No, I’m not. At least not right now. But…an acquaintance is selling the stuff he has used to make his Quickbeam into an 8 speed bike. It’s a Sturmey-Archer 8-speed hub with wheel and a J-Tek bar end shifter along with all the trimmings to make it work.
It’s really, really tempting.
But sadly, I don’t have the ready cash. I could afford it, but I might have trouble going to Rome if I do. I may not get to Rome, but I’d hate to miss the opportunity because I’d overspent on stuff I don’t need. Sigh.
Besides, it seems there might be a better solution for a wee bit of gearing coming out soon, also courtesy of Sturmey-Archer.
It would seem they are coming out with a 2 speed hub with built in coaster brake. I’m not sure I’d really want to the brake, though I suspect it wouldn’t hurt, but having the ability to have one other easily accessible gear might be just the thing for QB touring.
For more information on geared hubs in general you could do a lot worse than Hubstripping site.
Aloha!
Slower, cheaper, less useful…