All in all, I would recommend the Nexus over the SA. But you have to ask yourself - why am I riding this classic, utilitarian, bicycle of technological beauty, yet I am despoiling it with some new-fangled gadget? Who am I to re-engineer such a timeless classic? Do my petty wants and needs need to be an affront to the thousands of years of mechanical evolution that went into this bike? Couldn't I just go around the hill?[/QUOTE]
Sciencemonster,
I love it! Indeed I have asked myself why I would besmudge this technological beauty with new-fangled gadgetry. I'll tell you why...I can bike around the hill, but not through the headwind.
I have a tall frame DL1 that I love, but not as much as the small frame one I got from my brother 15 years ago. That one just rides better. It's been torn down and put back together twice since he gave it to me (I learned to rebuild SA 3-speeds from him on this bike). I rode it through college and took it with me when I moved cross-country. These bikes and hubs get better by the mile and the tall frame (which fits me better since i'm 6'-2") is newer with less miles on it and just isn't doing it. Mind you, I added a lot of extra weight with a luggage rack with full wheel stand from my dad in Holland and coat guards on the rear fenders. It's an enormous machine, a horse really. So long and short of it is this tall frame is just not as pleasant to ride/drive. I should just ride the short bike...but that is just not the solution. Besides, I need that as my sport bike. The small frame is a '76, the tall frame is an '81. Maybe they did something to the bike by '81 to give it less soul. Granted, I may erase the last bits of soul with a Nexus, but I thought maybe I should try to save this thing. I'll start with a fresh rebuild of the original hub when I put on the 23T cog and see what that does for me/the bike. If that doesn't do it I'll continue thinking about doing a conversion.
BTW, I rode a new bike, something fancy, with a Nexus hub and all I could think of was my tall DL1 and how cool it would be if it were warmer than 15 degrees outside and how nice 8 nicely spaced gears would be.