Introductions - Hello! New rider here. Little info about me

Hi all!
I'm FuJi from St. Paul MN and i love to bike. The type of riding i like to do is sprinting from a stand still and do aggressive cornering. I'm not really into tricks and stuff like a cousin of mines.

I'm in the process of building a hybrid 20" 3 speed bike. It'll have a modified 3 star at the crak while retaining a free-gear type rear wheel. It'll have both front and rear derialers (spelling?).

I hope to learn a bit here untill i finish my project.

Thanks!
FuJi

Sounds like an interesting project! A 3-speed BMX bike. Never heard of anyone trying it, but I guess it would be feasible!

May I make a suggestion?

I would suggest going to your LBS and asking them for an OLD rear derailleur (that is how you spell it!). If you're going to use a BMX chain, you'll need the width at the pulleys that only OLD derailleurs have! Ask them if they've got an old junk box of old parts! They'll probably GIVE it to you or worst case you'll have to buy them a couple of soda's!

Once you install it, you can get a short piece of cable with one of the ends still on it and run it from where the cable enters the derailleur and then clamp it down! That way it doesn't shift on you! There are also two little set screws that you'll have to tighten all the way down to prevent movement!

L8R

Other approaches to building a 3-speed BMX are internal rear hub gearing and a 3-speed freewheel. The first needs no derailleur or chain tensioner, whereas the second requires only a rear derailleur. Changing gears on the chainrings is doing it the hard way. Note also that the front derailleur is far slower, less reliable, and more primitive than the rear, which is why today's 18-speed road racing bikes use a 2x9 configuration instead of a 3x6, even though the latter would have better overall chainlines.