1voyager2

My galfriend has a Townie.
She LOVES it!
The chainring, chain and sprocket are worn out.
It keeps throwing the chain.
She has asked me to fix it for her.

Electra Townie 3RF
S/N: WN7A01488

I've searched around and can find no parts for it other than fenders, pedals, and such.

It has a 44t chainring, and a 20t sprocket.
I can add pics if needed.

We're in Hawai'i on B.I.
Shipping for items from the mainland can be prohibitive.
Parts, if available locally, can be even higher in cost.

Can I get the parts needed for her Townie off Amazon or eBay?

SquidPuppet

What is a 3rf? Nothing on their site. Need a pic or a link to a pic.

taz777

Never heard of a 3RF Townie either! I did a lot of research on Electra Townies before I purchased mine recently, and I don’t recall seeing a 3RF model mentioned on any internet site.

Rollfast

Electra was purchased by Trek if I recall correctly. You can replace the parts you mentioned easily, they are no different than others, except for graphics on them maybe.


I had the misfortune of having a Next Sierra Key years ago and although it never really satisfied me, the Redline crank and chainring that replaced the OEM migrated to my next bike (Western Flyer cantilevered) until it was stolen.


LOVED that (not the theft).

1voyager2

Sorry about not getting back sooner.

Down on the frame, under the crankset, next to the serial number is stamped "Townie 3RF".
I assumed it was a model number.

I searched all over.
I couldn't find anything about it either.
That's what brought me here.

I assume that the bike may be an older model.
She bought it used several years ago.
I'm now beginning to think the "3RF" means nothing more than it is a 3 speed with a rear fender.

I've got so many thing on my plate right now that we're thinking of taking it to a fellow in a nearby subdivision that does bike repairs.
Let him figure it out.
Plus, it probably needs to have everything lubed and any other "deferred" maintenance items taken care of.
I'll give him a call, then decide how I'll deal with it.

fietsbob

UPS may cost more than USPS... Our LBS, in Oregon, repackages Bikes into 2, smaller, boxes to ship thru USPS to the Kodiak Island Coast Guard Base.






.....

wschruba

Obviously, you'll need to replace the chainring, chain, and rear sprocket. None of these are particularly expensive/difficult to find parts, but Electra's (Trek's) choice to use a one-piece chainring/crankarm makes it difficult to just drop in a replacement. Some work would have to be done on your part, locating a proper bottom bracket cartridge/crankarms with replaceable chainrings, or else getting an identical RH crankarm/chainring combo to replace it with.

It may be easier(?) to buy a coaster-brake bike from wally world (or the equivalent) that also has a threaded bottom bracket shell (IE, not the over-sized American press-in cups), and just salvage the parts you need from that, then selling the 'bones' of the other bike. Point being, coaster brake sprockets are the same fit as Shimano 3-speed drivers, and the chain/crank would solve your problem on the front end.

You will also need a chain tool/crankarm puller/assorted hand tools (at the minimum, an adjustable wrench and a small flathead screwdriver, to remove the circlip holding the sprocket on in back). Removing the bottom bracket itself would necessitate another specialty tool.

In the mean time, you may be able to stop the skipping by pulling the wheel back in the dropouts. Watch a couple of youtube videos on how to tension a bicycle chain. If the chain is so worn that you can't remove the slack, you can remove 1" of links. One of the nice things about single-speed chain setups is that they are extremely tolerant of worn parts, even if they don't work optimally.

1voyager2

Thanks guys for your responses on this.
We just got back from dropping it off at a repair shop in our area.

I'm in the middle of several house and yard projects.
I just do not have the time to do this right now.
She wants her bike up and running NOW!
Plus, I had strong suspicions that I would need at least a few specialty bike tools to do what needs to be done.

I told him to go through it and bring it into the best condition it can be in.
He gave an estimate of $60 to $150 depending on what needs to be done.
We can live with that as long as she quickly gets her bike back to ride again.

@ fietsbob
I had lived in AK for 35 yrs, and since retiring, the last 5 here in HI.
I am well versed in shipping to remote locations.
Usually, USPS is the most cost effective carrier.
Unless, it has free shipping like Amazon does.
Sometimes Amazon will even ship by UPS or FedEx for the free shipping.
They don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to how they do it.

Many of the vendors on eBay are complete idiots.
If they can't ship by UPS or FedEx they don't want anything to do with it.

cobberas63

@1voyager2 Did you sort out your Townie?

I had one (since sold) that also had a worn out drive-train like yours. It was no problem replacing the chainring and chain - they were standard bicycle parts which we bought online. We put a smaller chain-ring on, to lower the gears, and adjusted the chain length accordingly. No specialist tools were needed; just the chain-ring had to have the same bolt arrangement as the crank. The crank/bottom bracket didn't need removing or replacing for this job.

1voyager2

I had too many things on my plate and had shelved doing it's deferred maintenance.
Plus, everything would have had to be mail ordered making it necessary to be sure I got the correct parts ordered.
M'Lady got a bit restless and called a local bike repair guy, and got a price she could live with.
so, we took it in and he went through it.
She was happy, and I got out of having to do it, a win-win.

fietsbob

Rather than patronize Amazon or Ebay find a Electra retailer, on the mainland, and do business with them..
talk on the telephone to get an agreement on what you need to be sent.

Rollfast

Electra was bought by Trek some time ago IIRC. Think it's gone now.

fietsbob

My LBS Sells both Brands all of them are imported.. Madone is the US built Trek frame, but the competitive cost bikes

is all contract manufactured across the brands..

1voyager2

I had checked around very thoroughly and had found out what you guys are saying.
Nothing anywhere I could find that specified replacement parts, other than what I had mentioned above.
It was getting to the point where I would have to begin making guesses at what would be the correct parts to order.
That's why I came here.

She was very happy with it when she got it back from the bike guy.
She rode it for her usual 1 to 2 hours a day for a while.
She just cruises on the paved streets.
I don't expect there to be much wear and tear in the bike's near or distant future.
It'll probably never need any serious work done on it again.

Then, X-mas day she broke her leg.
Just got the cast off a couple of days ago.
Most of the damage was down near the ankle.
Even though she's hobbling around pretty good right now, it'll be a while before she's up and peddling around again.

When I was thrown and jumped on by my motorcycle it landed on my foot.
It was almost a year before I was fully mobile again.
That was 35 years ago.
She's healing like a 20 year old.
It'll probably take less time for her to be up and running again.