Sheldon Brown

My report:

https://sheldonbrown.com/lasvegas/2006

Sheldon "A Little Of This, A Little Of That" Brown

Wil Davis

I thought the bamboo bike looked cool; some nice Brooks stuff also…

Looks like you had a great time - thanks for the report & pics!

- Wil

TimJ

Cool. The coasting stuff reminds me of the first exage groups, which isn't cool.

Very sorry to hear about your condition, that really sucks.

moxfyre

Thanks Sheldon! A great report. I was particularly interested to hear about the new Surly products. What are these double fixed-gear sprockets??? Are we going to be able to ride multi-speed fixies anytime soon Congrats on the Sheldon Fender nut too!!! I have a friend who wants to put fenders on his racing bike, who is in dire need of such a product.

I'm sorry to hear about your mysterious illness. Here's to hoping you'll be off the scooter and back on the bike soon. Get well, Sheldon!

Here's a question for you: have you seen any drop-bar road bikes with internally geared hubs on the market? I would love to try internal gearing for commuting use, but I want to ride something with geometry similar to my homebrew touring bike, which I adore. Is there any reason I couldn't build up a wheel with the Nexus-8 hub and try shifting it with a friction bar-end shifter?

Re-Cycle

Friction shifter + internally geared hub = Bad

This is my attempt at what you are talking about. So far, It's one of my fav bikes.





https://www.flickr.com/photos/44973782@N00/260068298/

moxfyre

That looks awesome! Is that a Pacer or a Steamroller frame? And what rear hub?

I've heard friction shifting w/internally geared hubs is bad, but dang it why doesn't anyone make a bar-end internally-geared shifter or something else that can be used on drop bars

Re-Cycle

It's just a SA 3 speed, Follow the link and you'll see notes on specific parts like the hubs/rims etc.

I agree, mabey people here have suggestions for you. I had drop bars on that bike [steamroller] when it was fixed gear but because of the shifter I had to switch to a coveted pair of SR bars you see so the shifter would work. Actually you may be able to this, if you stuck with a 3 speed like I did:

Sheldon Brown

I think we currently have a monopoly on that:

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/bianchi-sanjos8/

Derailer shifters don't pull enough cable for these hubs, but I gotta say, the twist grip in that position is really nice, much nicer than, say, bar-end levers. It's a more natural motion for the hand to roll the shifter than to use the sides of the fingers to push a lever back and forth.

Sheldon "Nexusate" Brown

moxfyre

That is AWESOME It is great to see that the twist grip will work on drop bars! Lesseee... I've got a spare 32H rim, I am sorely tempted to build me one of those wheels and throw it on my fixie (which has two brakes already, I might add).

mlts22 

The report is great... noticed a couple things about what SB mentioned:

1: "Coasting" bikes. I wonder how tough it will be to change tires and such, without marring the endcaps on the wheel nuts. I wish it had some sort of front brake, as if the chain snaps, its going to hurt with no backup way to stop the thing other than bailing. The chain looks cool with the oval sideplates, but I wonder how well that will last over time, and stand up to the usual neglect and abuse chains get.

2: Plastic frame? I wonder what type of polymer can be used for a frame material that can stand the rigors of daily travel, abuse, neglect, and other things that frames have to deal with.

3: I love the fender nuts. Will they be made in Ti for the weight weenies?

moxfyre

I'm sure that Sheldon has a deal lined up to sell them with aero carbon fiber fenders

Rowan

Sheldon, thanks for the review. It's nice to have a recognised expert lend his assessment of new items on the market.

You mentioned your legs. I called into Harris Cyclery on the Tuesday after BMB in the hope of meeting you, but you had just left. Aaron said you were having trouble walking let alone getting on a bike. He said that you weren't riding as much, if at all. We all agreed this is a tragic turn of events for one of bicycling's most amazing resources. I hope the medical experts track down the cause of the affliction, and that you are quickly back where you enjoy being most (ummm.... is that shop or bike??).

Rabid Koala

Sheldon, hope you get diagnosed and feeling better very soon!

Dan Burkhart 

Many thanks for your report. I can't believe that I may actually have Alfine equipped bikes before you can get them. This will be a major coupe for me. At the Montreal show in mid September, one of my major bike suppliers was the only one with the Alfine in their lineup, and they are presumably available to me for my spring order. The only other one at the show was at the Shimano booth. Anybody's guess when they will be on the aftermarket.
Sram did not have an example of their 9 speed hub which was dissapointing.
Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery from your ailment.
Dan Burkhart
www.boomerbicycle.ca

Sheldon Brown

These hubs only come in 36 holes (a Good Thing, in my opinion).

May be a frame spacing issue on your fixie, depending on what sorta frame you've got. The Nexus 8 generally wants anywhere from about 126-135 mm spacing, depending what washers/nuts you use.

See: https://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing

I have the same concerns.

The chain looks cool with the oval sideplates, but I wonder how well that will last over time, and stand up to the usual neglect and abuse chains get.[/quote]
My guess is it'll be fine, the area where metal has been removed is not an area of failure. In any case, chain breakage is overwhelmingly a derailer-related issue.

"Plastic" is my snide term for carbon fiber. I like metal.

Working on a process to create a sort of superlight metallic foam, by mixing helium bubbles into the molten titanium.

My wife is getting POed 'cause I'm doing my experiments on the kitchen stove, and it sometimes gets messy...

Sheldon "Ever Try To Empty A Baloon Into A Saucepan Full Of Molten Titanium?" Brown

Serendipper 

Swift healing and a smooth recovery will come to you Sheldon. This is my prayer.

As to the 3-speed conundrum...I relocated my shifter to the seatpost, and it works great for me. I don't know if anyone else is as aventurous (or is it loony?) as I am. However, it looks and works wonderfully.

Thanks for the report. Take care.

~James Barron

carlton

Try this. It will mount your nexus twist shifter on the bars near the stem. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cid/QST19...etc.-11348.htm

carlton

Sheldon,
Do you think the Bianchi Roger single speed disc Xbike will convert to Alfine 8 Disc? They should have used an eccentric bottom bracket on it if they were going to use a disc on the rear. Hope you are feeling better soon.

leob1

I give up, what is/was a Hypercracker?

Sheldon, Hope you feel better soon.

idcruiserman

Tool for opening up Hyperglide cassettes w/o a chain whip.

tuolumne

You've always had a knack for getting the right nickname in there, but this has to be the best one yet.

Sheldon Brown

I would imagine that would work fine.

Sheldon "Guessing It's 135 mm Spacing" Brown

seely

Just curious if you saw the Phil tool for replacing the bearings in external BB's and what you thought about this? It looks good to me but we are wondering if its putting good bearings in a crappy system, essentially. Also, curious if you saw that lugged Peregotti with the biplane crowned fork? We all agreed it was our favorite bike at the show. In the words of our manager "yeah, its ok, I mean, if you like incredibly intricate hand made steel frames with stunning attention to detail".

Sheldon Brown

Generally everything Phil is great. However, it's not clear to me that this is a real "problem" that they've offered a solution to. I have not personally worked on much external bearing stuff, haven't encountered any actual problems with them.

I did notice the Pegoretti in passing, but didn't check it out in detail.

Sheldon "Lots To See In Vegas" Brown

TimJ

Did you know there's aleady such a thing? There's a few different metal foams and apparently titanium is getting worked out. I only know cuz I think foams are cool, like aerogels, really cool.