Originally Posted by
mbraner
Hi All. I've just bought a slightly used Incline Cruz 7 bike - 700c wheels, front suspension, shaft drive with 7-speed Shimano Nexus hub. (Presumably very similar to the Dynamic brand - the shaft part is made by Sussex. Weighs about 35 pounds BTW.) The friction and roughness in the drive train seemed excessive, so I added grease to the hole under the bottom bracket, and to the bevel gear in the rear (with the plastic cover removed). It's significantly better now, but there is still some roughness. If it was a chain-driven bike I'd say that bottom bracket feels like it's over-tight and perhaps undergreased. But for this bike, perhaps it's normal? If I wanted to check and adjust and grease the bottom bracket bearings, how would I take it apart? Does the grease added to the bottom bracket bevel gearing also reach the axle bearings? How much grease should I add to that hole? (I added about 10 cubic centimeters, using a syringe.) Thanks for any advice.
Good luck with it as so far as I know Incline is out of business. Last year their web domain name was listed as for sale according to a Google search I did. Also their phone # was no longer valid, was linked to a phone porn site, and the email I sent them was never answered. The web site, still up then, had what appeared to be a clearance sale going but the order page was not a secure site (https). I also noted that their illustration of a supposed Shimano gear hub was using a Rohloff hub cutaway photo apparently pirated from the Rohloff web site. All in all it appeared to be a low budget and ethically questionable importer whose business had failed.
One reason I would not recommend shaft drive bikes to most people is that you are SOL for support and parts if the importer goes belly up. Another consideration is that very few bike shops, if any, are familiar with the bikes and proper maintenance or adjustment of the shaft drive mechanisms.
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Gear Hubs Owned: Rohloff disc brake, SRAM iM9 disc brake, SRAM P5 freewheel, Sachs Torpedo 3 speed freewheel, NuVinci CVT, Shimano Alfine SG S-501, Sturmey Archer S5-2 Alloy. Other: 83 Colnago Super Record, Univega Via De Oro
Visit and join the Yahoo Geared Hub Bikes group for support and links.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geared_hub_bikes/