Falkensee to Rheinsberg (and back) bicycle touring by Brompton

This weekend I cycled up to Rheinsberg. I camped just outside the town of Rheinsberg in a little place called Lindow so I packed my tent, sleeping bag, thermarest, camp stove and pans plus food and clothing.

It was meant as a test of the Brompton's Touring ability and because the weather was nice.

The route I took was about 50 miles/ 75 Kilometres in each direction and in general the Brompton faired well. Some of the roads are in a pretty bad way out in the country (and in Berlin to be fair) and the cycle paths where they exist range from billiard table smooth to bumpier than a dirt track. The small wheels of the Brompton and the relatively short wheelbase make for a bumpy ride in places and being laden with kit didn't help.

As I don't have a rear rack most of my luggage was up front which didn't help either and contributed to me loosing the front end on a railway track that crosses the road (at a strange angle - not a level crossing) just outside Rheinsberg. One bent pedal, bruised knee and elbow later I was back on the road thinking harder about the benefits of even distribution of load on a touring bike.

I made a brief video of the trip..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef-jqneFuV4

Packed and ready for the off: Therma rest on the seat post, tent in front of the handle bars and everything else in the Brompton 'T' (Touring) bag

.

I saw plenty of mushrooms, snails (all over the cycle paths!?) and bees but no gnomes except in this brilliant mural

In Kremmen there was a Village and Harvest Festival in full swing. Kremmen presents it self as a 'destination' for cyclists and motorcyclists and has some great little cafes and restaurants.

Cyclists love ice cream!

There were some interesting Motorbikes on display - this 1948 BMW...

.. and this Kawasaki were two of my favourites. I believe this to be an early 1970's KH 250, this was 'Old' even when I first got interested in motorbikes and is now a bona fide classic, I think it has a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine.

If I have ever seen so many pumpkins of such various shapes and sizes I cant remember when that was!

This old chaps town bike looked to be riding a fair bit smoother than the Brompton over the cobble and rough roads. Notice his old style cycling jacket and cap with feather combo.

It's easy to see why the area attracts a lot of motorcyclists. 

The architecture of the churches in this area varies greatly but they all seem to have a very rustic quality about them.

It is my personal belief that 99% of graffiti is absolute rubbish, a waste of perfectly good paint and an eyesore. Of course there are exceptions and sometimes even the badly applied can raise a smile. Be free be happy.

Tent pitched, mosquito repellent applied and the stove on - boiling water to heat a 'Wayfairer' Chicken Casserole which was absolutely delicious after a long ride.

A beautiful view from my tent of 'Grosser Rheinsberger See' (Rheinsberg Big Lake)

Sunday Morning:

This is the strangest end to a cycle path that I have seen yet. Yep, without warning the path terminates at a public toilet.

Sunday morning was grey and overcast and I caught a few rain showers on the way back.

Out in the country there are a lot of seemingly derelict warehouses, sheds and buildings of one kind and another - some with better graffiti than others.

Overall despite the bent pedal, bruised knee and elbow and the tragic loss of my Zefal Spy mirror which must have shaken loose from the handle bars somewhere near Kremmen on the terribly rough roads, I had a great time. The area is very beautiful and the weather was brilliant at least on Saturday. I am not convinced that I would set off round the globe on the Brompton with full luggage but it was a enjoyable adventure nonetheless.

New Brompton 2013 Brake Levers and Ergon GP1 Grips

Being a self confessed Brompton Geek I was interested to see that the brake lever design on the Brompton has changed for the 2013MY. Many people of course couldn't find this news less interesting but as I said I am a Brompton Geek.

New Brompton 2013 Brake Levers
 

I had been toying with the idea of fitting some Ergon grips to my Brompton for a while. The factory grips are small and admittedly light weight but not great for longer trips and people with big hands. I regularly ride 30+ miles on the Brompton and have got big Jimi Hendrix hands.

What I didn't like however was the idea of chopping about a pair of grips costing 30 euros so until I saw the 2013 brake levers I held off. 

The redesign of the levers is, I understand, to increase the leverage and create better braking force for the same effort. The side effect is that they take up less space on the handle bars - allowing space for the Ergo GP1 grips.

I orders the levers from SJS Cycles in the UK for £29 and paid £9 to have them posted to Berlin. They arrived a week later (I could have pretty much cycled to the UK on the Brompton in that time but fair enough).

The 2013 Levers fitting instructions

The Fitting instructions are printed on the inside of the retail packaging box - a neat idea as long as you don't tear the box up to get the levers out.

The old style Brompton levers

To fit the them I cut off the foam grips using a Stanley knife got rid of most of the gummy glue residue and removed the brake lever from the handle bars -I did this one side at a time. Then I undid the cable bolt at the calliper end. I then removed the inner carefully. Next I fitted the new lever on the the handle bar. At this point I realised that the inner cable barrel end had changed design and so I could not reuse the existing inners. I had a pair of new rear cable inners in my small collection of bike spares and these has the smaller barrel ends which was lucky. As I am sure you are aware you need to use two REAR cables one for the front and one for the back as many other front brake cable inners are to short for the Brompton due the length and routing of the cable that facilitates the folding process.

Any decent bike shops stocks a selection of inners for a couple of pounds/ euros if you find that your existing inners don't fit.

Then I got everything in place on the handle bars roughly where I wanted it - which was as far away from the ends of the bars as possible to allow as much space as I could for the grips before tightening it all up. I managed to get the grips almost completely onto the bars - perhaps only proud of the bars by 9-11 mm which is enough to allow the allen bolt on the end of the grips to tighten the internal plastic cuff onto the bars; securing them nicely.

I didn't have to glue the grips on which I was pleased about but will think about that once I have thoroughly field tested the set up as it is. 

The Finished Job - New levers and grips: Very Comfortable!

I think it looks pretty good to! Very modern. The brake levers even have tiny Brompton logos on the inside of lever which is pretty cool.

Even re affixed the Zefal Rear View Mirror 

For the finishing touch I re affixed my Zefal Rear View Mirror - This one mounted on the right side is much more useful in the UK where we drive and cycle on the left. It is possible to affix this mirror to either side of the handle bars but mounted to the left side of the handle bars it then hits the floor during the folding process. So in Germany I use this one for spotting other cyclists who want to overtake (this rarely happens!) and a Zefal Spy mounted on the Handle Bar Stem for spotting drivers who are too close (this often happens!) or when I am changing position on the road or cycle path.

Overall I am pleased with the end result! Upgrading the levers is a pretty simple job and the fact that it means you can fit uncut Ergon GP1s on the bar makes it well worth it to me.