Cycling Cap by @Skye_Caps

Over the years I have cycled many miles with my good friend Samantha of @skye_caps. Pretty much every time I have met her she as always been sporting cycling clothing she has designed and made by her own hands.

Samantha’s speciality is handcrafting cycling caps & completely unique to the wearer.

Small Upgrade for “The Clone”

Over the weekend (a few months ago now) I did a little upgrade on “The Clone”. When I originally bought the legend I did for a time wanted to get a rear rank for transporting stuff etc (this was before I discovered the Front bags).

Legend gets a brand new bag ;)

Back in early in June, on my travels though the Brompton facebook groups I spotted something that perked my interest.

It was a design based on Brompton's Folding Basket but instead the material of the basket was red with white spots. It looked pretty cool and ofcourse I thought of something for the Legend. Sometimes I have big oversized loads and wanted to make sure I could transport it safely and this looked pretty good for those rare occasions.

I made a passing comment about would love one but in BumbleB's famous black & yellow stripes.

Not long after I made this comment I was contacted by Valeria Lopes who made the custom folding basket and asked if she could find something suitable if I would be interested in one.

It took me all of 1 billionth of a second to say ofcourse we would be interested so long that the design was right.

A few days later I got a fb mail with a photo attached.

I nearly fell over.....

I thought DAMN its perfect for BBB and was a pretty good early birthday present for my little folding buddy.

So we waited..........while I waited I had to purchase "Brompton Bag Frame For C,T,Folding Basket" which you should be able to get at your local Brompton stockist.


I swear time dragged on, I was tracking the package online and swear the courier was leaving my package till the last possible moment. I had to actually stop tracking as it seemed that took forever to get here to the HiVE.

I came home to the HiVE after work and there was a small package waiting for me, I don't know why but I expected it to be big like the framed basket. *duh*

When I opened up the package I was even more surprised and delighted what I found. So I wasted no time in installing the frame and brace.

24 litres capacity

Folded Basket

From what I can tell the capacity is the same as the original Brompton Folded Basket and appears to be made from hard wearing materials.

Also there are little side pockets as well which can be very handy as well.

The basket uses the same frame & brace as the Brompton Basket and is simple to install and using very good velco straps to keep it all attached to the Brompton Basket frame and brace on the inside.

So I  just had to pop out to get some shopping done to see how it felt to use in person. :D

 As you can see it takes quiet a good load.

I'm very happy with my bag as it compliments BBB's legendary style ;)

Made by the awesome Valeria Lopes who is on facebook (fb mail her for prices & requests) & a few Brompton related facebook groups or email her valeriabclopes@hotmail.com.

Contact her and you can discuss all types of different designs patterns. Welcomes feedback and improvements.

peace
BBB

Bee custom fenders by Nisnas Industries

Along while ago I was looking though different facebook pages and found Nisnas Industries. They custom made fenders for all kinds of bikes but also for the Brompton.

The fenders are a little different than most as they are hand made in mahogany with stainless steel inlays. Some of these inlays can be completely custom to a design of your choice.

I can't really tell you how good the quality of these fenders/mudguards. You really truly have to see them in person to really appreciate the quality work that goes into these awesome mudguards.

Enough talk, here are the photos.

BBB after his latest set of upgrades

Mahogany Fenders by NisnasIndustries.com

Mahogany Front Fender by NisnasIndustries.com

Stainless Steel Bee inlay by NisnasIndustries.com

Close up of rear details

Close up of front details

I would like to thank everyone at Nisnas Industries for these AWESOME fenders/mudguards. You guys did a great job.

These mudguards came with everything needed to mount them on a Brompton and very clear instructions, hell even I got them on with no troubles now that's going some for me I can tell you.

Have a look on Ninas Industries as they not just limited to fenders/mudguards.

Keep it safe, wear a rubber :D

Ok it's not rubber but silicon based protection.

Nothing major or anything that's going to improve my cycling but when David P from London Brompton Club group told me about this I just had to get it. I guess you can see why in the photos below....

Garmin Edge 800 Rubber Protector

Yellow & Black

On my Garmin Edge 800

You can get this silicon cover in many different colours: Black, Yellow, Pink, Blue, Green, Red, White. Can also get it for the Garmin Edge 500/510 series too.

Not much I can say other than the cover feels the same as the original silicon cover from Garmin so its good quality & will do its job as the black one has done for many yrs now in rain/snow/hail & sun.

Garmin Edge Silicon Case on wiggle.co.uk

Mudflaps from Kettering Leather

Yesterday I had a delivery for Bumble B, a little surprise for him.

Today while overhauling him I put some new leather YELLOW mud-flaps on. I got this from  Jim Barret of Kettering Leather who works with leather and also a Brompton fan

Drilling out the rivet on rear mudguard

Installing the new mud-flaps was pretty easy, only thing was that I had to drill out the rivet on the rear mud guard. Came out pretty easy. As suggested by Jim B I put mud-flaps on with the wheels off. Makes it ALOT easier to get to the bolts on the inside edge of the mudguard blades to make sure they secured properly.

Rear mud flap

Front Mudflap

Front & rear Mudflaps

I have to say I'm liking the quality of the leather, I almost don't want them to get wet or dirty now they look so good.

You can also get leather top tube protector, handlebar /saddle  bags & hub shiners in different colours to match your Brompton. There is even a "bespoke" section for something unique you may have in mind. Check out the link below to order your leather for your Brompton.

Kettering Leather

Die Dust Caps

Mark Woollard of the London Brompton Club had got some awesome colour coordinated dust caps for his Brompton. How could I not get a set or 2 ok 3 for The Legend.

Yellow Die with Black spots

Black Die with Yellow Spots

Transparent Yellow Die with White Spots

Now I just don't know which to put on, too much choice >:D

The Legend's new colour coordinated Dust caps

Night Riding....

For the last few days I have been finishing work late and having to cycle home in darkness which gives me a good chance to try out my DIY Headlight 5.0 that I built using an Everyready head strap light. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it and lights up the road ahead pretty well

The Legend at Night

I'm STILL waiting for my delivery of my Marathon Plus London edition tyres that I ordered a week and a half ago. I've already emailed the company asking where my stuff is at and they emailed me yesterday saying they would be chasing up Royal Mail about it.

DIY Headlight v5.0

In my on going battle to build a better headlight I saw in a fb group about making one from a energizer head light. It's basically a light that you strap to your head for working in dark situations and emergencies. I just undid the head strap, made a couple of holes to put bolts though to attach it to the headlight mount on Bumble B. But I found to use bolts I would have to file down the ends as it is a tight fit with the batteries installed. So instead I used a zip-tie and tied it on tightly to the headlight mount.
Also needed to glue the led part to base as this can rotate forwards but on riding a bike the bumps would probably shake it and the beam would look straight down at the wheel. Not good if I want to see where I'm going.

Energiser Headlight attached to Bumble B's headlight mount

Zip tied on instead of bolts

Only thing I'm worried about is that this is not waterproof. I'll see how this one goes as I've looked and there is a waterproof version of this headlight which I may get at later date. Maybe better than getting the £130 headlight I was thinking of getting last week that's for sure. I still have the other headlight to work with in any case.

Special gift & 10,000 page hits....

Well folks I've just noticed I've gone past a milestone of 10,000 page hits.
Probably about 40% of those are mine but hey ho :P

I got a little present from Alfredo Guillen new member of my London Brompton Club Group on facebook the other day. From what I can remember he had them selling on ebay and decided to send them to me as a present. I guess by the colour of them there was only one place they could go >:D

2 Black & Yellow Water Value Handles

2 Black & Yellow Water Value Handles

On The Legend.....

Totally bad ass

What can I say about these handles eh? come onnnnnnnn :P May take me a little while longer to fold til I get used to them but they sure look awesome.

Oh I put in an order for new tires (Limited edition London Marathon Plus) awhile back and should have got delivered earlier in the week. I had a couple of packages waiting for me at the local sorting office which I thought it may have been so wasn't worried about it too much but it wasn't them (one was the water value handles, the other was Garmin Edge 800 rubber protection).
Emailed company I sourced them from and they are contacting the Royal Mail to see where they are. First time in many yrs that I've had any problems with Royal Mail I have to say.

Quick snap of the Garmin Edge 800 cover

Garmin Edge 800 & Rubber Cover

The Bumble B Helmet

While I was on holidays in the USA I got my friend to spray paint my helmet. I asked if he could do some "in progress" shots as I always love seeing how things are made and the final product.

Well here is the work in progress shots of my helmet :)

Naked Helmet

Naked Helmet

Lining the bits not wanting to be sprayed

Undercoat

Yellow coat for the stripes

Tape where you don't need the black to get the yellow stripe effect

First coatings

The final piece for Bumble B

Well had a little training ride with Mr.O this afternoon around Hyde Park, London. Was a awesome day out with the sun etc. Which kinda had us thinking that if the conditions for the Brompton World Championships are the same then we are going to be pretty damn hot before we have even cycled anywhere. So we discussed that we could have  a couple of outfits. As the Marathon has no dress code so I will bring a extra Tshirts and wear that. On the Championship race itself the dress code is "Sartorial elegance (not fancy dress)" which basically means shirt, blazer/jacket & Tie.

I'm actually thinking of not actually wearing the big item of my outfit til its start time of the Championship race to really burn the eyes out of the competition so I can win. >:P

Anyways enough of that now to Bumble B's final item which I've VERY VERY pleased about. I wanted basically everything on The Legend to either be black or yellow so I was thinking about painting my mudguard blades. Mentioned this to a work mate and he told me his done his motorbike and would do my mudguards for me if I supplied the materials. So I just picked up some Halfords car spray undercoat and black gloss paint and gave it all to him to work his magic a 3 days ago.....

From this....

Standard Brompton Mudguard Blades

He gave me back these.......

Glossy black Mudguards >:D

>:D

I don't know what I was expecting but DANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!
I was completely gob-smacked by his work. 

Seriously woop woop >:D

Already told him that when I get the chance his gonna re spray my helmet and put on black and yellow stripes. Abit too late for #BWC2012 but there will be other events.

They are still a little "tacky" so I won't install them on The Legend till tomorrow as I don't wanna scratch them. All I need to do is put some wax and buff it out again and they will look even better than this. 

But come on, SEXY or WHAT??????