Originally Posted by
noglider
The bike will lead you to more genteel riding anyway, with its wide gearing and heavy weight.
The surprise neutral gear is a little dangerous, but I don't believe it causes somersaults. I've found it accidentally, and I haven't gotten hurt. Some time in the 70's or so, Columbia had SA make special versions of the SA that prevented neutral. I don't know how they did that. And SA's new three-speed hubs don't have it.
The way I adjust a 3-speed hub is I shift into each gear and make sure the cranks engage. Then I fish carefully for neutral between 2nd and 3rd and make sure the crank does not engage.
If you find neutral when your shifter is in 3rd, your cable is too tight. If you find it in 2nd, it's too loose.
Jobst Brandt was a character and sometimes an alarmist. Last I heard, he is still alive but suffered a bad brain injury and doesn't write any more. He may not ride any more, too. I miss him.
How exactly do you fish? Use shift lever or pull cable by hand? I assume with lever. So say I'm in Normal and I use shift lever to fish somewhere between normal and High, then I DONT want pedals to engage?
Anyway I know the cable was too loose.It was very loose in High and in Low, when I tried to pull more chain out, I could pull maybe 3/4 of a link. I believe you should be able to pull 1/3 link more when in low gear (in other words you don't want extreme tension while in low).
But details please about the fishing statement.