Which Brompton wheel / hub do I have?

Quite a few of the Bompton spare parts require you to know which wheel or hub you have (spokes, sprocket sets for example)

Index:

Brompton Front Wheels

• Brompton standard front wheel (silver or black)
• Brompton superlight / extra light front wheel (silver or black)
• Brompton SV8 hub dynamo front wheel (silver or black)
• Brompton SON hub dynamo front wheel
• Brompton Shimano hub dynamo front wheel 
• Brompton P/T Line front wheel (black)

Brompton Rear Wheels

• Brompton 1 and 2 speed rear wheel
• Brompton Sturmey Archer Standard Ratio - BSR
• Brompton Sturmey Archer Wide Ratio - BWR
• Brompton Sachs / SRAM rear wheel
• Brompton Sturmey Archer AW rear wheel
• Brompton P/T Line 4 speed rear wheel (black)

Here will will try and help you to identify what you have

There are four types of front wheel as at the beginning of 2023

• Brompton Standard Front Wheel - available in black or silver 
• Superlight Front Wheel - available in black or silver
• SP SV8 hub dynamo wheel - available in black or silver
• P / T Line front wheel - available in black

Other previous wheels include (please let us know if we have missed one)

• Brompton SON hub dynamo wheel
• Brompton Shimano hub dynamo wheel - this was available in silver as standard and as an after-market wheel and in black just for BLACK / special edition bikes

Brompton standard front wheel

Identifying features:
It is held in place with normal wheel nuts
It is radially spoked - i.e. all the spokes come out directly from the hub without crossing another spoke at any point
It is available in silver or black (the black wheel still has a silver braking surface and silver nipples with the black spokes)

Brompton superlight / Extra light front wheel

Identifying features:
The super light front wheel is held in place with a bolt through Allen key rather than traditional wheel nuts
Older ones had a red colouring on part of the hub 

Spoke layout
These wheels are laced in a two cross pattern
Some older versions were radially laced - some wheels laced in this pattern developed cracks at the edge of the hub 

It is lighter than the standard front wheel - though you won't know unless you have both wheel types - so not much help in identifying

Brompton SP SV8 hub dynamo front wheel

The SP (short for Shutter Precision - as they started as a camera equipment company) SV-8 hub dynamo (so built into the front wheel) was the replacement for the Shimano hub dynamo.

This hub/wheel has been supplied in black (originally for the BLACK Edition Brompton folding bikes) and silver (for standard Brompton folding bikes) - from SP it is also available in red, though this was never fitted to Brompton bikes by Brompton themselves

Identifying features:
It uses a bolt through axle the same as the super light front wheel (these axles are interchangeable) - the bolt is black on black edition bikes and silver on standard bolts
The hub includes arrows showing the direction of rotation. The hub itself comes in silver or black to match the rim / bike (the hub is also available in red - though this is not sold by Brompton)
It uses a tab connector (interchangeable with the tab connector used on the Shimano hub dynamo system) to connect the hub to the wiring loom

Brompton SON hub dynamo front wheel

This wheel is very light - and the hub is very shiny
It uses two spade connectors to connect the hub to the wiring loom (cable)

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Above is a picture of a SON hub dynamo fitted to a B75 (without the wiring loom connected)

Brompton Shimano hub dynamo front wheel

The wheel is held in place by a bolt through axle as with the super light front wheel

Brompton P/T Line front wheel

Introduced in 2022 with the Brompton P Line (Performance Line) and T Line (Titanium) range of folding bikes

Brompton Rear wheels - identification

As at the beginning of 2021 there are four rear wheels available

Brompton 1 and 2 speed rear wheel

The single speed and two speed rear wheel used on Brompton folding bikes is the same wheel - just with a different sprocket stack

The real identification is that it doesn't have a thick hub (containing hub gears) - so the hub is much thinner / lighter. this is the least seen hub on Brompton folding bikes

The single / one speed - uses a spacer/sprocket/spacer and a non-derailleur chain tensioner. The single speed option was actually discontinued as a factory fit option in 2021

The two speed wheel uses a sprocket/spacer/sprocket with a derailleur chain tensioner

The driver / sprockets use a 9 spline Shimano style spline system - the same as the BWR 6 speed rear wheel (and the sprockets are compatible)

Brompton Sturmey Archer Standard Ratio rear wheel - BSR - 3 speed

This wheel is based on the traditional AW / SRF-3 Sturmey Archer rear wheels - allows one sprocket to be fitted and uses the ISO 3 spline system on the driver.

The 13T sprocket used on this wheel is compatible with the 13T sprocket used on the 6 speed and 3 speed Sachs / SRAM rear wheel

Brompton Sturmey Archer Wide Ratio rear wheel - BWR - 6 speed

This wheel was developed specially for Brompton by the resurrected Sturmey Archer when they became Sunrace Sturmey Archer. It allowed Brompton to offer a 6 speed Sturmey Archer rear wheel - using two sprockets

The main identifying feature is the driver - onto which the sprockets fit - it uses a 9 spline Shimano style system, with one of the splines being bigger than the others meaning that the sprocket can only be fitted correctly (as opposed to the 3 spline / ISO system used on previous Sturmey Archer wheels which allows fitting back to front)

Due to the difference in the driver from BSR / AW / Sachs / SRAM wheels - the sprockets used on the BWR are not compatible with these wheels

Generally they are labelled BWR or Brompton Wide Ratio on the hub

They have been available in silver (standard) or Black (initially for the Black Edition Brompton bikes). They are also used on 6 speed CHPT3 bikes

The BWR wheel / hub can easily be identified by the writing on the hub saying "BWR" or "Brompton Wide Ratio" as shown above

The BWR rear wheel takes 9 spline "Shimano Style" sprockets as shown above

These come as standard in a 13/16T combination. The 12T used on the 1 and 2 speed Brompton rear wheel is also compatible and will fit if you want a 12/16T combination 

Previous Brompton wheels include

Brompton Sachs / SRAM 3 and 6 speed rear wheel

This wheel was an interim used by Brompton after Sturmey Archer went bust (before being resurrected!)

It allowed Brompton to offer a 6 speed option (using two sprockets) in addition to the 3 speed previously available with the Sturmey Archer 3 speed

Unfortunately Sachs were taken over by SRAM who eventually closed down the whole hub gear operation - so spare parts are no longer available for these hubs

The easy identification is the word SACHS 3 speed stamped on the side of the hub - the number of gears could be 3 or 6 based on the driver (if it can take one or two sprockets)

The following picture shows the top view - the identifying feature (comparing to the Sturmey Archer hubs) is the dimples

The below picture shows the driver side of the 6 speed hub - with the (now discontinued) sprockets removed

The sprocket stack on the SRAM / Sachs hub used a 3 splined / ISO sprocket - the current 13T sprocket on the Sturmey Archer hub will also work on the SACHS 3 or 6 speed (the 15 tooth SACHS sprocket is the one that is no longer available)

We made this short video to help identify if it's a Sturmey Archer or SACHS/SRAM rear wheel 

Brompton Sturmey Archer AW rear wheel

The Brompton / Sturmey Archer rear wheel is an older one - we will be back with more info soon!

Brompton P/T Line 4 speed rear wheel

This wheel was introduced in 2022 along side the P Line (Performance Line) and T line (Titanium) Brompton folding bikes

The wheel is made lighter by using a 4 speed derailleur system 

The wheel and spokes are black

there were two versions of the rim used on these wheels:

• An "aero" style rim
• A C Line double wall rim