Product Showcase

I'm currently sitting on an airplane headed to Washington DC for the Brompton US Championship 2014. I'm not certain what I did to be fortunate enough to be going, but it must have been something amazing because BUSC is a Brompton lovers dream come true!
We often are asked what tools are needed on Brompton folding bike adventures so I thought I'd lay out my own choices for all to see.

The Tools
-Park IB-3 Multitool: a fully equipped multitool (14 tools) with a chain tool and a 8mm allen wrench
-PDW San Wrencho: an elegantly practical tool you'll need to remove the Brompton's bolted-on wheels as well as removing the tires
-Rema Patch Kit: along with a couple TB-2 Emergency Tire Boots (sharp road debris is a global phenomena... it's best to be prepared)
-Schwalbe AV4 Tube: this inner tube will fit any tire that you are using
- T9 chain lube: this lube is good on both the chain and cables, just 1 ounce of T9 goes a long way
-shop rag w/rubber band, this is a nice item that all the tools can be wrapped up in. Mine happens to be a very sweet Tiny Bike Shop rag
-15mm wrench: I will use this to tighten my clipless pedals at Sunday's race (this will be left with the clipless pedals as it won't be needed on the road)
-Topeak Road Morph Pump: The biggest hazard with hand pumps is wrestling to get to full air pressure and ripping the inner tube near the valve. The Road Morph solves this by having the head of the pump on a rubber hose so that as you wrestle with the pump, the valve is not getting pulled and tweaked. Also an air gauge is built-in (bonus!)

If I wasn't headed to DC to be at BUSC 2014 hosted by BicycleSpace (the BUSC clubhouse du jour) I'd likely want one more inner tube and a spare tire, but in this case I know I'll be in good hands if I should find myself in need : )

Hopefully, I'll only need the pump to fully inflate the tires (I like to play it safe by letting a bit of air out of the tires before flying) and the wrenches to swap pedals on Sunday, but having the toolkit along is easy enough and has me prepared.

ADDENDUM: I'm back from the adventure and the tools I used on my own bike:
-Air pump (I flew with the tires at about 60psi and then I aired my Schwalbe Kojaks to 110 psi with the Topeak Road Morph)
-4mm allen wrench on my Park IB-3 Multitool to readjust my Ergon grips/barends
-8mm allen wrench to remove the folding pedal, 15mm pedal wrench to remove and install the other 3 pedals (because I was using clipless pedals on race day)

On Saturday's Brompton Urban Challenge I was in a group of seven (all on Bromptons) and we suffered two flat tires in the group (neither on my own bike). Both were from tubes that had gotten ripped near the valve (likely ripped from being rough on the valve when adding air to the tires). This made me all the more sure that the Topeak Road Morph is the best pump option to bring. I fixed both flats using the PDW San Wrencho, a spare inner tube, and the Road Morph hand pump. We were back on the road in about 10 minutes each time. Had our team won the Challenge I think I'd have been viewed as the Hero of the Day, but our team was less competitive and more about fun. In our minds we won...

If you have any questions feel free to contact me

 RAW is the company that designed and manufactures the Original Leather Brompton Handle. The owner/inventor at RAW is Karen Meissner. Karen is a clever, hard working entrepreneur who is passionate about cycling and has owned a Brompton folding bicycle for 15 years.
RAW is a young company (incorporated in November of 2013) based in Devon, England which is about 200 miles southwest of London. As a longtime entrepreneur, Karen has her hands in a variety of businesses, but her current focus is RAW which at this point has 2 products, a carbon 29’er frame and Perennial Cycle’s latest imported product, the Original Leather Brompton Handle.

Here’s the design brief for the Original Leather Brompton Handle:
-  handle that positions on the bike at the perfect balance point (folded or unfolded)
- aesthetically pleasing in a way that complements the Brompton
- offers frame protection
- end product must be of very high quality
- fits onto the bike easily and quickly
- ages well

Karen had her first prototype made in July of 2013. The prototype was a decent start, but it took several tries before she was comfortable with it as a finished product. The product as delivered to us nailed the design brief very, very well. Great work Karen!
When asked what’s in the skunkworks, she said RAW’s next item on the market will be a lovely downtube frame protector for carbon bikes (are the carbon gravel racers listening!), and then down the road the Brompton Leather Handle may see a shoulder strap option and beyond that she sees a variety of leather products specifically designed to work on Brompton Folding Bikes.

Check out our product video:

The Original Brompton Leather Handle is manufactured in England and we just got our first shipment on March 20, 2014. We look forward to watch RAW mature and bring new products to market in the coming years. I interviewed Karen on March 26, 2014.

Links:
RAW

the Original Brompton Leather Handle

If you're looking for a different style of Brompton Carry Handle, you can see the Vincita Handle here

                                                                 Busch & Müller Luxos U Dynamo Light

Commuting at -25º always has people questioning your sanity. Every day this week has been a sanity test (I failed) and today was the big warm up to above zero (it was 1º above). I've been thinking about what I'd consider the most valuable piece of equipment when commuting in those temps... While I love my long johns, choppers, and wide-ranging wool, poly, fleece and wind shell layers, it's really all about lights. Face it, getting run over by a bus at 6am at -25º would be pretty disastrous and Mom is not going to ask the ambulance driver if my toes were cold.

Dynamo lighting is a big focus here at the shop and one of the reasons for that is that commuters rely upon their lights to survive. With dynamo lighting you don't need to wonder if your batteries are at full strength — spinning the front wheel is what powers the light. Good stuff!

Be sure and check out our dynamo display bike the next time you're in the shop: