as it becomes a steady headlight that can be seen from a good distance. A steady front light plus a front blinker makes you very visible from the front.

Rear Lights
As for rear lighting, it is even more important as you cannot see what is coming up behind you. Therefore you will need to make doubly sure that you are seen and highly visible from the back.

The main rear light I have is the Bontrager Flare 3, which has two 0.5 watt LEDs flashing alternately. This is a good bright light with an attention-grabbing flashing pattern. It is fixed onto the hook on my Topeak saddle bag.

Bontrager Flare 3

Supporting the red rear light is a blue rear light that also flashes to catch attention. This is a Cateye-lookalike light, and is mounted on the light bracket on my rear rack.

Blue coloured rear light fixed onto the rear rack

Additionally, I also have an Infini helmet light to improve visibility. This light has an elastic strap which can be used to fit on almost all helmets.

Infini helmet light

With these 3 lights, I have lighting at my head height, saddle height and wheel height. This should make me quite visible from far.

In order to further improve night visibility, I recently added two more lights at the end of my drop bars. Since these lights are further apart left and right, it will give me more width and make me and my bike even more visible.

Q-Lite Bar End Light

These are actually bar end lights meant for flat handlebars. The design is such that there will be bright beams coming out from the side of the bar end, such that when installed on a flat handlebar, the lights shine backwards like a rear light. It happened that this model has a transparent tip that also glows red, although it is not as bright as the main beam.

Another point to note is that MTB flat handlebars have a slightly narrower internal diameter compared to road drop bars, and thus does not fit snugly on my drop bars. However, with the bar tape on my drop bars, the lights fit nicely. Although they are not tight, it is sufficient to ensure that it will not drop out easily.

Bar End light fitted at the end of my drop bars

Glowing bar ends!

The main beam is rotated such that it points downwards towards the ground

Main beam creates a bright spot on the ground, while from the back, the bar ends glow red.

As an added advantage, the main beams point to the ground and creates a bright spot, which is actually quite visible even on well-lit roads. Not too sure about the visibility from a greater distance, but is an added advantage nontheless.

I prefer my lights to use rechargeable batteries, so that I can recharge the batteries whenever they start to get dim. I don't have to get stuck in the dilemma of throwing away half-used batteries, or continue riding with dim lights. Apart from the small helmet light which uses 2 x CR2032 batteries, my other lights uses standard AA or AAA batteries.

S-Sun: 3 x AAA
IXON IQ: 4 x AA (comes with built in charger)
Bontrager Flare 3: 2 x AAA
Blue rear light: 2 x AAA
Q-Lite Bar End Lights: 1 x AAA each

Overall view of my lighted bike from the back

Journey of the Boardwalk: Part 24 - New Kojak Tires

It has been almost 2 months since I last blogged about my Dahon Boardwalk! The truth is, there isn't much more I can upgrade and write about, since I have already upgraded everything on the bike.

While browsing through some older photos of my Boardwalk, I realised that the Kojak tires have been on my bike for quite a while. Looking at the date on the photos, it has been 21 months since I first installed this pair of Kojak tires! Now, there are a few components on a bike that can be considered consumables, meaning that they will wear out and eventually have to be replaced. Here is a short list of these components:

1) Tires. Depending on the brand and type of tires, can typically last at least 2000km.
2) Brake Pads. Wear rate is very dependent on weather conditions and riding conditions, not so much on mileage. Brake pads wear much faster in the rain and in the city where braking is done more often.
3) Chain. Can usually last thousands of miles before stretching too much, but they are usually changed out earlier due to rust or bike upgrades.
4) Cassette & Chainring. They will eventually wear out, but it takes a lot of mileage to wear them out. The teeth will become sharp as the chain wears down the gear teeth.

Of course, actual wear rate and lifespan of these components depend a lot on riding conditions and frequency of maintenance.

For me, the cassette and chainring wear is not a problem since I have been upgrading my bike, and the Shimano Ultegra crankset and 105 cassette are relatively new. Same for the chain, switching from 7/8 to 9 and now 10 speed Dura-Ace 7901 chain. The brake pads are not so new, but the wear rate can be easily seen, and they look fine so far. Plenty of thickness and life left.

As for the Kojak tires, it is not so easy to detect wear. Unless you really use your tires until the rubber wears out and the carcass of the tire is seen, it is hard to tell that your tires are worn, especially if you are using slick tires with no treads.

My rough estimate puts the mileage of the Kojak tires at 3000+ km, probably close to 4000km. No problems with the tires so far, apart from being tight on the rims, making it a PITA to remove from the rims. This is partly due to the wire bead type of Kojak that I am using.

On the surface of the tires, I can actually see many small dots on the tires, much like the surface of a sponge cake. It is hard to estimate the remaining lifespan of the tires, but this is probably an excuse for me to change to new tires!

Besides the Schwalbe Kojaks, the other tires that I have considered are the Duranos, which are narrower and faster tires. The Duranos are 1.1" wide, compared to 1.35" width of the Kojaks. It is excellent if you are looking for pure speed, but since I do carry stuff and do some light touring with my Boardwalk, I felt that the Kojaks are still the best tires that suit my purpose. Narrow and slick enough for fast riding, and yet wide and cushy enough to handle some load and less than perfect roads. Lower tire pressure is required, which makes it less prone to punctures. In this case, there is no good reason to change to another type of tires, since the Kojaks work so well.

Small holes on the tires, a result of normal wear and tear

New Kojak tires!!! Love the smell of fresh rubber

The new Kojak tires has the words and logo printed with reflective paint, brilliant for side visibility at night.

The new Kojak logo design, compared to the older Kojak tire.

Comparing the surface of the new and old tires.

I got the Kojak tires with a Kevlar bead, which means that the tires can be folded, and the flexible bead also makes it easier to install and remove the tire from the rims. Moreover, the Kevlar version is lighter at 230g each, compared to 290g each for the wire bead version.

Together with the super light Schwalbe tubes (SV 6A), the tires and tubes weigh less than 600g in total, down from around 800g. Probably too little to feel while carrying the bike, but since these are rotating mass at the edge of the wheels, it might just make a little difference.

New tube and tire, ready to go onto the rim

Nice contrast, especially with a brand new tire!

Love the reflective words!

 Close up look at the Kojak logo and the Wheelsport logo

 

The rear wheel also gets a new tire

 I'm sure you can tell that I really like the glowing logo!

Cycled 20+ km on the new tires today, no problems at all. Feels the same, not faster or slower. Pleased with the new rubber on the bike, the tires are ready to roll for another 4000 to 5000km!

Caliper Brakes and Stem for the Vitesse P18-TT

In a previous post, I documented how a Dahon Vitesse P9 was converted to a Vitesse P18-TT. It is basically an 18 speed bike with road shifters and bullhorn bars, modeled after the Dahon Speed Pro TT and Vitesse P18. It combines the controls of the Speed Pro TT with the 2x9 drivetrain of the Vitesse P18.

After that upgrade, the bike worked well in all aspects, except for the brakes. The braking was unsatisfactory, due to the poor brake cable routing of the road shifter on the bullhorn bars and the extra friction contributed by the Travel Agents. There was a lot of friction within the system and braking was a chore as a lot of effort was needed to apply the brakes properly.

I have heard that some people have tried attaching a caliper brake to a Vitesse frame, but the rear caliper brake arm is far too short to reach the rims, even when extra long reach brake calipers are used. That was why I used Travel Agents with V brakes to attempt to solve this issue. However, the results were not good.

Finally, I had enough of the poor braking performance. I decided to try putting on caliper brakes on the Vitesse P18-TT, in a similar way to my own Dahon Boardwalk X20-R.

Besides the braking, the bullhorn bars also increased the reach from the flat handlebars. Usually this is good, as it allows you to stretch out more and ride in a more sporty position. However, if you are not vertically-blessed, this increased reach will make it strenuous to reach for the bullhorn bars. Therefore, I also decided to use a LitePro Stem to reduce the reach.

I shall let the pictures do the talking!

Tektro R559 Extra Long Reach calipers, with a very nice polished surface

Black LitePro Stem for 25.4mm handlebars

Right side of rear brake caliper. Using the default brake pads, the reach is slightly too short, which puts it too close to the tires.

With the special brake pads from Aican that extends the reach, the brake pad can be lowered to fit onto the rim properly.

The left side of the rear caliper does not require the special brake pad.

Most of the cases I have heard in which the rear brake calipers cannot reach the rim are on Vitesse frames. For this case, the insufficient reach was quite minor, and could be solved easily. It is possible that the mounting for the caliper brake is not consistent across different model years of Vitesse frames.

The front caliper brakes go on without much trouble. The front mounted bottle cage has been removed as it will interfere with the brake caliper arm when steering.

I tried the brakes with the stock Tektro brake pads, but the performance was quite horrible. It hardly provided any grip when the brake levers are squeezed. This is dangerous, which is why I had to solve it. Instead of getting the Koolstop brake pads which I am using on the Boardwalk, I decided to try out the SwissStop brake pads which is highly recommended.

Pricey, at almost S$40 a set from CRC

 I chose the green one as it seemed to fit my purpose and type of rims.

With the green brake pads from SwissStop, the braking performance was much improved. This has to be due to the better compound used to make the brake pads.

The other part of the upgrade is to add a stem to decrease the reach of the handlebar.

To insert the stem, one side of the bullhorn bar has to be completely cleared

Putting the stem such that the handlebar is behind the stem. This is rarely done, but seems to work fine. Fiber Grip is required to stop the stem rotating in the clamp.

Another view. Placing the stem behind the clamp theoretically has the effect of making the steering more sensitive. However, with the extra reach of the bullhorn bars, the gripping area is still in front of the clamp, and this should not be a big issue.

The brake cable housing coming out of the interrupter brake levers has to be moved as the stem interferes with proper braking function. This was solved by moving the interrupter brake levers further apart to get some clearance between the brake housing and the stem.

View of the rear brakes. With the caliper brakes, the cable routing looks neater compared to using V brakes with the Travel Agent.

Overall view of the Vitesse P18-TT

This is a successful upgrade that managed to improve the braking performance of the bike. Although it is still not very good due to the long cable housing involved, it is better than the previous version of Travel Agents and V brakes. The reach has also been reduced slightly, which makes it more comfortable for the rider.

The Dahon Boardwalk X20-R and the Vitesse P18-TT out on an extended test ride

Fork Accessory Bracket on the Dahon Front Luggage Mount

Want to add more front lights to your bike? Besides installing lights on the handlebar or handlepost, there are very few other places on the bike where you can fix a front light. I used to mount my front lights on the Minoura Space Grip, which is basically an expansion of your handlebar area.

It is good if you want to mount lots of accessories, however it makes the steering feel heavier, and the clamp may not be secure enough if you put heavy accessories on the space grip. The space grip was used to install the electric horn, the S-Sun light and the Busch & Muller IXON IQ front light. Ever since my electric horn was spoilt after getting soaked in heavy rain, I decided not to use the space grip, since I only had 2 front lights left to install.

The handlebar can accommodate only 1 front light, which means that I need to find another place to install my B&M front light. I came across this fork accessory bracket on SJS Cycles, which is specially made to be mounted on the front fork. Check out these fork accessory brackets.

Ever since I got my Ortlieb panniers, the front luggage mount on the head tube of my bike has been left empty. I decided to get this fork bracket to try it out, to see if I can make use of the space available. With some suitably long bolts, this fork bracket can be fixed securely to the frame.

The fork accessory bracket mounted on the Dahon front luggage mount. The clamp for the S-Sun front light is seen here.

Only a single bolt is required to mount the bracket. The rubber on the bracket will be compressed against the frame, giving a reasonably tight attachment.

Since I was not sure about the strength of this bracket, I first tested it with the lighter S-Sun front light. No problem there, the front light stayed on even on bumpy roads.

Next, I mounted the B&M front light, which is significantly heavier than the S-Sun front light.

Big front light!

The front light is tilted down slightly to shine on the road. This B&M light is meant to act as a steady headlight, to light up the path along dark stretches of road.

View from the top. The on/off button on top can be reached while cycling.

View from the front.

Even with the heavier B&M light mounted, there is no problem with the fork accessory bracket. Although it does wobble a bit on bumpy ground, it does not seem like it will break off. 

As discovered earlier, when the B&M light was mounted on the space grip, turning on the light will shut down the Cateye speedometer, due to the EM interference generated by the powerful front light. When mounted on the fork accessory bracket, I found that when the B&M light is on the high setting (40 lux), the EM interference is still present. However, when on low setting (10 lux), the B&M light no longer shuts down the speedo! I believe that this is due to the greater distance between the light and the speedometer computer unit. This allows me to use the front light and also have a working speedo at the same time, which is an unintended benefit.

Because this front light is mounted on the frame and not the handlebar, the light beam does not turn when you turn the handlebar. Not sure if this is good or bad, but is something to take note of.

Overall, I am quite pleased with this new accessory. It allows me to tidy up the handlebar area, as the space grip is no longer required to mount my front lights. Also, it allows me to use the B&M light without shutting down the speedometer. Lastly, it looks really unique with a large front light in front of the bike. There seems to be quite a few other types of brackets available, and with some clever jigging, I'm sure accessories can be fixed onto other parts of the bike too.

Modifications to Flamingo London NX7: Roller Skate Wheels!

Just a quick post on the roller wheels on my Flamingo London NX7. Previously, I had changed the roller wheels to the Ezy Wheels, as the stock roller wheels were quite poor. You can read more about it at the link below.

Modifications to Flamingo London NX7: Ezy Wheels

Those Ezy wheels were not really suitable for the Flamingo, as they were too small. Although they were smooth rolling, the tiny size made it vulnerable to getting stuck in crevices and gaps in the ground. Thus, I kept on searching for suitable roller wheels.

I finally found some suitable roller skate wheels in a roller skate shop at Novena! Thanks to 明天 who alerted me to the wheels. A set of 4 wheels was obtained, and they are of similar size to the original roller wheels on the Flamingo.

Originally meant for roller skates!

Good quality wheels, at an affordable $10 per set

However, as with most modifications, it is not as easy as just swapping the wheels. The original roller wheels uses M6 bolts as the axle for the wheels, and this bolt size has to be maintained as there are corresponding M6 screw threads on the bike rear rack. These roller skate wheels have a larger hole in the center, which is about M8 in size. If I had used just M6 bolts to install them, there would be a lot of play between the wheels and the axle, which will quickly destroy the wheels.

Thus, I had to find suitable shims to enlarge the axle, at the portion where the wheel bearing rests on the axle. Only then could the wheels be installed properly.

 New roller wheels for the Flamingo

These wheels are quite good, as they are nice and round, unlike the original ones which had bumps and dents, that made it difficult to roll the bike. The bearings are also smoother. 

Finally, I have found the ideal roller wheels for the bike! These wheels roll well, are of a good size for rolling over uneven ground, and are round enough to roll smoothly and easily.