Originally Posted by
FunkyStickman
(EDIT) THe only complaint I have besides the noise is that the way they geared the Sturmey, you have to have a very small chainring, or a very small rear wheel... 1st gear is 1:1 and on most other hubs, 1:1 is one of the middle gears. I ran mine with a 32T chainring, and it still wasn't low enough to climb hills.
I couldn't agree more. I think the SA product planners REALLY blundered when they designed this product. If it had a more normal gearing (4th or 5th being 1:1) and with their pricing they would have had a real contender and they'd be flying off the shelves. Instead it's only a hard-to-apply niche product that needs oddball chainring sizes. I think they blew it on this one and I hope that they can correct it in a future product. I'm all about IGHs and would love to have a workable all-SA bike.