Hey everybody...
This is actually jumping ahead a bit, because I don't even have the bike yet, nor do I have the specs to know what I'm dealing with, so call this one of those dilemmas that's keeping me awake thinking about...
I've decided my next bike is going to be the Ocean Pacific cruiser from Wally-World. I saw the thread and the reviews on it, and I'm in love with how it looks. Apes, of course, are going to be added, along with a few other things, but the biggest deal is going to be converting it to a three-speed.
I've been dealing with single-speed bmx bikes my whole life, so bear with me. Some of this stuff is a bit alien to me.
I've been reading about the internal hubs... lots of good points and bad. To me, they seem like a shot in the dark as to whether I would like one of them. An expensive shot in the dark. I know it would probably be the easiest conversion (if the hub will fit), but I can't seem to find any of them with a freewheel... which is important to me. I can't ride with a coaster brake, because I like being able to adjust my pedal position from a stop without lifting up the back wheel. I also found out while riding my friend's bike that I have a tendency to slam the brake on all the time because I have the subconscious habit of spinning my cranks backward while coasting (that's a heck of a way to discover a habit...). :shock:
The other option is putting a triple crankset on with a derailleur and some kind of clamp-on chain tensioner. I would then get a freewheeling hub. I can live with that, and would actually prefer it because I'm more familiar with that kind of setup... but every tensioner I've found is made to bolt onto a derailleur hanger-type of dropout, which that bike doesn't have. Do they make one to clamp on the chainstay, or an adapter?
Which conversion would be the best?
This is actually jumping ahead a bit, because I don't even have the bike yet, nor do I have the specs to know what I'm dealing with, so call this one of those dilemmas that's keeping me awake thinking about...
I've decided my next bike is going to be the Ocean Pacific cruiser from Wally-World. I saw the thread and the reviews on it, and I'm in love with how it looks. Apes, of course, are going to be added, along with a few other things, but the biggest deal is going to be converting it to a three-speed.
I've been dealing with single-speed bmx bikes my whole life, so bear with me. Some of this stuff is a bit alien to me.
I've been reading about the internal hubs... lots of good points and bad. To me, they seem like a shot in the dark as to whether I would like one of them. An expensive shot in the dark. I know it would probably be the easiest conversion (if the hub will fit), but I can't seem to find any of them with a freewheel... which is important to me. I can't ride with a coaster brake, because I like being able to adjust my pedal position from a stop without lifting up the back wheel. I also found out while riding my friend's bike that I have a tendency to slam the brake on all the time because I have the subconscious habit of spinning my cranks backward while coasting (that's a heck of a way to discover a habit...). :shock:
The other option is putting a triple crankset on with a derailleur and some kind of clamp-on chain tensioner. I would then get a freewheeling hub. I can live with that, and would actually prefer it because I'm more familiar with that kind of setup... but every tensioner I've found is made to bolt onto a derailleur hanger-type of dropout, which that bike doesn't have. Do they make one to clamp on the chainstay, or an adapter?
Which conversion would be the best?
