Brompton bent seat post

[princeperch]

I have a bit of a problem.

I have owned a Brompton for ten years and it's given me no problems. My wife now uses my old one and I purchased a new Brompton b75 back in may.

I haven't used it all that much just a few times, here and there and not for commuting regularly, but unfortunately it has developed a problem. That problem is that whilst the seat post does go up and down it needs tremendous effort to do so.

I purchased the bike from Evans cycles in central London. I don't work in that area any more so took it to a local bike shop in Walthamstow who are authorised Brompton dealers.

The chap looked at it and said the seat post is definitely bent. He said it is unlikely Brompton will honour this as a warranty issue as it could be down to my aggressive riding style.

He could see I wasn't very impressed with this and agreed to submit a warranty claim for a new seat post. 10 days later he emails me saying the claim has been rejected and enclosing an email from Brompton.

The email is pretty poorly drafted but the gist of it is that Brompton say it could have been for a number of reasons, to include an incorrect set up initially , an over weight rider, or incorrectly folding the bike.

I weigh 12.5 stone , have owned a Brompton for ten years so know how to fold it, and if Evans cycles set it up incorrectly when I was sold it on may then that's hardly my problem is it?

The bike remains in the bike shop. I've emailed both brompton and the bike shop asking them to look at this again.

Are Brompton normally this st?

[lllnorrislll]

Isnt a Brompton seat post about £20? Buy one, replace and carry on. Lifes too short and at that price, it's no more expensive than other cycling consumables.

[Wacky Racer]

lllnorrislll said:

Isnt a Brompton seat post about £20? Buy one, replace and carry on. Lifes too short and at that price, it's no more expensive than other cycling consumables.

This.

[princeperch]

That might well what I have to end up doing but it's going to stick in my craw to have to go into that bike shop and do it.

Yeh it's only 20/30 quid or whatever it is but it's really st isn't it.

[InitialDave]

The nature of a Brompton is they have a disproportionately long seatpost, and that's a fair old bit of leverage acting on it if you get an impact that bottoms out the suspension.

I've bent seatposts on MTBs before (granted, I'm very hefty), to my mind, you shrug, and treat it as being a sacrificial thing that means you've not bend a frame tube.

[princeperch]

InitialDave said:

The nature of a Brompton is they have a disproportionately long seatpost

It's funny you say that as the bent seat post is an extra long one (which came as standard) and my other brompton has a standard seat post (which has never bent over the ten years I've had it).

Perhaps it's a characteristic of the XL seat post. Seems pretty st if it is the bikes only been used ten times or so.

[Wacky Racer]

I've got a Brompton with a standard seat post, it's been fine so far, but an extended one is likely to bend more easily I suppose.

I think it's a bit mean not to replace it, give the customer benefit of the doubt and all that.

[anonymous-user]

Surely the long seat post isn’t fully out, so is the same leverage as your old Standard one in reality
I weigh about the same & never had a problem..
Sure it’s only £25 ish, which would cost Brompton say £10 on a 1k + bike
Shoddy service yes. Probably cost them more than that in wages, faffing about saying no..

[princeperch]

I've now had an email from brompton after I contacted them directly. To be fair this does seem to be down to a bike shop that doesn't give a fk rather than Brompton being penny pinching or mean.

They've now agreed to send a replacement post to the shop for fitting and apologised that the shop told me that the warranty claim had been rejected.

There are a great many little local bike shops that need support and provide great personal service - I'm afraid this one I used in Walthamstow isn't one of them.

[Pupp]

Just out of interest, where in its length did it bend? I use a two-piece telescopic post in mine, am no lightweight, and do not hold back on it. No problems so far...

[princeperch]

I haven't got it with me as it's in the shop but it was from memory about 4/5 inches up from the base when fully extended.

I think the extended seat post is about 2 inches longer than normal?

It wasn't a particularly large mutation but enough to make it almost impossible to raise and lower the seat without making a herculean effort.

[Pupp]

Ok... right where you would expect it to go if it was going to. Hopefully just bad luck

[princeperch]

Well Brompton gate continues

Had a call from a very nice and apologetic bike shop owner today saying he's very sorry I've had all this hassle and he's only just caught up on what's happened today.

He's sorted the seat post and he's also given the bike a clean and a full service as an apology for the agro.

I must admit I was slightly taken aback as this was a complete u turn from his rather shirty colleague that had been giving me all the hassle, but I have to say he's turned this around and was pretty classy about it too - didn't try and make excuses and just said we got it wrong on this occasion and please let me try and make it up to you.

Has sort of restored my faith in the little local bike shop.

[Pupp]

That's good to hear. Fair play and hope it's resolved...