Originally Posted by
John E
At some point, seriously consider installing some sort of shifter. You could either leave the 40T chainring and provide her with two really low gears, or you could swap in a larger chainring so that she could cruise normally in the most efficient gear, which is second (direct drive), not third.
Love the blue -- Schwinn paint jobs are the best! (... says the owner of a "Team USA red, white, and blue" Schwinn mountain bike ...
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I have seriously considered this, I still have the stock shifter and the 3sp hub is fully operational. I also kept the stock 48T ring.
As my wife rides more, I will consider this because I already have all the stuff to put it back. Right now, she's not an avid rider and does not really understand shifting, etc.
I ride 80 mins each day on my commute and not sure what I would do without a range of gears! This project has inspired me to look at S-A 8sp hubs for my commuter but we'll see (I started a thread about this)