Thanks, Uncle Stretch!! IOU1

[RatRodDad]

Paul took care of me yesterday. He ran across a ladies Schwinn 4 on CL over on his side of town and asked if I wanted to buy it.

The price was reasonable so I told him yes, definately. So he drove over and made the deal for me - and even sent some pictures of the bike today.

My plan is to use the 4 speed wheel set on either my Chief or my clone - not sure which one yet.

The cool thing about these 4 speed hubs is that they don't have a shift mechanism sticking out of the axle like a Nexus 3 speed has. And this one has a coaster brake on it too - which is even better. So I'm glad he was thinking about me and keeping an eye out for deals on CL.

Here are a few shots he sent me of the "fresh find".

 

[maddogrider]

Nice bike, what is that green stuff that it is sitting on. Everything here is white. :?

 

[RatRodDad]

We had some white stuff on the ground down here a while back. Hummm, let's see - I think it was December, 1989 if I remember correctly.

We've been in mowing mode already now for several weeks - which also means allergy and hay fever mode too. The drug stores love it, though.

 

[maddogrider]

Somedays i look forward to hay fever and grass cutting.

 

[RatRodDad]

I guess I could have made you feel a little better by saying the ground is white here too - and what you were seeing is just the reflection of the green bike on the white snow! :lol: :lol:

 

[ParkRNDL]

the pic of Uncle Stretch with the camera reflected in the fender made me lol

--rick

 

[CCR]

Cool, I've got the guys version in the same colors cept mines got blackwalls. i think its an 2002 bike. definately need a low count sprocket with those hubs though.

 

[RatRodDad]

Thanks for the heads up.

I know I have a 40t but maybe I need something even less, huh.

 

[maddogrider]

Is that Uncle Stretch on the fender, I thought it was pantina. :mrgreen:

Sorry Uncle Stretch i guess i should get a job.

 

[CCR]

Thanks for the heads up.

I know I have a 40t but maybe I need something even less, huh.

well it should come with a 36t sweetheart style chainring from the pic, im not a speed demon around town (tho my bro and sis in-law have trouble keepin up on 10speeds with me in third) so i dont ever really get to fourth, i do wish they would have given me a lower gear for hills is all. im guessing the gearing is why they discontinued them, still ive got 2 bikes with them on em and its been bullet proof so far. maybe i should just bump up the teeth on the hub sprocket and quit complainin :mrgreen:

 

[RatRodDad]

Paul went the other way on his 7 speed Sachs rear end. He put a smaller rear gear on that one.

So he said he still had the larger gear he took off of that one if I wanted it. So that may be an option too.

 

[Hooch]

i had one of those hubs on Rosemary with a 52 tooth sprocket lol
*grunt*
oh and someday all those 3speed 4speed and 7speed womens bikes will become so rare because all us ratrodders stole the hubs out of them hahaha
great score!
now I want to find a busted up automatic transmissioned bike

 

[RatRodDad]

Hooch, I actually owned this Autobike at one time. I spotted it on the Dallas CL and Steve bought it for me and kept it until I made a visit up there.

This one had weights on the rear wheel and as you went faster the centrifugal force moved them up and that moved the rear derailer over and made it automatically shift into a higher gear.

It actually worked pretty well but the bike itself was pretty flimsy. So I kept it a while and then sold it.

Oh, it originally came with some cheepo chrome fenders that rattled like crazy, so I pulled those off and that helped the looks a bunch.

 

[maddogrider]

Did it beat the derailer to death? To me it looks like it be a violent bang when it would shift. I want one. 8)

 

[ParkRNDL]

This one had weights on the rear wheel and as you went faster the centrifugal force moved them up and that moved the rear derailer over and made it automatically shift into a higher gear.

Hmmm, you just reminded me... a friend of the family had one of those several years ago. Showed it to me when he got it, I'm quite sure he never rode it more than a few miles after that...

Gotta ask where that got off to...

--rick

 

[Hooch]

I want one of the nirve cruisers with the shimano automatic

http://www.news.com/Automatic-shifting- ... 67276.html

 

[user 135]

I want one of the nirve cruisers with the shimano automatic

The Shimano Coasting looks pretty cool but most of the bike are $$$$. Shimano had a AUTO-4 a few years back based on the Nexus 4. My brother in law had one and it was great.

 

[RatRodDad]

The Autobike actually shifted fairly well.

If you look closely at the derailer, it had a small wheel on it that rode on the outside edge of the black plastic guard in back.

The weights actually moved in or out and caused that guard to flex in or out - and as it flexed, it eventually moved the derailer enough to move to another gear.

So it was fairly smooth shifting from gear to gear as you rode along and went faster. It was designed to keep you pedaling at the same leg speed all the time - no matter how slow or fast you were riding.

I read some complaints that said since you had no shifter you were at the mercy of the mechanism - and so sometime you would want to shift into a lower gear - maybe to head up a hill that was coming up - but the bike wouldn't shift down to a lower gear until you slowed down. So you couldn't drop it into a lower gear and keep riding fast to gain some momentum to go up the hill.

It wasn't an issue here in Houston, though, since the only hills we have are an occassional highway overpass or an inclinded grade in the road. :lol: :lol:

 

[JoeyMac]

that chainguard is kinda neat too. Could do something with that.