megalowmatt

I wanted to share some pictures of a San Jose conversion I recently completed. I've been commuting on this since the Spring after purchasing it from JensonUSA when they had them for a great price on clearance. The intent was to ride it for several months and decide what I liked/disliked and make changes as I went. My commute is around 10 miles rt with a couple rolling hills and after a few months of riding a 42/16 freewheel combination it became apparent that a few gears would be fun and help keep the speed up along the straightaways so I would not look like a crazy person pedaling so fast. After reading up on the San Jos8 on the Harris site I was hooked.

At any rate, thanks to this site for all the friendly information. There were only a few bumps along the way and overall I feel good about how everything went together. I ordered all the parts separately and had a local shop build the hub into the wheel.

Here it is all together:



The hub:



Bar-end shifter (see next pic for how it's attached):



Attaching the bar-end shifter: This is probably a little "guerrela" but i used some aluminum tubing I had and inserted it into the bar end with around 1.5" sticking out. If you look closely, i used a sheet metal screw through the bottom of the drop bar to secure the tubing in the bars and keep the tube from turning. I then built up the part sticking out so the bar-end shifter could be attached. It seems to be working fine so far and was a lot less expensive than the hubbub adapter.



At any rate, I am really happy how it turned out. Thanks to Harris Cyclery and this site for all the information.

HardyWeinberg

sweet!

tjspiel

I can't see the pics but I've always considered the San Jos8 to be a great adaptation of a nice bike.

megalowmatt

tjspiel, sorry you can't see the pics.

I forgot to add that with the right rack I think this bike would be great for some light touring.

Sirrus Rider

In the name of the formula of N+1 I've got San Jose8 envy..

AdamDZ

Sweet, I just wish there was a way to install the shifter on the top of the bar. I wouldn't like reaching that far to shift

Adam

anaheim flash

i am in love with it.....
post link from where you got the idea, i would love to read up on it.

lambo_vt

Your bike is begging for some road tires!

"Road tires! I need road tires! These knobbies are tooo slloooooww!!" - Your Bike, 2009

xB_Nutt

Yea, some road tires and fenders and that thing will be the cat's pajamas. I like your adapter for the shifter. I went all out and bought the hub-bub adapter for the IGH setup on my Cannondale.

jhhall

Very nice build - kudos!!

That's what I've been commuting on for the past couple of years and love the bike.

HandsomeRyan

Very nice. I still can't really tell how you attached the shifter.

I built something kind of similar after seeing the san jos8 but mine was not as nice (Motobecane messenger bike with a SRAM S-7 hub) I had to weld up a shifter mount for the bar end.

blatant attempt to steal your thunder pictures:






/I still wish I has a San Jose and/or a San Jos8.

megalowmatt

I know.... I was trying to get more wear on these but I think road tires will come sooner than I thought.

anaheim flash - here's the link from the Harris site: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/b...os8/index.html

I stuck as closely as I could to what the late Sheldon Brown built minus the road tires and I think his hub is one step higher in quality than mine. Harris sells the wheel sets pre-built for this kind of conversion. I wanted to do it myself to try and save some money. I *maybe* saved $100. Doing as much as I could was a pretty good learning experience, as I have not worked on a bike in years.

I love the way this hub feels - it's silent and really solid.

One thing that was confusing (for me) right off the bat was that the hub is 36 hole and the stock San Jose wheels were only 28 spokes, so it was necessary to purchase new wheels altogether. These wheels with more spokes than the stock wheels feel a lot better for some reason.

lambo_vt

It's cool. I only nit-pick because I really really want one of these. Some day...

no1mad 

Agreed.

paul2432

I've heard of split road bars that allow mounting the twist shifter by the stem. I think it was a German company that made them.

Paul

HandsomeRyan

FWIW: Walmart road bikes have split bars with grip shifters at the top.

accordionfolder

Higher spoke count generally equates to a stronger wheel, I don't understand though why you needed to replace both wheels. Having a mismatched spoke count (front vs back) is perfectly acceptable. Unless you are talking about the rim?

megalowmatt

I wanted to have both rims match and also build something as close to the original San Jos8 as possible with Sun cr-18 rims.

The wheels are actually mismatched with the front 32 and the rear 36. Niagara Cycle initially sent incorrect wheels (32h) but made it up by sending an additional 36h set at no charge. I had already installed the 32 before noticing the mistake so I just decided to keep the 32 on there.

matt

bigdaddy pickle

Over 600 miles and I have only one complaint: 5th gear seems to have a random skip. I've played with the in-line barrel adjuster and at it's best, I still get a skip about every 2 minutes or so (there really is no rhythm to the skip). Harris is too far to return for service and my LBS's don't service the Alfine. I just have to avoid 5th, I guess. Anyone else have trouble with a particular gear and figured out a fix?

NormanF

Go monstercross... Continental City Contact 42 cm will give you big fast slicks with your San Jos8!

hubcap

Unfortunately I doubt 42s would fit the San Jose. Maybe, but it would be real tight.

NormanF

I have a San Jose. If you're using fenders, I think they would be too big. I don't have
fenders and they are the biggest tires you can install to clear the San Jose frame.

megalowmatt

It's interesting this thread got bumped as it's been just over a year since I posted that.

I have put a lot of miles on it with no issues whatsoever. There a few additions, though...better rack, panniers, road tires, fenders, computer, etc. It's a fun bike to ride and perfect for my commute.

I had even considered doing the Tour De Palm Springs half century in February on it but decided otherwise. I picked up a road bike last week for that.

Once the rain stops here I'll get some new pictures and post them.

hubcap

I have one also. I recall Bianchi's literature saying it accommodates 35s, or 32s with fenders. I agree that you can probably go with 35s with fenders, but I have alwaysed used 32s when rolling with my fenders.

megalowmatt

32's should work easy with fenders on the SJ8. I have a set of Pasela TourGuard in 32 but right now I have ribmo 28's on it.