Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
Sturmey Archer is releasing a 3 speed internally geared FIXED hub modelled after the ASC of old that will be called the SX3... it us due this month.
My suggestion was to lower the gearing to 65 gear inches but I also pointed out that climbing steep hills is still hella tough with that gearing... any gear you can spin up a grade like that will kill your flat ground speed.
I can't go much less than that on a flip flop anyway because I run out of dropout length to adjust the chain - it's struggle or walk I'm afraid. By making the low gear a free wheel, going down hill isn't an issue and yes, it's going to be a grind to get up.
Regarding the Sturmey Archer, I'm starting to get very interested in that - gear the top gear to my normal gearing (I'm not interested in land speed records anyway) and use the middle one for loafing and the lowest one for climbing hills
It won't be an immediate buy but my wheels were bult to a budget and only ever considered temporary. This gives me the excuse to build some nice wheels - Velocity Fusions to the Sturmey Archer and maybe an Ultregra front hub? I'll worry about that when I find out the cost of the new 3 speed hub and have a chance to recover from the shock.
Regarding the gearing. My Ofmega cranks are 144bcd (the old Campy standard) but that allows me to use track chain rings ... but will I be able to get one with 42 teeth? Will I have to rethink my gearing? We'll find out after my lbs has made a few enquires.
On chains. He didn't have the KMC710 that gets suggested a lot here. However, he did have the KMC410 - anyone know what the difference is? It's used a lot by the BMX racers and although they'd give a chain a hard life, are they interested in a long life?
Richard