Originally Posted by
bluesteak
I am with Mike, why torture yourself. If you want to, I am sure it can be done. In fact I am certain I read an account in this forum of someone completing a century on a 52 sports with an oilbath chain case.
It would be nice to have drop bars at least
Agreed about the drop bars being a big plus on a long ride. Contact points (handlebars, pedals, and saddle) really matter on a long ride.
Why is ta 3 speed SA hub torture once you've sorted out your contact points?
With a SA RS RF3 hub, a 22 tooth cog, and 44 tooth chainring, you'll get gear ratios from around 40 inches to 70 inches. That's what I was planning to use on the 50s Claud Butler I'm rebuilding.
I could rebuild it 2 x 5 using a stronglight 49d crank, campy derailleurs (I'd likely use a nuovo record which is much later since I don't think a first gen campy gran sport can handle 10 teeth), and a 14-26 5 speed freewheel. The gears would run from around a 40 inch low to 100 inch high. There would be a much better set of in between gears and there would be a better high but the climbing gear would be around the same. This would be a sympathetic "resto mod."
You can see why a lot of top end British bikes in the 50s were kitted out with an utterly reliable SA 3 speed hub. People did some serious riding with an SA 3 speed BITD.
Given steep enough hills, there will be some I'll have to walk with a 40 inch low which would not be the case with a triple.