Recumbent - Have any recumbent manufacturers experimented with internal gear hubs?

Just a curiosity of mine. The S-Ram 7 and Premium model Shimano Nexus 8 gear hubs are pretty high quality and give a good range. The Rohloff 14 speed gear hub is generally loved as a great touring hub. Has any manufacturer tried to use these for Recumbents?

Just a curiosity of mine. The S-Ram 7 and Premium model Shimano Nexus 8 gear hubs are pretty high quality and give a good range. The Rohloff 14 speed gear hub is generally loved as a great touring hub. Has any manufacturer tried to use these for Recumbents?

At Recumbent Rallies you will find Rohloff's quite common. The Terracycle a work of art is availble with one. terracycle.com The Nexus was used on some recreational recumbents one with shaft drive. However, 8 is not enough on a bent if you encounter any hills. The SRAM Spectro-7 was the base hub for the BikeE and was/is used by some custom bent builders angletech.com. Greenspeed, Scarab and Trice used a modified version on their recumbent trikes until this year.

The recumbent world is an unending world of innovation. The sky is the limit, so many designs and drivetrains. Oodles of gears and combinations. Now that some homebuilders are becoming proficent in carbon fiber I expect some really interesting stuff. Front Wheel Drive LowRacers are really interesting. Single leg carbon forks etc.

My RANS vivo has braze-ons for three shifter cables -- front, rear derailler and rear hub. I got the standard 24 speed but you could get a 72 speed as an option -- 3 front, 8 on the cassette and 3 on the hub.

Greenspeed offers the Rohloff and mountain/speed drive front crank as an option on their trikes.
A rohloff and speed drive will give a range derailiers only dream of, Unfortunately the price of said combination is scary.

My RANS bike has these same braze-ons. Where would I read more about installing such a hub?

I am the new proud/pleased owner of a Trimuter BigWheel. This manufacturer generally likes to suggest that the buyer add the SRAM 3x9 rear hub. And what an ad that is. Great performance.

And unlike the Greenspeed, not a terrible impact on the price tag. The BigWheel had the 26" rear Wheel on a very solid trike design. Frankly, the most common comment about the Trimuter is that it is a Greenspeed clone. The outcome of that is that Jerome, the builder, knows what to copy. And he does it for a very reasonable and competitive price.

Go out to www.trimuter.com for a very informative site. Check out his 3 models, the Hedturner, Trimuter, and the BigWheel. And then give him a call, his customer service and willingness to answer your questions, thoughts, and / or concerns is "next to none."

And no, I am not a sales rep for Trimuter. But you give me a shout and I will continue a story about my shopping experience and you will see why I narrowed it down to Trimuter.

So, yes there are manufacturers that have experimented with a rear hub. ;)

BikeE had SRAM dualdrives on some of its models right before the end. I built a M5 Shockproof for a friend last year and used a dualdrive. It's great for a bent. If you come to a stop and forget to shift down you can just click the hub into the lowest gear. Beats having a front derailleur by a long shot and I believe SRAM's claim that in the end it's lighter than having a triple chainring set up and derailleur. It's sooooooo smooth. Next bent I make myself will have a dualdrive.

Just a curiosity of mine. The S-Ram 7 and Premium model Shimano Nexus 8 gear hubs are pretty high quality and give a good range. The Rohloff 14 speed gear hub is generally loved as a great touring hub. Has any manufacturer tried to use these for Recumbents?


My BikeE CT had a Sachs 3x7 hub on it. Later models had Dual Drives as one poster already said. Rohloffs are nice but cost in excess of $1000. I myself would like to try a Schlumpf Mountain Drive.

My Lightfoot Explorer (7 years about) has a 7 speed Nexus on it.