To experiment with the effect of higher gearing, I grafted the rear wheel from my Catrike onto this bike. The experiment worked OK gearing wise, but I had two issues, the trike wheel is designed for a disc brake only and had no proper surfaces for the Vee bake pads. Also the rear del of the trike (a SRAM X-7) was bent and worn so the shifting was lousy. However I was encouraged to pursue the modification with proper parts.

I was able to find a used rear wheel with an Alex rim and a SRAM 7.0 cassette hub. I also got an eight speed SRAM cassette (11 - 32) to go on it. I also scored an old Spinergy QR skewer to top it off.

The real find was a pull off 10 speed SRAM XO rear del, it even has the carbon fiber cage. Bling! For this bike it is a bit like putting diamond earrings on the house dog but I got a really good deal on it so I couldn't pass it up.

I am still waiting on a grip shifter that is on order, so maybe this weekend I will get a chance to wrench on it,