Touring a Swift
03-31-06, 05:13 AM
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Touring a Swift
If you were going to be taking your Swift out on some hilly tours would a red label hub internal hub so the trick, or would you need lower gears to conquer serious hills or mountains(pulling BOB)? Anyone ever pull BOB or another trailer with Swift? Thanks!
03-31-06, 09:16 AM
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Funny you should ask. I have a BOB often behind my Swift with the Nexus red label. I have toward upwards of 70 lbs behind on some pretty steep hills that are about .5 mile long. I do have a double chainring up front but I was on the big ring but I was in first gear. I can post pics later if you want to see it attached. It looks pretty cool together. Most the time I don't even know the BOB is there. If it is lightly loaded (<40lbs) I don't notice it much. For me it is a good combo.
03-31-06, 11:32 AM
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Gear range
The red label Nexus 8 has a range of approximately 307%. This means you could for example have a range of 28" - 86". If you already have some experience from another bike riding with luggage or a trailer, then you could see what gears that bike has and see how that compares to the Nexus.
You can get as low as you want with the Nexus, but remember that will make your top gear low too. Some touring bikes come with a low gear under 20". If you did this with the Nexus you would get a range of 20" - 61".
Personally I think the Nexus doesn't offer enough of a range for heavily loaded touring without severly limiting the top speed. But this will be very personal and depend on how strong a rider you are and if you're a "masher" or a "spinner".
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Magnus
You can get as low as you want with the Nexus, but remember that will make your top gear low too. Some touring bikes come with a low gear under 20". If you did this with the Nexus you would get a range of 20" - 61".
Personally I think the Nexus doesn't offer enough of a range for heavily loaded touring without severly limiting the top speed. But this will be very personal and depend on how strong a rider you are and if you're a "masher" or a "spinner".
$0.02
Magnus
03-31-06, 11:46 AM
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That is why I have a dual chainring which gives me a greater range. Rarely would you need much below 30" if you have any legs at all. Even then how fast are you going to want to pedal if pulling a trailer? Combine that with you could always change the sprockets to fine tune if you only have a single chainring up front. Adjust it for with or without a trailer and if you are touring or not. A 300% range is still pretty decent and I find on mine I am rarely switching back and forth between the front chainring but I do have the veratility to do it if need be but I could accomplish it with a sprocket change if I knew I was going to be towing a trailer a lot. A 28-86 range will cover a lot of situations. Not ideal but definitely workable.
