Seconded. If I can get off my lazy butt,I'm installing a Nexus 7 on my 1x1 and swapping to a disc front. My Giant is the current bad weather bike,but it's too much of a bumblecrow. It's ok for my commute,but slows me down too much when running with the Pirates.

Got the Nexus,now I just need to find a matching Rhino Lite disc front. I'm also thinking about going hydraulic for the disc. I really dig the setup on my Marin,which feels just like the motorcycles I've owned.

There are no 'settings' on the Nexus hub. Just adjusters for wear. To change gearing,you need to swap cogs at the front and/or rear. Changing the rear is easiest,plus changing the front may lead to clearance issues for the chainguard.

Speaking of speed.... i get up to 27mph on small declines with my 42lb (loaded) mtn bike. Most of the problem with speed is the tires. I have a 1.95 in front and a 1.5 in the back with a good amount of pressure in each and low profile street tread. I wouldn't think the breezer would be any "slower" than what i have.

Cog on! (yeah, that's what I'll consider doing)

I'm surprised the internal gear hubs have a load limit that low--they look complex but strong. Nothing on the Simano website says there is a limit (although I wouldn't doubt there is).

The Breezer diamond frame bike load is listed at 300 pounds--it shouldn't be if the gearing that's part of the bike will fail under such a load.

Impressive list of bikes, dynaryder!

(Couldn't ride in today and I'm missing it! It has been snowing since last evening. I only go when the roads are cleared.)

I use my Nexus-geared bike to take my daughter to day camp every day during the summer. That's 220 pounds of bike and I, 20 pounds of trailer and trail-a-bike, and 50 pounds of child and backpack = 290 pounds. I'm standing on the pedals all the way up some of the hills. No problems. The SRAM may have lower limits.

Paul

My Sachs Torpedo (SRAM) 3 speed and Sachs Spectro 7 Coaster Hubs have never had a problem with me (200-235 lbs) on 40 pound bikes with either 10-15 pounds of commuting stuff or cargo up to two 24-can cases of beverage.

In Philadelphia in the 70's I routinely would carry 3 cases of 16 ounce returnable bottles of beer on a Sachs Torpedo 3 speed equipped Sears bike as well Sturmey Archer 3 and 5 speed hubs on various Raleighs, though I weiged 25 pounds less it still was quite a load never had a problem with hubs or spokes, though I had to rebraze the lugs on two bikes.

Ahh, don't believe any *load limits* some rep quoted a bike shop, because in real life it doesn't matter. US parts reps know very little about these hubs.... it's quite likely they have never even road a bike with the hub they are talking about for more than 3 blocks.

In Europe 250lb riders get years of use out of internal hubs. People make crazy freight hauling bikes with internal hubs. Both SRAM and Nexis hubs are very tough-- they are street proven for millions of miles in Asia and Europe.

But don't take my word for this.... email some bike shop in Holland. They will get a good laugh out of it.

tacomee--I got to agree with you. He's probably a disgruntled employee, since he's citing load limits that aren't in their literature.

d2create--I agree--I think a Breezer will prove to be faster than a mountain bike, which is still fast enough for many purposes (wow--you do pretty well on it). I'm not worried about the speed anymore--I just saw those big tires and freaked out, since I'm not interested in buying a beach cruiser! I didn't realize that those tires are pretty efficient and don't slow you down. I'm comfortable riding fatter tires, since it is safer as I traverse across the pot-hole infested streets of Cleveland!

I just checked out SRAM's site and found this:
http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/..._S7_2_2002.pdf

Page 12 says, "Caution:The Spectro S7 hubs are not suitable for tandems,tradesmen's delivery bicycles,and similar." .

I couldn't find anything on actual weight limits. I'm thinking the rep was just being overly cautious. I also nosed around Shimano's Nexus site and didn't see anything there about weight cautions.

There's a difference between a bike carrying a 300lb road and the stress put on a drivetrain by a 200+lb human hammering away rather than spinning easily. I imagine I would be fine in bad weather, since taking it easy is the better part of valor in those conditions, and would be on my Fuji the rest of the time.

I'm hoping it's just an SRAM thing, but the way this guy talked, he's seen damage on all types of internal geared hubs with 200+ riders mashing away. Of course, I'm more of a spinner than a masher, so I might be OK. I'm not sure I want to spend the bucks to experiment though.

chipcom--I don't see this as an experiment. I've done a lot of reading on these hubs and believe them to be reliable. I came across descriptive words such as "indestructable, long-lasting, no-maintenance," and didn't read anything regading regular failures and overloading concerns.

Sometimes people overhear conjecturing type of conversations and later spew them out as fact. Or, if he's in sales, he likely has a dog in the race.

Actually he was some kind of engineer, but what he says seems to conflict with everything else I have read and what folks who have actually used these things say here. I think I will keep it in consideration for my perfect all-weather commuter, but while I continue to obsess over that project, I'm just gonna get an old mountain bike to replace my winter beater for commuting until the roads are clear of salt.

Ya know, I always dreamed of having a nice bike, rather than all the beaters I had for most of my life. Now that I finally have one, I still gotta have a beater since I don't want to mess up the nice bike in the snow, salt and muck! What's that they say about being careful what you wish for? :rolleyes:

Does Sach's have a sales rep who prefers to avoid even the remote possibility of warranty claims by claiming Sach's hubs can't handle a 200 pound, "strong" rider". Perhaps.

But, the Rohloff internal hub has been tested as being "bullet proof" under thousands of miles of the most brutal treatment any bike would ever be subjected to. I think of my beach cruiser with a Nexus hub as my "hurricane" bike. I use it almost exclusively in bad weather, because it has wide, wrap-around fenders, a chainguard, a Nexus hub, and coaster brakes.

And, my Nexus hub works well on water covered roads. I've ridden with water splashing up above the hub...it continued to shift and brake perfectly. During one tropical storm in Houston, I was at a friend's house with all of the roads and bridges leading of the neighborhood under water. School kids were still in the school at 8 p.m., because school buses could not get through. But, my bike with the Nexus hub got through.

200 pounds loads? Well, my bike carries loads of over 200 pounds (not my fault...the bike itself is heavy, and I often have the saddle bags filled with stuff). The Nexus hub works well under any load, easily shifting at any speed. I've owned about twenty bikes over the past decade. None could match the Nexus bike for reliability and for requiring zero repairs.

I hope so, too, Alan. Not only from a commuter's perspective, but from a parent's perspective as well. I'm dog gone sick and tired of driving my kids everywhere! The suburb I'm in is only a couple of miles on each side! Kids could ride everywhere.

However, the popular bikes are bmx and mountain. No chainguards, fenders, racks, or lights. The mountain bikes have lots of gears. Go look at them at a school. They are in a state of disrepair! Gears rub or don't work. Or the kids don't know how to use them. Brakes need adjustment.

My oldest kid is 16. He can't use a frickin' wrench. Few kids can.

Kids need simple, maintenance free or low maintenance bikes for commuting. Breezer's need to offer a coaster brake version for them. They need fixed speed or 3 or 7 speed internal gear hubs, with very little maintenance. They need chain guards desperately. Could it rain on them during their ride home? Duh? Get them fenders!

The old Schwinn Racer was the perfect bike!

I don't know what happened with the bike industry. However, the manufacturers are missing the boat--if you increase the miles people ride a bike daily, more bikes will be sold. It could again be an American pastime. This will only happen with a huge increase in sales of appropriately equipped bikes.

alanbikehouston and thdave, if you're right (and I hope you are), Breezer will make a fortune, and others will join the market.

On the other hand, if kids think the Breezer looks uncool, they won't ride it. I'd rather seem them having fun on a crappy MTB or MBX than playing video games while a Breezer (or a Breezer-like-bike) sits unused in the garage.

Edited to add "(or a Breezer-like-bike)"

I want all the bike companies to make appropriate bikes for kids commuting to school--it doesn't have to be Breezer alone.

Sooner or later, mountain bike's won't be cool anymore. Everything changes.

I think it has already, all the kids around here are into BMX bikes.

And I hope the kids have fun on them. Eventually, some of them will discover that a BMX bike is not the most efficient way to get from Point A to Point B, and they'll look for better alternatives, especially if enough geezers like me blow by them.

With kids, I say as long as it has two wheels and pedals, let them have fun. If they discover the joy of cycling, the rest will fall into place later.