Originally Posted by
base2
It is possible you both are correct.
The CS-RF3 & its disc brake brother
CS-RK3 have the range of a triple & it's all in the rear hub. Reading between the lines of the spec sheet the lowest drive ratio is 1:1. So long as 1:1 is maintained the total range can be as many percent as you want.
Here is mine with a 1x narrow/wide 42 tooth chainring & 11-42 cassette & XTR Shadow+ derailleur. That's 20 to 140 gear inches with 700x38 tires. A final drive ratio of about 0.75:1 to 5:1 is ~680% range. I mated the hub to a Velocity A23 off-center rim for truly equal spoke tension.
Ritchey Ascent Breakaway by
Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr
I've seen the system you two are bickering about. With out even considering the cost, the proprietary cassette is a hard no. The Sturmey can accept any cassette that'll fit on an 8,9,10 speed freehub body & the cost is the same $100-$200 you'd spend on a truly decent hub anyways.
Yes, the hub is a bit heavy. But, being a weight weenie myself, bikes today are fairly light. It wouldn't be hard to make such a bike in the 20-25 pound range with proper component selection. Hub weight difference of a single hub isn't likely to make a hurdle of 4-500 grams or so high it can't be overcome...Even if it mattered.
Elegant proof of concept which brings me back to my original thinking: Sturmey-Archer had this solved long ago. What Classified has is bling factor and marketing to the high performance crowd, something Sturmey-Archer can still do if they’re willing to make the effort. Being Sturmey-Archer, it won’t have the snob appeal of Shimano or Campagnolo or SRAM. But it’s clear their hybrid system works well.