Whilst scanning flea bay I noticed a rather lot of front 3 speed shifters available and that got me wondering….

…If you could use a front 3 speed shifter on a rear mech?
You could create a custom 3 speed cassette using an old cassette with say with 11, 18, 32 cog sizes giving you a downhill, flat and uphill 3 speed bike 😆

The tricky part I guess would be getting the distance correct between the cogs to match the pull of the cable.

Totally pointless I know but it could start a whole new niche!!

you clearly have not seem people putting multiple cogs onto single speed rear hubs.

Some will fit 3 cogs others up to 6. Dishless wheel + some gears.

Go one stage weirder, Sturmey Archer do a 3 speed fixed hub

Or just fit three cogs and (if need be) fit longer stop screws on the mech, and use a normal shifter.

But if you have three sprockets WTF is the point in not having a few more anyway?

SA also do a 2 speed “Kick back” hub (with optional coaster brake)… Gears without a shifter (and a brake without a lever if you want), it can also be used fixed if you are that way inclined,

“2 speed fixie” – Niche-tastic…

As for the original idea; Won’t work as front shifters pull more cable per shift than normal rear shifters, it you want a 2,3,4,5 speed rear mech setup just use the limit screws and some spacers to chop down the cassette and limit the mechs movement…

I’m sure there used to be an old cyclocross thing of having a three speed cassette (or freewheel as it would have been then) on a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub to give nine gears

But if you have three sprockets WTF is the point in not having a few more anyway?

Totally pointless I know but it could start a whole new niche!!

The Brick, yes I have seen that and also some DH’ers select custom cogs and making shorter cassettes to suit tracks etc.

Even Specialized have teamed up with DT Swiss and SRAM I believe in creating a super small lowest cog so they can still get the power out of a 32t up front thus giving better ground clearance and being able to lower the BB for lower centre of gravity.

It was just an idea of what to do with these spare (cheap) 3 speed shifters.

Cookeaa – I really like the idea of that SA two speed but spacing is to small for my roadrat frame without faffing about with cold setting

…without faffing about with cold setting

Why not a longer axle and spacers – same job, less effort no?

I am still working on my 2 speed auto idea.