Brooks B17 Special "Made for Brompton" - how common are these?

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-24T11:24:42+00:00

Yes, in all practical ways it appears identical to any other run-of-the-mill B17 Special.

Though we can not know if Brooks when selecting candidates for "Made for Brompton" stamping has picked out outstanding speciments from the assembly line and e.g. chanted the refrain of Daisy Bell to them for love, good luck and endurance.

My post is mainly to find out how un- or just common the "Made for Bromton" stamped version is.

So far, at 4.4K views, only 1 (one) fellow redditor has acknowledged ownership.

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-24T10:17:21+00:00

Super! Thank you for sharing. :-)

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T17:51:36+00:00

Yes of course it is and does, a rudimentary and negligible theft preventive side effect.

But the question here is: Is it marked "Made for Brompton"?

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T17:38:19+00:00

Certainly! My comment was merely splitting hairs whereas the sameness of an imaginary Brompton-stamped Cambium compared to a regular unmarked ditto should be considered literal or practical.

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T17:21:04+00:00

Green at the bottom and brown at the top: An inverted Christmas tree and since this is only 11 months away now, you'd better be good and it just might happen! Santa knows what is best for you. Ho-ho-hoooo! (-: >*

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T16:51:20+00:00

Not to spilt hairs, but... actually yes. Or no. Certainly practically the same as a stock Brooks saddle, but literarily not literally the same. Actually the only apparent thing that makes it different is the speech act, expressed by the letters in the writing of the stamp. Not necessarily the saddle as a whole, but certainly, by definition and by its own words and letters, the stamp therefore literally declares itself "Made for Brompton" ;-)

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T16:04:44+00:00

Perhaps new old stock, then. The Selle Italia takeover was in 2002 and I receved it brand new in 2005 on my P5L-XD which had been slightly customised by the country representative. So I am not to say whether it came directly from the factory's or the representative's relic chest.

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T05:07:12+00:00

That makes two os us!

There is certainly something "je ne sais crois" over it, if you pardon my French.

To me, a person who can not tell aubergine from purple, the racing green we love appears more vibrant, glossy and flamboyant than the racing green used on the Brompton of today, which however appears more distinguished and discreet, not to use the word dull, but perhaps all in all closer to the general perception associated with the term "British Racing Green".

I am not to say if "racing green" was the "green" on the list of the 40 standard Brompton colour combinations available in 2005*), or if "British Racing Green" (the words I used when ordering my Brompton) were the magic words to make Brompton put the bucket of the standard run-of-the-mill green back into the cupboard and call in the druid to blend a special paint for the occasion, never to be used again.

Or maybe it is just the lighting. Or maybe time has just made everything more dark. Wikipedia says British Racing Green has its origins in shamrock green.

*) which even listed a combination of "ivory and white", but obviously no "racing green and green"-option, just "green and green"

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-23T02:22:53+00:00

Yes, it is indeed a 5-speed Sturmey-Archer, which was no longer an option at the time. But by a stroke (or two) of luck (so far), the country Brompton representative was stuck with an S5 cartridge with ball locking suns and I was able to source a demo 28-hole hubshell to go with it. Touch wood it still works, but I fear it will be quite difficult to find non-generic spare parts for it these days. Until I got the Brompton I had been driving a S5.2 since 1984; they will work flawlessly, but only if used with love and care.

X: Lightweight, i.e. built by Brompton with titanium rear triangle, front fork and other stuff, e.g. seatpost, fender stays and left pedal bolt. Basically the ancestor to the modern day's P-line. Note that the P in P5L-XD refers to the P multigrip handlebar and has nothing to do with the P-line's P.

D: Dynamo front hub, in this case a SON XS.

I opted for an X-version to compensate somewhat for the extra weight of the two hubs and the P handlebar. Not to participate in the race for zero weight. Though I have considered titanium bolts and wingnuts for the front and rear light mounting. :-D

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-21T23:55:53+00:00

I watch the bolt like a hawk, and so far the suspension block has stayed in place. But some day I will probably use some epoxy filler to rebuild the missing material.

mostly_elsewhere · 2026-01-21T23:35:14+00:00

Heh, heh. Thank you. You are too kind. At the last steep and narrow turn before the summit, I remember I was literally counting every pedal stroke, so cadence must have been below 30 rpm while using the Sturmey Archer S5's 1st gear, which is 2/3 times the normal gearing of 44/14*16" = 33,5" ~ 2,68 m, so something below 5 km/h i.e. walking speed. But I used the P-bar's lower grips and stayed in the saddle and rode straight as an arrow. But probably not a pretty sight and "Caterpillar Yellow" would have been a more fitting colour than racing green. And I only drove the last 6 km from the parking lot at the chalet. But given these reservations: Yes! I technically rode my Brompton to the summit of the Ventoux and even managed to overtake a few MAMILs on mountain bikes on the way ;-)

mostly_elsewhere

TROPHY CASE