Sachs 3x7 dual drive
 

Any opinions, good or bad, about the Sachs dual drive 3x7 would be very welcome.

I've got one mothballed, ready to build. Apparently they're great. It's a Sachs 3 speed hub (almost indistinguishable from the bomb-proof SA 3 speed), with the splines for a 7 speed cassette. Where can you go wrong? Any derailleur/shifter combo should work, but what I'd like to know is whether an SA trigger shifter will work with the hub, since I want to use it with drop bars.

The SA trigger should work fine for the hub .. I like the setup a lot .. I converted my Sachs 3x7 to 8spd on my Birdy to get a little taller final drive while keeping the original hub/splines..

Sounds like a good thing if you can compare it to the late great SA bombproof 3-speed, but unfortunately I don't know of anybody making even a halfway decent trigger shifter now.

NOS SA trigger shifters are easy to get. I think they're even still made new. Here you go:

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-S...speed-2818.htm

Bruce - how were you able to go to 8 speed?

Sammy - I don't know if those shifters are sold in the US. My first Swift came with 3-speed and a trigger shifter, as put together by Peter Reich. The trigger shifter was total trash and it self-destructed within a week. Mr R said he didn't know where he could get a decent trigger shifter.

If you want help, I can get that one, or this

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-S...speed-9841.htm

I think SJS ship internationally, but if not, I'd be happy to help out, no charge, just what it costs me to get it and ship it.

Sammy - That's mighty white of you, brother, but I don't really need one right now. I'm happily set up as single speed and thinking about getting a 2nd folder - either the new steel Swift, if it ever comes out, or the Pocket Rocket - with a rear derailleur only. You wouldn't know if either of those shifters are sold in the US, would you? You could tell Swift's Mr Reich about them if you want. I have his email address.

If you ever need anything from this side, let me know and I'll return the favor.

I'm surprised he couldn't get them. It took me a minute to find out that Harris stocks them! I'm sure lots of other places do too. Sounds like laziness on his part.

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/sturm...her-parts.html

Sammy - He didn't know about the 15 tooth freewheel that I bought at Harris either. he thought that 16 was the smallest size made. Oh well...

Lordy. They go down to 14t. I think he needs to do some research!

Actually, to 13t!

Sammy - Who sells the 13 and 14? Here's Harris' 15, the one I'm using:

http://harriscyclery.net/itemlist.cf...6&catalogId=39

Well, Harris say they have down to a 14t. SJS, who I linked to before, have down to 13t. Interestingly, however, they only have down to 16t in 3/32. The smaller sizes are all 1/8, so maybe that was the issue?

S -

Here's the blurb next to Harris' 15t, the one I'm using, as linked above:

"The first ever 15 tooth freewheel to fit standard hub threads! Up until now, 16 teeth was the smallest size singlespeed freewheel available in standard threading. AC has found a way to place the pawls outboard, making a 15 tooth viable."

I don't see anything smaller there. I might not mind a lower ss gear. I always liked pushing high gears better than spinning.

I think there's some confusion here, and I think it's come from me. I was talking about Sturmey Archer sprockets. I see that you were talking about freewheels. My bad.

No problem, Sammy - and, like I said, let me know if you ever need anything from this side.

You run a 9spd cassette (remove 1 gear) and 9spd chain ... so in my case, I have an 11-26 (removed a 32t) 24spd ..

Interesting.....

I know you all are looking for triggers, but I found these for my sach's 3x7 dual drive

can't beat the price, and I reduced the clutter(I had a sachs shifter on left and right) so now it is one unit


http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...%2D%20Mountain
Bike Nashbar.com - SRAM Dual-Drive Single-Sided 24-speed Shifter

works perfect

Perfect if you're going to run a pukka Dual Drive derailleur. I plan to run mine with an ex pro-race team Dura Ace derailleur, with drilled jockey wheels, which I'm sure won't index with the SRAM shifter. Also, drop bars will make that thing tricky (though there are bodges which make it possible). I know it's madness to put that RD on a Raleigh 20, but hey, that's me! I'm going to use a trigger shifter and a bar-end friction.

On my folding Vision Metro Recumbent, it came with a 3x7 , it also has grip shifters. I love this set up

Is the shifting the same for the dual drive (3 speed) as the SA 3? Dahon uses brifters to shift the dual drive portion on their Speed Pro TT and it seems to work. I've never tried it, but if you have any brifters around, you might want to try that.

Can I use a Shimano 7 spd RD with this set up and if I use a 32t gear on the cassette do I need a long cage RD?

You can use any short cage derailleur(no need for a long cage unless you have a double/triple up front) as long as the shifter is compatible with which ever one you go with.. Shimano is 2:1 actuation ratio... most SRAM, examples 7.0 9.0 X.0 etc need SRAM shifters (1:1 actuation ratio).. On my SpeedPro ( SRAM Dual Drive) I went with drops and brifters with a short cage Shimano 105 der... left hand brifter operates the hub nicely... however, if you're going Sach hub, I think I read someplace that the cable pull is different than the SRAM, so a brifter on the left might not work with SACHS..