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  • 3 SPEEDS FOR ALL
  • reynolds853
    Free Member

    I like my gears. My knees like my gears. I also like my single speeds, my knees not so much. After a brief experiment I figured I could get by with 3 gears, one for your typical singletrack fun, one for going up those really steep hills and one for coming down fast or commuting in a hurry. So here’s the question, has anyone tried a sturmey or other type of wide range 3 speed hub for such activity. If so how did you get on? Can you still walk?

    Posted 10 years ago
    duntstick
    Free Member

    Always wondered why they didn’t just improve my Grifter gears, I suppose they did, with Rohloff. Up, down and along would do me though.

    Posted 10 years ago
    Tracker1972
    Free Member

    Got a hub on the shelf waiting for exactly this experiment to commence, think it is a 5 speed though, slippery slope only wanting 3 when 5, 8 or 11 is so easy to obtain 🙂

    Posted 10 years ago
    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    the problem is surely once you add the selector parts the added weight of each gear is probably negligible. I quite fancy dinglespeed though on my el mariachi as commuting on 34-20 is really spinny, but I like riding with a high cadence off road normaly so its fine for that.

    Posted 10 years ago
    cookeaa
    Full Member

    I acquired A couple of SA hubs ages ago intending to try just such a thing out… Never got any further than that.

    Posted 10 years ago
    cookeaa
    Full Member

    Quite liked the idea of thesturmey archer s2 Kickshift hub. Gears but no shifters… Apparently not all that durable though.

    Posted 10 years ago
    sharkattack
    Full Member

    You want one of THESE

    Would be very sleek with a miniature road mech.

    Thank me later.

    Posted 10 years ago
    avdave2
    Full Member

    That Polish made in a shed planetary 3 speed system looks like it could be interesting. It would be perfect for my off road commuter.

    Posted 10 years ago
    Rorschach
    Free Member

    You want one of these.Only 2 speeds,one for uphill and one for flat.A bit like hammerschmidt but betterer.Got one to go on ‘project not fat or singlespeed but not skinny or geared’ (need to find a snappier name).

    Posted 10 years ago
    gofasterstripes
    Free Member

    Hammered my Nexus 3sp for a coupla’ years – fun, but the range is waaay small. Then water got in and it died.

    Might as well have an Alfine8 if you want a hub gear system.

    hubstripping.com ?

    Posted 10 years ago
    billytinkle
    Free Member

    What’s the width of the Profile hub? 110mm?

    Posted 10 years ago
    paulrockliffe
    Free Member

    Why not just run a single cog at the back and a triple at the front? That’ll do you about right.

    Posted 10 years ago
    flap_jack
    Free Member

    They never seem to have a wide enough range. I’d want a 22/34, 34/20 and 46/11 equivalents…

    Posted 10 years ago
    sharkattack
    Full Member

    Why not just run a single cog at the back and a triple at the front? That’ll do you about right.

    Because you’d need a rear derailleur to take up the slack when you’re not on the big ring?

    Posted 10 years ago
    bigblackshed
    Full Member

    I know it’s not 3 speed or hub gears but my knees have given out and I’ve gone 6 speed on my Hope SS hub with a Zee short cage mech. I was running 33-17 with a 9 speed chain. Couldn’t get a 10 speed chain on the Surly front ring to match the clutch mech. So now running 32 Hope front ring with the 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 sprockets off a 105 cassette.

    All works as it should and I haven’t dropped the chain once. The three big ones are too spinny for anything other than what you would use a granny on a full geared bike. You can’t stand up a gurn up a hill, you just spin the back wheel with no traction. So it’s taken a bit of getting used to.

    Posted 10 years ago
    mick_r
    Full Member

    Sturmey do a 3 speed with 135mm spacing, 6 bolt disc mount and thumbshifter – less than £100 for everything.

    Lighter than an Alfine and felt much more direct and less mushy (pawls rather than roller clutches). Proper direct drive in middle 1:1 ratio (Alfine isn’t direct drive). Ratio mix was good for Lakes etc in UK, but broke me trying it in Austria (reverted to backup 7 speed derail. on a Hope ss cassette hub).

    Downside is no sealing whatsoever, weak axle and chainline not very good with regular mtb cranks.

    Nearly there, but not quite…..

    Posted 10 years ago
    IanW
    Free Member

    I like singlespeeding but another gear for the road sections would be brilliant.

    Please get on with it.

    Ta 🙂

    Posted 10 years ago
    mick_r
    Full Member

    The Sturmey ratios were pretty much spot on for expanding a singlespeed range – the low gear was just low enough to take over where you would be stalled out ss (or dying from leg cramps on a long day out). The high gear was just high enough to make progress on the road whilst not spinning like a ****.

    Slightly bigger jumps would be OK, but anything replicating the absolute extremes of a triple setup might not be very rideable in reality.

    Posted 10 years ago
    orangeboy
    Free Member

    That profile hub is for bmx hence the 110mm oln

    Posted 10 years ago
Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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