+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|b|a|d|c|y|c|l|i|s|t|.|c|o|m|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

mama’s don’t let your babies grow up to be cyclists

Single-Speed Confessions – How Many Gears Do You Really Need? (Nexus 3 Experimentation)

I can’t remember the last time I had a geared bike. Well, that’s what I used to say. As the title alludes to, I’ve finally gotten around to gearing one of my bikes. It wasn’t an easy decision, having run all of my bicycles as single-speed for as long as I can remember. And I think it’s safe to say that there’s an element of defeat in ‘regressing’ back to a geared setup as a devout single-speeder, and if you’re a fellow 1×1’er – don’t nail me to the cross just yet.

Ditching the Gears, why?

I want to give a little bit of background before I get into my gear experimentation. I went single-speed yonks ago, and some of you may be wondering why I ditched gears in the first place. The reason was derailleurs. I could never get along with them, I found them a struggle to setup in a way that didn’t require constant maintenance. I still stand by that, by the way. Derailleurs do the job, but being an external component that protrudes from the frame, there’s a risk of bending or completely snapping off your derailleur on rocks and roots. Another negative is that the shifting can be directly impacted by dirt and grime from the environment and cable stretch, and last but not least, it looks awfully clunky and is far noisier than a single-speed setup.

A comparison between a multispeed external geared bike and singlespeed

I also found that derailleurs seem to be impacted a lot more by load, and as a heavy rider, I have been able to flex a frame enough to get the chain skipping – on more than one occasion. Mind you, I used older pre-clutch derailleurs, so perhaps that could have been a factor?

Regardless, I definitely am not a fan of the external gear setups, and that was why I went single-speed. The simplicity of having one chainring in the front and one sprocket in the rear allowed me to commit more to the ride, by taking the need for shifting out of the equation. My theory is that for some, like myself, the gear options can destroy momentum and drive. Focusing on which gear you might need for an upcoming hilly section, or a downhill section, can be a chore. Especially as you crunch through the cassette, desperately trying to find the sweet spot. And the more gears, the more spoilt for choice you are – a true headache, akin to picking a film in the day and age of endless on-demand streaming.

So, to sum it up, single-speeding has less room for failure and results in a tidier, less cluttered appearance while allowing you to pedal more directly, with basically no drag at all. A perfect setup for a person that wants something that just works, with minimal need for maintenance.

Blasphemous Experimentation

So, I’ve sat here praising single-speed bikes for what feels like an eternity and your glass is half empty (or are you an optimist?) and you’re thinking.. Surely the answer to the post title is ‘one‘. But bear with me, although I firmly believe that one cog is all you really need, I won’t deny that having multiple gears is a welcome luxury. Though I’ve ridden single-speed for a long time, there has been moments where I’ve thought: “Would be nice to have an easier gear for this hill” or “Would be nice not to spin out on this flat section“.

And I think I’ve cracked it. The cure for my knee-cramping blues is true blast from the past, a gearing system that pre-dates the derailleur, a gearing system that, to many, is seen as a only worthy of a utility bike – not an off-roading racy beast. Any guesses? If you thought: He must be talking about internal gear hubs, then congratulations. There’s no prize as we’re on a budget here, but know that you’re awfully clever.

I looked into various internal gear hubs, and quickly determined that what I needed was a 3-speed hub. There are many options these days. I was utterly shocked when I discovered that you can get an Alfine 11-speed hub! Obviously I knew of Rohloff speedhubs, which offers 14 speed, but pricewise neither the Alfine 11 or the Rohloff were viable, and so I decided not to include them in my considerations at the time. I also knew that the Alfine and Rohloff offered too many gears for me personally, as another element of geared bikes I didn’t enjoy was the constant hide-and-seek you had to play, until you found the right gear for the terrain to come. It’s important to remember that having many gradual gear jumps is really only a concern for someone who needs to keep a strong cadence while road riding, and so applies less to us mere mortals.

With 3-speed, the middle/second gear is ‘direct drive’. What this means is that in the second gear, you are driven by the physical sprockets, and the planetary gears inside the hub aren’t engaged. This means that in direct drive, you essentially have your preferred singlespeed gearing. Perfect. Now the question is: Which hub am I getting?

Sturmey Archer, SRAM or Shimano?

I had a pretty tough time picking the right hub for my needs. I knew that Sturmey Archer would be a safe bet, as many folks have proven their resilience, and for a while that was the route I was going. A huge positive is that Sturmey Archer hubs can be purchased new still. Shortly after I then obtained a bike kitted with Sachs components and for a while I thought maybe that was the right direction, but I’d have to scour the used market, unless I decided to go with SRAM (who purchased Sachs). But I was getting eager to experiment and I knew that neither Sturmey or SRAM would be easily available here. So, I opted for a Nexus Inter 3 hub, primarily because the hubs are incredibly cheap and very accessible. It should be noted that I had also heard rather good things about the durability of the ‘Red Stripe’ Nexus 3 speed, as a matter of fact there’s a fair few mountain bikers on MTBR who’ve ridden the Nexus 3 offroad for years.

That said, I admit that the purchase wasn’t without plenty of doubts and concerns. When I think of Nexus hubs, I usually think of lower end aluminium commuters, unlikely to last for any sort of riding that isn’t short trips to-and-fro the shops. There’s something rather disposable about the Nexus hubs, being kitted on anything from absolute gutrot selections in the hardware store to overpriced alu lumps at the LBS. But I wasn’t deterred by that, and on a drunken night I installed the Nexus 3 speed kit on my Cross Check.

My Nexus 3 kitted Cross Check with coaster brake and front v-brake. How clean is that?!

3 speed, all you need?

I am not willing to abandon my single-speeding ways, let that be known! But with that being said, I think if I were to approach the aspect of gearing with a fellow single-speeder, this would be the way to go. Why? Well, because 3-speed shares the simplicity that attracts people to running 1×1. Sure, the hub itself could fail and then you’d have a big of a repair on your hands, but as far as internal gear hubs go, 3 speed is definitely one of the simplest. This means that a laymen wrencher could potentially take it apart and repair, in contrast to something more complex like an Alfine or, god forbid, a faulty Rohloff. And should a Nexus 3 hub fail – after years of use – they’re affordable and plentiful both used and new. But it wasn’t just the durability that I was attracted by. A fantastic thing about having only 3 gears is that it doesn’t clutter your way of thinking as you ride, you’re not concerned about finding the ‘right gear’ in the same way you are with, let’s say, a modern 11/12 speed setup.

With 3-speed gear hubs, you’ve got the uncluttered, clean feeling of a single-speed, with just that bit more range. You don’t have to fish after the right gear, but you also don’t have to suffer through it. Even though you might have found the perfect single-speed gearing that allows you to handle both climbs and the flats, there’s no doubt that you’ll have times where you wish you had that bit extra range. With a 3 speed you get to have your preferred gearing as the direct drive (middle gear) on your shifter, but should you ever need it, you’ll have a slightly easier gear to handle those tough climbs, and should you find yourself spinning out, you’re got your harder third gear to handle that. As a result you’ve got the versatility of a geared setup, without the guess-work of a more excessive multi-speed setup.

So, it’s safe to say that my experimentation has led me to one discovery: Geared bikes don’t have to be a dead-end of maintenance and clutter, and they can improve your riding experience significantly. I still feel like I’m on a single-speed bike most of the time, and should I suddenly feel my legs seizing up on a particular rough climb, I’m just one click away from Nirvana. To get an idea of the sort of range you’ll have, you can quite easily emulate it on a bicycle with a front derailleur. If you have a triple setup, the gear jumps on a 3 speed hub gear is going to be similar to that of your three front rings.

Low maintenance? How low can you go?

I did shortly brush over the lower maintenance needs of internal gear hubs compared to derailleurs, and how it bears resemblance to the lack of maintenance required on singlespeed bikes. Due to the fact that an internal gear hub doesn’t rely on multiple cogs, the wear and tear is very alike that of a singlespeed bike. With a derailleur the chain has to move from sprocket to sprocket, which causes faster wear of both the chain and the sprockets themselves. On top of that multi-speed chains are more expensive and so is a cassette in contrast to a single sprocket and chainring combination.

Singlespeed bikes have one sprocket front and rear, and typically use a burly 1/8 chain, identical to an internally geared bike. So, in that way there’s really little difference between an internal gear and a singlespeed drivetrain on the surface level, the only real difference is additional weight from the gear hub and the possibility of the internals of the gear hub failing. You will also have to do occasional maintenance of the gear hub to ensure it’s indexed properly. This is done by popping the hub into the second gear, the “direct drive”, and aligning the little yellow dot between the two yellow lines, using the barrel adjuster.

Properly adjusted Nexus 3

Obviously you will also have to occasionally replace the gear cable as it stretches, but overall the maintenance needs of a 3 speed Nexus hub is negligible. Many have run these cheap hubs for years with little to no adjustment or maintenance on commuter bikes, which see a much rougher life than people assume in the cold, damp conditions of Northern Europe. And as mentioned earlier, should your Nexus 3 fail, it is likely that you’d be able to take it apart and repair it yourself, because in contrast to IGH with greater speeds, such as 5/7/8/11, the humble 3 speed has far less complicated internals. That’s partly what makes it so bombproof.

Internal gubbins of a Nexus 3 coaster braked hub

A Few Finalising Notes

Before I wrap this up, I do want to just add a little bit of information which may be of use to someone considering going for a a Nexus 3 hub. Firstly, the Nexus 3 unfortunately only comes with a gripshifter, which means that if you’re on a road bike using drop bars, you will need to find a different way to mount it. An example could be to use a HubBub adapter which is essentially a bar end expanding plug that a gripshifter can be clamped unto. You can also try to use a friction shifter, as 3-speed hubs only really have 3 positions and only one of them is crucial. 1st gear is cable slack, second gear is a set indexed position where the yellow dots align (refer to the picture of adjustment further up) and the third gear is cable tight. So, with friction shifters you’d just have to learn how to find the second gear consistently.

If the gripshifter is a problem, I’d recommend going for a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub, as they do offer a nice little thumb shifter. There’s reports of these Sturmey Archer and Dreigang thumbshifters being used on Nexus 3 units, and I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. The most crucial thing will always be to ensure that the second, direct drive, gear is properly indexed.

Another little bit of information that some of you may find useful has to do with braking. As mentioned earlier, I opted for a coaster braked hub. It is possible to get a disc braked Nexus 3, but they’re a lot pricier and harder to come by. At least here in Europe. I personally quite like the coaster brakes, but if you have a vertical dropout frame, you may run into issues as using tensioners don’t mix well with coaster brakes. And obviously some people might have a hard time getting on with a coaster brake. But fear not, an option is to disable the coaster brake and use v-brakes or cantilevers, provided the wheel has a braking surface and the frame is able to run rim brakes. This is a simple procedure that I’ll provide more information about in an a separate post soon.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Meet Chris. A professional catdad riddled with bike hoarding disorder and compulsive wrenching disorder. I ride (poorly), build (badly) and try to document my doings to my best ability in the online realm.

On my website you will find my bike musings, build journals and resources that may be of use to you. Or maybe they’ll send you down a perilous path and leave you stranded in a knowledge vacuum. I know that I know nothing.. or whatever.

Designed with WordPress