I don’t just ride my bikes for fun and relaxation, I ride them for exercise, for the cardio .
The last couple of months I’ve been riding my early 90’s Schwinn Cross bikes that I’ve been rebuilding .
One of them , my Crosscut , I upgraded to 3x8 gearing using a 11-32 8 speed cassette. Now it is the smoothest shifting , easiest peddling bike I own . It has spoiled me .
Today , the rain held off and the roads dried enough for a ride .
I pulled out my black Electra C1 , pumped up the tires and started out riding around the neighborhood. After a little over a mile , my knees and legs were telling me I should have grabbed the Crosscut .
I stuck it out for almost two and a half miles and had to swap bikes .
With the hills in the neighborhood the single speed wasn’t going to cut it .
I love riding my cruisers , but for mileage and climbing hills I own better alternatives.
I ended up riding about 6 1/2 miles .
Once the weather gets to where I have more opportunities to work on my bikes , I’m going to try to convert my single speeds over to 7 speed derailleur system .
I have a Shimano 3 speed Nexus wheelset , but I’ve never been able to get it set to where it works right . I need to give it a try again too.
With my 70th birthday just over a year away , I’m thinking I’m going to need gears to keep riding .

After posting , I got to thinking .
To switch over to a derailleur system I’d probably have to switch out the crank and chainring so the chain will be compatible with both , the cassette and chainring.
Would be nice to have an 8 speed Cruiser with a 36 tooth front chainring.

Watched that video several times . Setting up the Nexus 3 speed I have as they do in the video doesn’t work . It won’t shift .
by trying different positions I was able to get it to work for about 10 minutes and then it quit shifting .
I’d read some Nexus three speeds were sent out with the wrong shift pin . I ordered a replacement pin with the hope that mine had the wrong pin . Nope , when I got the new pin , it was the same length as the one that came with mine .
A three speed conversion would be the easiest and least expensive way to go if I can get it to work .
I bought a two speed kickback wheelset , but riding with a kickback hub takes some getting use to and the gearing seemed too far apart .

Ive been pretty happy with my D7. With the megarange 1st is pretty low for climbing and I can get rolling pretty good in 7th 14-34 7 spd

I did see an 13-34 8 Spd and a 11-34 7 spd on Amazon

Can I called this a Cruiser ?
It’s my Spoiler Cruiser , a 1993 Schwinn Crosscut , but it’s been changed a little . Upright riding position shifts weight from hands to saddle .
new 29” rims with 700x40” tires , Cruiser stem with Riser handlebars and Brooks B-67 saddle . The most comfortable easy riding bike I own .
I hope to duplicate this with its sister , a 1990 Schwinn CrissCross . Parts ordered .

This looks like my Giant Cypress 3x8 drivetrain, 700x40 Scwalbe Hurricanes, suspension seatpost and a 65mm front fork. I still like my 7D better