I began commuting on my Brompton in August 2010. My office was relocated to Canary Wharf and I realised the cycle ride would eventually save me money whilst improving my fitness. I had ridden the Marmotte earlier that summer and just returned from a cycling holiday around Aix-en-Provence (climbing Mont St. Victoire every day) so I was able to have some fun in the SCR on my nice new Brompton.
On one of the early pedals I remember riding through the King Edward VII park and being considerate I picked up the bike to carry up some steps to avoid a group of joggers coming the opposite way. At that point the Brompton lost it's nice new feel... When I arrived at work and folded the bike to put it into my bag I noticed that the plastic chainguard had snapped and one half of it was gone. A quick search on-line and I found that a cheap replacement was available but I decided to see if I could find the broken piece.
On my way home I returned via the park but couldn't find the broken piece, however I extended my search area a little wider the following morning and found it. It pressed back into place and I made a mental note to apply a bit of superglue to the two broken joints.
Nearly three years later, and whilst giving the Brompton a clean ahead of the trip to the Brooks factory, I was dismayed to see that I'd lost the half of the chainguard again (or maybe the other half?). I hadn't ridden the Brompton since the 27th March and I had no recollection of where or when I'd lost the piece. A quick check on the internet and I added a replacement to my wishlist.
Back to work after over a week off and, what with the clocks going forward, I was struggling to get back into the routine of getting up at silly o'clock and ended up catching a later running train departing from platform 1. The following week, on Monday I had managed to get back into the earlies routine and I walked down platform 3 to my normal waiting and embarking point to discover the broken half of my chainguard. It must have been sat there for at least twelve days!
Reunited with the wayward piece; I picked it up, re-fitted it and made a mental note to give it a clean with a baby wipe and add a couple of spots of superglue.
Further mental note - remember to housekeep my wishlist ;-)
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