Shimano Capreo

[maunakea]

Any more reports from users of the Shimano Capreo? It's long been available on Pocket Rockets.

Sheldon "Small Wheels" Brown (among other sobriquets) has a nice writeup at
http://sheldonbrown.com/capreo/
and his own impressions at
www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=177320&highlight=shimano+capreo

TMK, Sheldon is still about the only source of Capreo parts.

[DaFriMon]

Bike Friday sells a Capreo 9-26 cassette in their accessories catalog, and I believe they also sell the special lockring tool. They build Capreo hubbed wheels for their bikes. They don't list the hub as a separate part, but I'm not prepared to build my own wheels. One possible upgrade I've considered for next year is changing my Crusoe to Capreo; I'll have to get an estimate from them.

However, I notice that Sheldon Brown's price for the cassette alone is much less than Bike Friday's.

[maunakea]

The 9/26 cassette is the answer to taller gearing on 20" wheels, and should have caught on. Why isn't it an option on the high end Dahons, for instance? I think there is high anxiety among manufacturers (not so much custom shops) that this will be (yet another) orphaned product line. Perhaps that means buying a spare Capreo freehub and cassette.

[Blackberry]

I've got the Capreo on my one-year-old Bike Friday. So far, so good.

[maunakea]

Blackberry Do you spend most of your time on level terrain in the 53/9 combination? Does it feel like 53/11 on a 700c bike?

[wpflem]

We are having to get our Capreo from Moulton. Mouldon is using it on some of their high end bikes. We've not found a wholesale source in the USA.

[Blackberry]

Blackberry Do you spend most of your time on level terrain in the 53/9 combination? Does it feel like 53/11 on a 700c bike?

Darn. I wish I could give you a good answer on that. We don't have much level terrain here in Blue Ridge Country. As a bike tourist carrying a fair amount of gear, I wanted a reasonbly wide range with a good bail out gear, which the Capreo gives me. I'll see if I can get you a better answer in the next few days.

[maunakea]

In gear inches, the 53/9 on the Capreo on ISO 406 wheels should be between a 53/13 and 53/12 on ISO 622 wheels, ceteris paribus.

[maunakea]

Blackberry (or any other Capreo owner) any thoughts after riding with the comparison in mind?

Do you clean your chain more frequently compared with non-folders (9 tooth cog, nearer to road, would likely mean more grit collected and abrading a smaller cog)?

[Fear&Trembling]

I decided against Capreo after a lot of thought. I tried a friend's Birdy White numerous times and found myself in either the 9t, 10t, or 11t pretty much all the time. However, my friend swopped out the chainnring (56t for 46t) and this mod will indubitably help to increase the longevity of the smallest two sprockets. As for wear, they seem to be holding up OK, but if you push big gears regularly, I still have my doubts in the long-term. That said, you don't hear too many complaints from Capreo hub/cassette owners (the few that there are), so maybe it is not really an issue.

[maunakea]

fear & trembling Thanks for the info. I'm rebuildng my DT FS now, and have replaced the stock 46T chain ring with whatever was cheapest and good at Nashbar... which happened to be a 53/39 ISIS crank and BB branded as Nashbar, but made by FSA. The BB was $22 and the crankset was $27. Great prices for FSA ISIS stuff. Anyway ... the 53/9 on 20" is a little taller than 53/13 on a 700c, so I think the gears will be tall enough. I did most of my climbing on the stock geared DT FS in the tallest gear. Maybe that's why the axle kept popping out. For me, spinning up hills takes too much fun out of riding.

[Fear&Trembling]

For me, spinning up hills takes too much fun out of riding.

Me too, I grind up hills on my fixed folder with 78 inches (53/13 - ERTO 406). Only last week the BB cups managed to work their way loose.

Let us know how the Capreo mod goes. I could never really decide between Capreo and Speed Drive. In the end, I just went for a 60t chainring with a 11-23 block which was a weak compromise...