Quote: Originally Posted by SierraSlim [IMG]cyclingforums.comgo quote.gifOpen ↗[/IMG]
A good buddy here referred me to a women's biking blog that had a thread on building the perfect bike for women like me -- who want it pretty, with chain guards to protect my clothing, step-through frames, easy upright riding position, internal gear hub, etc., PLUS want to be able to take it a little further and maybe go up an occasional hill on tours. One of the bloggers suggested the following in response as the perfect solution.
[FONT= 'times new roman']Start with a lightweight mixte frame. Put a five speed hub with internal brake on the back. Mate that to a compact triple crank, with a cruising ring in the middle position, a bailout for the inner and a ring guard on the outer. Sidepull brake on the front wheel. CR18 rims with either 28mm or 32mm tires (to taste). Dove bars (the Nitto ones, not the chocolate/ice cream ones. They have more than one hand position). These will be mounted as risers for city riding, flipped to drops for fast riding and flipped and pointed FORWARD for really riding on the rivet. A pop top stem will make all that fairly quick and painless, if less elegant than a traditional quill.[/FONT]
A lot of what this says is still Greek to me, not knowing anything about triple cranks or cruising rings or bailouts, etc. My question is, does this sound hard/difficult/impossible/expensive to do? Would that really accomplish 'the impossible' in providing what I've been after, a pretty bike that is also utilitarian and easy to mess with/take care of? Is something missing?
Heck, if this would work, I'd pay to have it made -- within reason, of course.
FWIW. Although it is an odd combination, it would not be difficult to configure a bike with a TRIPLE crankset + an internally geared rear hub.
However, I'm not sure about the recommendation for either a MIXTE frameset or the DOVE bars ... not that there is anything wrong with a MIXTE frame, per se ...
However, as far as those Dove handlebars, for the time being, simply invert your current handlebars.
FYI. Your ELECTRA HAWAII can be modified in the manner suggested ... as a DIY project ...
To modify your current bike, you simply need to buy:
- an Ashtabula-to-English BB adapter (www.danscomp.com & other vendors)
- an English threaded BB which matches the ROAD crankset (52/39/30) of your choice
- a SHIMANO front derailleur (Sora, or better)
- the shifter which matches the front derailleur AND chain you choose (I recommend 9-speed Shimano "stuff" since it will be the most readily available)
I recommend you opt for a "standard" BROOKS B17 or a BROOKS B67 saddle ... they are the preferred saddle of long distance tourists. By my reckoning, people who don't like them (and, they are legion) either did not lower the seatpost to account for the greater rail-to-top-of-the-saddle-distance or they have the nose of the saddle pointed upward & masochistically into their groin.
In addition to a new chain, you'll either need a rear derailleur (choose a reverse-pull rear derailleur) or chain tensioner.
BTW. You should be able to fit 700c wheels in your current frame & fork if-and-after you remove the fenders. BUT, if you haven't already done so, just change the tires on your current bike to some "slicks" (26x2.1), particularly if you opt for a ROAD crankset whose largest chainring has either 52t or 53t..
Figure $150-to-$300 depending on how wise a shopper you are.
Rather than the Nitto DOVE handlebars ... in the long run, you'll probably want DROP handlebars ...
You NEVER need to use the drops, but they will be there if-and-when you do -- if you choose the WIDEST set of Drop bars that you can find (i.e., 44cm to 46cm) then you can simply place your hands on the cross bar + you'll have the alternate hand positions which the drop bars allow.
Other than two intermediate ratios, I'm not sure if the difference between a 5-speed internal hub and a 3-speed internal hub will be truly meaningful to you ... instead, you can swap the single cog for TWO cogs (which is one reason to choose a reverse-pull Shimano rear derailleur rather than a chain tensioner) and thereby have 6 gears in the rear with as wide a ratio as you might want to have ...
But, rather than the expense of a 5-speed hub (if you were to reconfigure your current bike), I recommend you simply opt for a rear derailleur on the frame + a multi-cog cassette hub which you could also use on a different frame at some future point of time ...
If you choose the components you might retrofit onto your Electra with an eye to possible future use on another frame, then you can extend the use and net cost (i.e., value) of those components.
