I’m reconsidering my choice of a 3 speed for my next winter bike. I forgot how much harder cold-weather riding is. I went for a 50 mile ride this morning on my winter bike, which is a 1990 mountain bike set up for winter (marathon winter tires, fenders, poagies, platform pedals, etc.). It was 14°F when I left the house, and the wind was gusting in the low 20’s MPH. Pavement was clear. I averaged a pathetic 10.9 MPH, used the entire range of gears (~20-90 GI) and was completely exhausted when I got home. In nice weather on my fixed gear I average in the high 17’s/low 18’s MPH for the same ride and I feel good when I finish.


If I set the three speed up with a 46T chainring/19T sprocket that will give me ~50/66/88 GI, and I don’t know if 50 GI is low enough based on my experience today. Is there any issue with gearing that hub down to a 44/24 so that 3rd gear is my cruising gear (38/50/67 GI)? I would prefer not to go with a hub with more speeds because that will put me into 135 OLD spacing which means I need to find a different frame for the project.