BarracksSi

What he wants to do (and I agree) is to be able to shift without having to jump for the brakes. I don't want to be caught having to brake suddenly in the middle of shifting without also having my hands near or on the brakes.

Road-style brifters are good for this, as are the typical flat bar setups with both the brake and shifters at one's fingertips. Shifters on the downtube, stem, and in the bar ends are simply more awkward.

A neat alternative that I'd consider would be bullhorns with a bar end shifter for the IGH, aero/tri brake levers also at the ends of the bars, and cross levers inboard near the stem.

daven1986

I too find this. I have bar end shifters on one of my bikes and they are much more inconvenient, good for me though as this bike is soon to be an around town bike and bar end shifters are not very "fashionable" for theft (I hope)!

Brifters for me though all the time on all other bikes which is why I am waiting for the alfine shifter to be more readily available before going IGH.

noglider 

The time it takes me to move my hands from shifter to brake lever is about the same amount of time it takes me to move my foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal. After 100 years of car and road regulation, this has been found to be adequately safe.

I don't question that brifters add convenience, but my point is that a small delay is acceptable for me. A little practice on the bike and I'm quite ready to apply the brakes in nearly all situations.

PaulRivers

And hey, after thinking about it I guess I'm not saying there's anything "wrong" doing it that way. It's like disc brakes vs rim brakes. I find my bike with disc brakes stops a little faster, but I just adjust my riding style to suit slightly longer stopping distances and everything is fine. It's not even unsafe, just a little bit slower and less aggressive.

But two situations come to mind for my riding -
1. I spend a lot of time riding the MUP for transportation. It's a pretty wide MUP decently suited for across town riding. I do give pedestrians, joggers, and people with pets room so if they make a sudden unexpected move I have stopping or swerving distance. If my hands weren't on the brakes I'd totally have to pay attention to where my hands were when I'm passing them and if I was shifting trying to shift before I got close. What a pain! haha :-) Plus if I'm coming up on them and they start looking like they might move I can downshift to go slower without taking my hands off the brakes.
2. When I come up to an intersection there's always a point right where I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to stop and downshift or cruise on through the intersection. If my hands weren't on the shifters and brakes at the same time, I'd have to start slowing down sooner or it would make it difficult to break and downshift before stopping. All you have to do to be safe is slow down more but come on - that would add 2 or 3 minutes to my ride! :-)

So after thinking about it I'm not saying it's unsafe to ride with shifters that are away from the brakes as long as you adjust your riding style to never shift when you might suddenly need your brakes. But when I'm in the city, that rather adds up to a lot of my cycling time, not to mention situations where I need to shift because I'm starting and stopping or speeding up and slowing down are also often situations where I might need to brake suddenly (intersections, particularly, or where I'm passing a pedestrian on a MUP or something). It's totally possible to just avoid shifting in those situations and be no less safe, but I certainly enjoy being able to accelerate faster and clear the area by shifting without increasing my stopping time by taking my hands off my brakes. :-)

gamecat

This is the setup I had on my old Trek, soon to be replicated on my new Trek. Only with an 8 speed cassette and RD rather than an IGH in back--the FD and second chainwheel was removed.




So far as why SA/Sunrace decided to produce a freewheel adapter for the S3X--as suggested above, they're trying to replicate the adaptability of a flip-flop hub. This is intended to be a drop in replacement for the FG crowd, after all. Having to change out the fixed/splined cog for the SS frewheel isn't as simple as flipping the wheel, but it does preserve the option have having one bike be both your FG and SS.

aidy

I think the freewheel actually screws on the other side of the hub...

gamecat

Really? I didn't think that would work w/a standard IGH--I thought the power input had to be on one side. But then again, I'm not the most mechanically gifted fellow.

tatfiend 

Take a look at this blowup of the S3X cog off photo and blow it up to max size on screen.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SCUutbkkCn...2008-12-26.jpg

So far as I can see the only thing threaded is the splined cog attachment area. The left end of the outer housing appears to be both too large in diameter and unthreaded so far as I can tell. This indicates the hub can have a splined FG cog mounted or a freewheel but not both.

BTW unless there is a way to lock the hub input driver, removal of a installed threaded freewheel could get interesting IMO. Have to read the manual once available for on line download.

rfomenko

My "three speed" bike:

bbattle

Many bikes with IGH have twist-grip shifters. Your hand never has to move from the handle to either shift or brake. Even the SA shifter can be adjusted using one finger.

BarracksSi

And I friggin' HATE twist-grip shifters. I'm always holding onto just half a grip to keep from accidentally shifting (which is especially stupid when standing and pedaling hard -- I'd rather be able to just grab the bars and not worry about dropping the chain). Even with thumb shifters, I move them inboard so that I won't click a shift just by hitting a big bump.

Twist-grip shifters also won't fit onto drop bars or bars with a sharp bend without cutting and reassembling the bars. Why bother doing that when there are barend levers or the upcoming road brifter?

If someone wants to feel like they're riding a motorcycle as they crack and crunch into the next gear, I'm not gonna stop them. I'm never putting one on any bike I own, though.

noglider 

I had a stingray-style bike when I was a kid (late 60's, early 70's). It was all kids rode. It had a STICK-SHIFT and a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub!

bbattle

Ah, the "Soprano" bike.

PaulRivers

ditto

tatfiend 

I have one drop bar IGH bike set up with my own home machined version of the Hubbub twist shifter adapter for drop bars. Out of the way and works well. Ideal, probably not for many riders but it does solve the problem for IGH hubs that are only available with grip type shifters. IMO no more inconvenient than down tube shifters for derailleurs which were used for 40 years or so on most bikes or bar end derailleur shifters.

I also have a Steelwool Tweed frame due Monday which will use the Shimano Alfine hub and Jtek bar end shifter mounted on randonneur bars, at least for starters.

HandsomeRyan

I added a SRAM S7 [seven speed] IGH to my Motobecane Messenger. Its awesome. The hardest part was mounting the shifter. Since I have some fabrication experience and a metric arse-load of tools I was able to whip something up in my garage but the commercally available units are expensive.

Check it out....

https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/515896-motobecane-messenger-seven-point-oh.html