Originally Posted by
FunkyStickman
First and foremost: what kind of gear range are you in need of? There are everything from 3-speeds to the Rholoff, and lots of choices in between.
I'm trying to get down under 20GI. How many speeds I have isn't critical, but more is better, of course.
I'm leaning towards a bicycle at the present moment (though my caprice blows in the wind, that may change), and the specific bicycle I'm looking at has 26" wheels, which, assuming that the hub has a 1-to-0.5xx ratio in first gear, demands a ratio lower than 1.5 at the crank, which dives right into warranty-voiding territory on nearly every hub I've seen.
For top end I'm not very concerned, as I'm figuring on adding a Metropolis Patterson drive (similar to the Schlumpf HSD, just different ratios, and, much cheaper). I could deal with a 3-speed,
IF it had the torque handling and a low enough 1st gear to drop below 20GI