8 year old son requests - single to multi-speed

[thatismytruck]

So Boy has an Electra Townie we bought him about 2 years ago. Nice bike, single speed coaster brake. His friend has the 8 speed Townie. Guess what I've been battling?

As luck would have it, I found an abandoned 5 speed girls 20 inch mountain no name bike on the side of the road. So I tell him I can do it. I may have been over confident. I started to break down the donor bike and noticed it had cable "lugs". Boy's bike does not have these. Can I accomplish this task? thanks in advance.

 

[sensor]

anythings possible :wink:
got a picture of the cable lugs? sorry im not sure im thinking of the right things.....

 

[Chainsaw]

If I understand what your saying :
The simple way or as I call it "Chainsaw way"......
Cut a section of metal out of the donor frame that has the cable mount attached. and bolt it, screw it or weld it to the Townie's frame.
Hope this is what you're pondering. I did this on one of my bikes and it worked great. I'm sorry but I don't have any picturs.
Good luck,
Chainy

 

[user 135]

If it is just the brazeon's where the cable housing goes into, just run housing the whole run and ziptie. I assume his bike has front linear pull brakes(v brakes), but you might have to figure out rear brakes. The coaster version doesn't have the brake bosses. The best would be to find a 3 speed hub with coaster brake. Mounting a derailer setup will be tough because the rear will not be wide enough and aluminum is hard to spread.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah,how about a 3sp. rear hub and a 3 sproket crank?

That would give him 1-Upsmanship with a 9sp.

 

[rick74304]

There are a variety of different cable clamps out there, a quick ebay search yielded this guy's listings with a bunch of different styles.http://stores.ebay.com/SCHWINN-STOR...CABLES-CABLE-CLAMPS_W0QQfsubZ1215038QQfrsrcZ1
Prices seem a little steep, either your lbs or someone here should have something to fix you up once you determine what diameter you need.
Zip ties would work in a pinch, and i'm liking the 3 plus 3 set-up mentioned too.
Rick

 

[thatismytruck]

great ideas all.

to whomever suggested running cable jacket the entire way: This might be the way to go. Don't know why I didn't think of it. I may even have some extra around. I'm at work now and can't go look, but this might be the ticket.

chainsaw, if I didn't mine screwing into his frame I would do that in a minute. I'll keep that idea in storage.

If I found a 3 speed hub I would have been ecstatic. That way he keeps his coaster brake and can still skid like mad. 8) (his bud can't do that) He wants top speed over skidding though. :roll:

The 5 speed wheel fits inside the frame. The 20" townie frames are the same except for components so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to mount the derailaur. The brakes I found are old school (this means cheapo) center pulls that bolt to the frame/fork with one center bolt. easy to adapt to his bike. No "lugs" needed.

I've been to that ebay store before, it's one of my "favorites". Lots of good stuff there, just expensive. I really cannot spend any money on this either.

Thanks again. I'll be puttering in the basement some tonight, I'll see what I can accomplish.