Show us your hub gear bike

[MissTillyFlop]

Not mine, sadly, but I did that Macdonnald's advert last week and they gave me a Raleigh 20 folding shopper, with Sturmey Archer hub gears. The bike was snot green, the brakes sounded like war breaking out and I was in love.

They wouldn't sell it me though

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

two internal gear boxes....and now with a proper klix water bottle mount instead of zip ties.

 

[mickle]

Mickle, how goes it with the Nuvinci?

I'm glad you asked!

It's the most awesome 'gear' system I've ever used. I'm really impressed with it. The downsides are few, excess weight, complex initial set-up and rear wheel removal, excess shifter resistance under load (all of which have been addressed in the later version) and a tendency to lose drive if over-run coincides with a bump in the road. It can take a few frantic turns of the pedals before it bites. I don't know how efficient is it but when you see what I have it attached to you can see that's not an issue.

Aside from all that it really is the most amazing thing to use. No steps means that the perfect gear is always available. I shift a lot more than I used to, almost constantly sometimes, just because I can. Adjusting my ratio as often as each downstroke of the pedals sometimes. It might just be the ultimate gear system for people who don't want to think about gears.

It's the future. Get a go on one if you can - you'll want one.

Their new fully auto system for electric bikes is even awesomer.

 

[snorri]

This pic was taken of a shiny Sheffield Stand with built in track pump, my hub-geared bike just happened to be parked on it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Why they don't use a 8-speed hub I don't know. Maybe this way works out lighter or cheaper, but it certainly gives a bit of a fiddly shift pattern.

Because it will only take a 20 tooth sprocket and has a different chainline which means tooling for a completely different tensioner.

Also requires fitting a chainset (modded to allow for their overpriced folding pedal) with a small chainwheel made of metal much stronger than cucumber, unlike theirs, which only costs £20 rather than the silly money Brompton charge for theirs.

Brompton need to wake up and smell the coffee. 135mm rear triangle please, and no more comedy double shifters. If people want folders with 'railers plenty of others make 'em. Backwards compatibility and clever engineering will cost them in the end.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Because it will only take a 20 tooth sprocket and has a different chainline which means tooling for a completely different tensioner.

Also requires fitting a chainset (modded to allow for their overpriced folding pedal) with a small chainwheel made of metal much stronger than cucumber, unlike theirs, which only costs £20 rather than the silly money Brompton charge for theirs.

Brompton need to wake up and smell the coffee. 135mm rear triangle please, and no more comedy double shifters. If people want folders with 'railers plenty of others make 'em. Backwards compatibility and clever engineering will cost them in the end.

tbf, the gimmicky shifters have been 100% (over 18,000 miles) reliable and have stood up to some serious abuse from falls and bangs, both from the rider falling off and the bike falling over and quite a serious crash when my wife got the front wheel stuck in some tram lines. the bike is not marketed for hills but for commuters.

i do however detest the rear derailleur spring set up, it is very awkward to fit and gets clogged up in winter, rendering my 12 speed to 6 unequally mixed gears.

i hope the 8 speed is as reliable as you hope, but, on the brompton forum there have been issues with the hub, but this was when they first came out (might be sorted now).

if you couple that 8 speed with a md/sd/hss you'll have an amazing touring bike.

 

[zzpza]

NuVinci equipped LWB Bakfiets

That NuVinci idea looks awesome. I found this cool cut away diag on their website (attached). I had no idea CVT was available for bikes, thanks for the info!

 

[zzpza]

I don't have a bike like this ... but I just had to congratulate you on finding the rudest tree in the forest to photograph yours in front of

 

[GrumpyGregry]

tbf, the gimmicky shifters have been 100% (over 18,000 miles) reliable and have stood up to some serious abuse from falls and bangs, both from the rider falling off and the bike falling over and quite a serious crash when my wife got the front wheel stuck in some tram lines. the bike is not marketed for hills but for commuters.

i do however detest the rear derailleur spring set up, it is very awkward to fit and gets clogged up in winter, rendering my 12 speed to 6 unequally mixed gears.

i hope the 8 speed is as reliable as you hope, but, on the brompton forum there have been issues with the hub, but this was when they first came out (might be sorted now).

if you couple that 8 speed with a md/sd/hss you'll have an amazing touring bike.

Do commuters not ride hills or are Brompton only marketing to flat landers?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Ooh dear, sorry for interrupting a very serious technical thread Greg!!

Point well made...

This is what one of my hubgeared bikes looked like before the weekend.... but it has changed a bit since, what with fettling being such good fun.

 

[MacB]

I'm with Greg on this one, it seems that Bromptons dedication to range compatibility for upgrades etc has stopped progress. Having been very close to buying a Brompton I've ended up opting for a BikeFriday Tikit instead. As far as I can see the Brompton wins for folded size and that's about it, with the Tikit you get:-

a faster fold - though either is fast enough
you can have a folding rear rack so full panniers can be used, or a rack pack in folded position, so no special luggage required
rolls better folded
standard parts can be used and rear spacing is 135mm
QR can be used
you can have swing dropouts for tension on hub gears
the seatpost remains in position through the fold
integral cover located on TT
you can even have a mechanical disc brake on the rear fitted via the swing dropouts so that brakes don't need realigning when you alter the tension

here's the fold:-


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQscBxx7wLE

 

[Soltydog]

Here's my hub geared commuter

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Point well made...

This is what one of my hubgeared bikes looked like before the weekend.... but it has changed a bit since, what with fettling being such good fun.

Tell us you've spray painted it!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Having been very close to buying a Brompton I've ended up opting for a BikeFriday Tikit instead.

I like the look of the BF bikes, did you consider the Mezzo as well, Al?

 

[MacB]

I like the look of the BF bikes, did you consider the Mezzo as well, Al?

had a look but half way through the folding demo I was losing the will to live and that stopped me looking any further. Because I want to run a hub gear, or as single speed, the lack of a tensioner or derailleur for the tikit was a big attraction as well. The other big sell was the standard parts, so my ability to maintain it myself, and the ability to use my normal Ortlieb panniers.

The BF order is still in the pipeline, part of the thing with dealing with the US via the UK, I'd maybe go direct if I had it to do again.