Posts tagged “nexus”  

Reading with interest your adentures with the Modal project bike, and curious about what you’d think about an adaptation I’ve been wanting to try with a slider dropout bike (should I ever get one.) My most recent frame was built with 132.5 mm dropouts at the builder’s recommendation (Moots) to run 130 or 135mm hubs. In normal derailleur “mode” I run 130s (or Bullseyes with extra spacers to be 132.5 exactly), but I also run a 135mm Rohloff hub without having to force the dropouts apart. Nice. But would this work and be better: build a slider frame with 135mm spacing and run stronger 135mm wheels for touring and general riding. But when road racing or in any other situation where borrowing a spare or panic-bought wheel might happen replace the stock sliders (the sliding aluminum parts) with another pair that have dropouts spaced 130mm (and the derailleur hanger positioned to match). That is, offset sliders. Whaddaya think? Thanks, —Eric

Dear Eric Your Modal bike concept sounds interesting and in concept seems workable. However, there a few more things you should consider.

Wore the Novara Kit on a relaxed downtown Seattle ride yesterday. The caption on the shorts says, “Never a Bad Time to Ride.”

I was on the Modal in Nexus mode. Without a cyclo-computer and a smooth internally-geared drivetrain, it was just a relaxing ride.

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Drop-Bar Nexus

The Modal is a Bike Hugger travel bike concept that folds and toggles between single, fixed, and geared modes. Our latest mode is internally geared with a drop-bar Nexus setup. 

This wheel was built by Hed for us with Nexus 8 Speed Premium "Red Band" attached to an Ardenne. The Nexus connects to a Jtek bar-end shifter.

The initial ride report is smooth and what we'd expect from the setup. Mark geared it to cruise along the flats and climb Seattle's steep hills with a 39 x 21. Note that the drivetrain works like a bar-end shifter connected to a Rapid Rise MTB derailer: moving the levers has the opposite effect. It's reversed.

The shifting is responsive, tight, and feels like Ultregra. You can palm the shifter for quick shifting and I got used to the reverse setup within a few shifts. Other internally-geared hubs require you to stop pedaling to shift. The Nexus Red Band does not. I ran through the gears up and down and J-tek's indexing is audible enought to hear the shift: not vague and sounds solid.

Mechanics have always hacked various drivetrains bits, including various drop-bar setups. While this is technically a hack, it doesn't shift like one at all. The Nexus of course adds weight, but nothing that noticeable. It doesn't feel like there's a boat anchor attached to the back of a reasonably light road bike.

We'll spend much more time on this bike going into the late Summer and Fall. The next challenge is to travel with it.

More Drop-Bar Nexus Setups

• Dynamic's Alfine Road Bike: The Synergy
• Ecovelo: Alfine equipped Casseroll
• Hubstripping
• Bikeforums
• Hiawatha Cyclery
• Flickr Photos
• Modal Tag

Breezer Bikes is joining us during WebVisions in Portland for the Mobile Social. Besides riding and talking bikes, they're giving away an Uptown 8. A bike that won Bicycling Magazine Editor's Choice Award 2009 for Best Commuter and is equipped with Nexus and Busch & Müller generator lights.

How to win

Ride with us during the MoSo, get your raffle ticket, and clutch it lovingly while we call out the numbers. If you're number is called, boom, you're commuting on a Breezer 8. If you don't win the Uptown, well we're also giving away Hed Wheels, Princeton Tec lights, and more.

The Modal is a travel bike concept that folds and toggles between single, fixed, and geared modes. This wheel was built with Nexus 8 Speed Premium "Red Band" attached to a Hed Ardennes. It's for internal-gear mode and we're building this up now with a drop bar.

Bike Hugger Modal tags.

I was asked for a follow-up on my post about how I coverted my Single Speed to an 8sp. I rode it for about a month before swapping back to single to get ready for cross season. Here’s a couple bullets on the good and the bad.

Is this old news?

I knew it was at Trekworld ‘07, but I haven’t actually seen this bike until today. It’s pretty - real simple setup, with an amazing Ivory paint job. The Nexus hub and the throw-back bar/stem/saddle is pretty darn cool looking. I may have to pull the trigger on that one.

Spotted at River City Cycles in Portland, OR.
That front basket is NICE!

I finally have my geared option for my One One Pompino cyclocross bike. I worked with Scotty down at uBRDO to finally dig up a Shimano Nexus 8 Speed hub and convert my single/fixed cross bike into sunny day road cruiser. I’ve been planning on doing this for quite some time, but was re-engerized to make the move after seeing the Hiawatha Cyclery bike.