Originally Posted by bhkyte

That's aout right. Its not ideal. One reason the 5 speed was used instead. But if a butterfly flaps it wings in pbrazil the 5 speed goes out of alignment. 8 speed had limited shifter compactability and tends to lose gears if you buy the wrong vintage.
3 speed sa hubs were ok last cenerty on preiuim quality bikes. Yes they are reliabable but mostcyclists expect more. I bought a cargo bike with a three speed on and that was just about ok once I down geared it. I should have paid more for the eight speed nexus version.