A Modest Proposal

In my last post, I didn't address the problems I had fitting Shimano (really, Shimano-style) cogs on the S3X. I had some difficulty getting the cheap BMX cogs on the hub splines. It took a bit of filing and fiddling to get the 15T cog on. This is not to say that the cogs are poorly made. Apparently, Shimano style cogs are not exactly the same pattern as the SA cogs, which is a bit bizarre, since they're ALMOST exactly the same. The cogs I bought are FMF BMX cogs, which are made to fit Shimano drivers, and really do fit easily over the Shimano splines. The Harris Cyclery site mentions this slight incompatibility and recommends Surly cogs for the S3X. Why they fit better, I don't know, as they are made to be compatible with Shimano drivers. Obviously, the SA cogs will fit perfectly, but they are for 1/8" chain. I run a 3/32" chain, not 1/8".

Speaking of cogs and fitting the S3X, it's pretty cool that they threaded the driver all the way across. This apparently allows for screwing a single-speed freewheel on the S3X, which is somewhat interesting as an option. I doubt anyone would choose the S3X for a full-time freewheel application when the SA 3 speed freewheel hub is a lot cheaper.  Having the versatility of easily converting a wheel to a freewheel then back to fixed is not new, of course. Flip-flop hubs are all over the place. But, the S3X has the same versatility of accepting a freewheel, plus it's got 3 speeds. It's intriguing.....

Before you flame me (ala Chalo) for even contemplating the crazy-ass idea of using a single speed freewheel on the S3X, consider the possibility that diverse ways of thinking make life interesting. I've already accepted the multi-speed fixed gear into my biking life (and so have you, unless you're just lurking on this site to shake your head in wonderment that such fools exist). This proves I'm not a purist. The S3X  on its own is a huge leap into the bizarre and the stoopid, in the minds of some of our biking brethren. It's not much farther to go to fall into the sublimely ridiculous, like, ummm.....say, recumbent bikes. But no, thinking of trying a freewheel doesn't mean I'm thinking of a freewheel equipped S3X mounted on a canvas bodied recumbent trike. But, what if I was?

Were?

It's all good. But, really, I'm not.

I'm just thinking, well, century. Or some longish ride where being able to coast would be, like, restful? Or somewhere with extreme downhill sections? That'd mean a rear brake and all, I know. Maybe one of those suicide brake levers and a long cable ziptied to the frame for the day would work out, huh? Easy on, easy off.

It's just a thought.

Don't be hatin'.

Shift Cabling Revisited

Well, check out the pics. I bought a couple of bits from Harris Cyclery to make the shift-work more accurate and easier. The long cable housing and jury-rigged clamp were really binding up the shift cable.

I re-did the whole thing, eliminating most of the cable sheath. I added a cable stop at the extreme front end of the toptube, and added a pulley to transition down the seat stays. This was how they did it with the old English 3-speeds, I think. What I will change later is turn the clamps bolt-side down by flipping them over.

It's a bit obtrusive. I would prefer less stuff. Us fixie folks don't like mess. We don't like stuff. We want everything clean and simple. We want..... well....less, I guess.

I hear you. I asked for it. I got involved with... well....  more.

OK. So I have to live with it. But what about mounting the shifter on the seatpost? Or to a rack braze-on on the seatstay? (I don't have one.)  Or some kind of adapter that clamps to the seatstay? Or, borrowing the brake lever idea from the mountain unicycle crowd, a special clamp under the seat? I downshift/upshift maybe 3x on a ride. Reaching down to the seatpost 6 times in 2 hours is not a problem.

Or just go as-is.

Which is what I'll do, for now.