Greetings, catching up on old e-mails I noticed someone asking about
SA hubs with multiple front rings...
This set-up was one of my 2 favorite rides in the early '80s. I had a
triple front with a SA3 rear wheel and a limit-screw locked-down rear
deraileur. A wonderful, wide-range 9spd. (I often thought of (but
never did it) putting 2 cogs on the SA hub itself as the shoulder of the
cogs bent to the side (I think several people on this list have done that.)
This was the only way I could find to get a gear as high as I wanted
(I like to push hard and slower on the pedals than many people). My
other favorite ride of that era was a nice basic lugged touring frame
with wide 26" tires on a single speed with back pedal brake
("primitive" "cross bike"). This has evolved into now using an old
Sachs 2spd from an old Moulton as my rear wheel, with a modern version
of the Sunbeam 2spd front crank that had a planetary gear set-up where
the spider of a more common style crank would be. The sunbeam gave a
1.3333 overdrive (the modern version I use is Swiss made by schlumpf and
has a 1.65X overdrive, but also available with 2.5X overdrive or 2.5X
"under"drive). I love the gears with no cables.
If anyone has a usable Sunbeam 2spd crank, or knows where I could get
one, I would greatly appreciate knowing about it.
Tailwinds to you all
Thomas Seaman
Portland, Oregon
U.S. of A.