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Proof that your editor does ride his bike...
...and how hub gears help you get value for money from your transmission.
After almost two years I finally got round to replacing the transmission on my town bike. It got a new chain, new sprocket for the Nexus 4-speed hub, and a new chain ring. It was actually still going OK, but the chain jumped off a few times. I found this was due to three missing teeth on the well-worn rear sprocket:
The next tooth along doesn't look like it would have held on much longer.
The chairing was also pretty special. Here's a view of it and the sprocket before cleaning - note the lovely pointy vestigial stubs of teeth, pointing off at strange angles ;-)
A close-up of one of these chainring teeth shows how the metal has been splayed off sideways by the pressure of the chain:
It's pretty impressive that it lasted this long. Hub gears are great for this - just keep a bit of tension in the chain and you can run the transmission into the ground. And the bits are cheap enough when they do need renewing. In contrast I used to have to replace chain and sprockets (at least) more than once a year when the bike had derailleurs - at much greater expense.
The hub gear is still fine - though it does shift a little easier after I cleaned off two year's worth of grime from the shifting mechanism :-)
Incidentally I was hoping to have fitted the new Sunrace Sturmey 8-speed hub gear into this bike for a test in VV 12. But they're still doing final tests, so it looks like that review will be delayed until next year.
Posted on 17 November 2003
Your comments ...| From: Antony (at pedalcars dot info) on 17 November 2003 |
Peter, I'm impressed - by rights you should have had a long walk home some time ago!
Without doubt the worst condition I've seen drive parts in (that were still operational) in a very long time! |
| From: jes (@pedalcars.info) on 17 November 2003 |
| Makes our broken gearbox at the last race of the season look very tame in fact! |
| From: John Shackford ([email protected]) on 18 November 2003 |
Peter,
Long lived but not really a good advertisement for bike lovers. Surely transmissions require oil/grease and maintenance? Tut tut!
Maybe a small section in the next issue regarding cycle maintenance would not go amiss?
Regards from a fanatical maintainer of cycles,
John. |
| From: andy scaife (bike_rescue etc) on 18 November 2003 |
The above seems to highlight the differing philosophies between bicycle enthusiasts and cyclists. As an enthusiast and collector though, yes I clean those bikes where it seems appropriate to within a millimetre of their existence, but I've always found it very liberating to have just one 'hack' (hub geared and braked of course) which looks a state,lives outdoors and never gets cleaned. This one gets used for all the 'in cognito' winter riding, trailer-pulling, allotment work and winter woodland / greenlane rides. It was scavenged, and built up on a tiny budget five years ago, and only goes indoors during summer. It must have paid for itself ten times over in terms of saved wear on nicer bikes. BTW, it has just died of frame corrosion, but the mechanicals are fine. Its replacement will be another Moulton F-frame, inspired by my friend Josh who runs a gardening firm from a Christiania trike, and has the most ugly Moulton in the world, which is also the fastest and best riding I've ever known.
I almost feel, while thinking about this, that bike polishing should be declared deeply uncool and we should all learn the Dutch attitude. Enclose everything, then leave it alone and enjoy the ride!" |
| From: Sue ([email protected]) on 18 November 2003 |
| Sorry for the blank, my lunch interferred with the keyboard. Yes, I have a town hack as well, although now that I have to commute five miles, it's not getting so much use, only having one working gear, rod brakes and a dim front light (and no rear!) But I also use it for (daytime) trailer work (including last week, bringing a wheelbarrow home from B and Q - you certainly get plenty of room on the road with a load like that!) and for yomping into town safe in the knowledge that any thief who made off with it would probably die the first time they tried to stop... If it's lucky, it gets a wipe with an oily rag every so often. One day, I will fix the gears, rewire the lights etc, but neither I or the bike are holding our breath. On the other hand, when rebuilding a hub, I have been known to polish ball bearings with a toothbrush... |
| From: Gary Cummins ([email protected]) on 18 November 2003 |
| Nice one Peter, a good advert for hub systems. I must admit on my (derraileur) commuter I do tend to run the transmission into the ground, and then replace the lot, every 4 years or so. Not the most cost effective way of doing things I know. |
| From: Tom ([email protected]) on 18 November 2003 |
| My '02 winter bike was finally finished in the summer. Inspired by Pete's machine some time ago, I put it together when I cam across a set of 700C wheels with screwon 5spd freewheel and drum brakes. Attached to a very orange 50's raleigh frame with a pair of moustache handlebars, cheap mech and friction shifting, it's putting a smile on my face regularly. Almost too nice for a hack, but a vibrant ride, and the frame and wheels cost £5 each - must rescue something else from a skip soon. |
| From: sue (sue@compofetc) on 19 November 2003 |
| Hang on Tom, WHO came across the wheels with drum brakes? And bid £9 for the bike they were on, then got charged £5 due to the incompetant on the cash desk and then pushed the thing halfway home? |
| From: Norti Rascal (@hmp.com) on 19 November 2003 |
Doesn't Pete have a degree in Engineering?
079462 Rascal N |
| From: andy scaife ([email protected]) on 19 November 2003 |
Now Now, no domestics Tom & Sue. You should have come to me for your hack frames and wheels. Nine quid? I could make one at home for nothing...all I need is a small aubergine.
The weather looks like breaking soon, so it's last call for winter hacks. How about a feature, Peter? |
| From: Tom (Tom@compofcyclistsetc) on 19 November 2003 |
| How on earth do you make a set of 700Cs from an aubergine?! All homage to Sue for sniffing out the wheels in the first place. |
| From: Geoff Bird ([email protected]) on 19 November 2003 |
| For step-by-step information on how to make 700c wheels from aubergines and other bicycle-components-from-vegetables tips, go to www.700c-from-aubergine.com. |
| From: C Redulous ([email protected]) on 19 November 2003 |
| How disappointing - the link to wheels from aubergines does not work - I was concerned that over-ripe aubergines might result in wheels with poor braking properties and now I will never know. |
| From: sue ([email protected]) on 20 November 2003 |
| Wheels might not work, but you could always knock up one of those Shimano Biopace Eggplant Chainrings... |
| From: Geoff Bird (as above) on 20 November 2003 |
| How about suspension forks out of squash? Stop it, you're killing me... |
| From: sue ([email protected]) on 20 November 2003 |
| No, it's no good, I've been racking my brains trying to come up with something else and all I can do is something feeble about stems... |
| From: andy scaife (bike rescue) on 22 November 2003 |
| I think a trip to the Orange Cycles website might prove amusing. And Of course Greg Lemon still makes racers. According to Mike Burrows, Maxxis have just started selling big apples to use as tyres. I have a touring bike made of chocolate, (well it's called a Galaxy). Let's not forget the old Raleigh Banana of course, while Pashley obviously offer a whole range of tasty morsels as standard, so they just called their load carrier the Deli-Bike. (BTW, not to the terminally puzzled - the augergine line was a quote from a well known comedy programme shown on those televisual devices that the modern people seem so keen on). |
| From: Crispin ([email protected]) on 24 November 2003 |
Nice one Pete !
Just think how much more life you could have got out of the chain if you'd have used a chain guard.
I've been using the 4-speed Nexus hub for a year now (after my 7-speed "as featured in Velo-Vision" Nexus hub died a horrible death) and look forward to many more years of happy abuse.
Crispin |
| From: Bikesmith ([email protected]) on 28 November 2003 |
| I don't know what everyone's on about, here. The last time I did anything besides lubeing to the drive train of my Raliegh Sports (Sturmey 3 spd., of course), it had a chainring that looked pretty much like that, and that was 1/8" steel. Doesn't everyone run it into the ground this way? I know most of my customers do; some wait until only the alleged locations of the chainring teeth are suggested by the remaining contours before shelling out for new bits. Cheers. Val Kleitz, Bikesmith |
| From: tandemflyer ([email protected]) on 01 December 2003 |
Pete,
Any chance of doing a head to head hub gear article with say Sunrace/Sturmey, Sram and Rolhoff hubs being compared side to side with weights etc given ?
How long till the third ? I need my fix badly man !
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| From: James Barrett ([email protected]) on 04 December 2003 |
| Try a Rohloff 13 speed hub gear. All evenly spaced, with a total range of 500%. Never dies - I've thousands of miles on mine. Costs a packet, but as it's my main vehicle, worth it ! |
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