baldilocks

Merry Christmas, (hey I know, I'm a day early)
I have thought off and on about a 3 speed internal gear hub Mountain bike, Plus bike or cruiser (klunker) bike either with nobbie's or studded tires for a winter bike. Do any of you ride Internal Gear Hub bikes for your winter cruiser? If so what brand hub, how many gears, what type of brakes and on what style of bike? If you could share photos, that would be greatly appreciated, and again, have a Merry Christmas.

kingston 

I built a winter bike with a 3 speed hub and drum brakes last year, then we didn't have winter in Chicago so I don't know how good of a winter bike it is yet. Short blogpost here. We're supposed to get snow today so I'll put my winter tires on and get some riding in after Christmas.

baldilocks

Nice bike. Do you have many hill's to deal with? I'm thinking between the low gear and standing, I would be alright. Also, how do you like the drum brakes? I haven't had them since I was a teenager, and worry I would grab for a hand brake that doesn't exist. The snow just started here, but we do have a winter storm warning. Can't be as bad as the blizzard of 1978. They don't make them like they used to.

12boy

I use Schwalbe winters on a 700 c wheel with a 18 mm. rim. I currently have them on an old Centurion Accordo with one speed but sometimes I use them on a Surly Steamroller with a SA 3 speed from Somafab. Actually works a little better because I can drop gear inches for tougher pedaling. With a 18 tooth sprocket and a 42 tooth chain ring it works fine although the tires are good for a few inches of snow or sheet ice, not frozen ruts and deep snow. The SA hub works when the temps are very low quite well and doesn't get jammed up with ice like a derailleur can. I do run the hub on 5/20 synthetic motor oil instead of grease, though.

kingston 

Thanks. It's not very hilly where I live so the range on the 3 speed is fine. I've settled in on 34/20 gearing which gives me 35/46/62 Gear Inches. 3rd gear is my cruising gear and the other two are for climbing the small hills we have on the North Shore of Chicago. 35" is about the same as the 34/25 low gear I have on my road bike which will get me up anything I have encountered in the Midwest. Moving the range up or down is as easy as swapping out the sprocket.


The drum brakes are perfectly adequate for the way I use the bike. I don't ride very fast or aggressively so emergency stops aren't really an issue, and the brakes work fine for normal stops. My other winter bike has cantilevers which don't work at all when they ice up, so drums are a definite improvement over that. I went with drums instead of disks because I think they will be lower maintenance. I have BB7's on my touring bike and I am always fiddling with them to keep them from squealing.

fietsbob

I have several IGH bikes* I also have an old MTB with the Studded tires on it.

If I had as long a winter as you in the northern inland states did

I'd build a new wheel set with the recent S-A 4 or 5 speed drum brake hub , but as I'm on the NW Coast,

the drum brake freewheel hub is just fine , proven reliable over past 30 years..

* Rohloff Disc another with Magura Rim Brakes , 1 V, (Sram i-9) and the Brompton M3L, side pulls



...

sweeks

I'm using my old Dahon Mu XL as a dedicated "winter" bike. This bike has a Nexus 8-speed hub. The frame has 12,500 miles on it. When it was my "normal" commuting bike, I would use a "red band" hub-equipped wheel in the summer , and a "standard" hub in the winter. The winter hub has about 9,000 miles on it. I ditched the rim brakes and installed a roller brake after I wore out my second rim. Here's the bike defrosting in the Men's room at work.
Steve
EDIT: Studded tires, of course. @kingston: I commute from Mundelein to UIC by this bike and METRA. I bought my spare Nexus wheel from one of the mechanics at Kiddles. Small world!
EDIT2: Roller brake on rear only.

kingston 

Looks like you take your folder on the train so you can use it when you get downtown. That's pretty cool. Have you thought about using the divy bikes for the downtown leg?

My office is above Ogilvie so I just ride my coaster brake cruiser a mile-and-a-half to the train station and take the elevator up from the train station.

I bought a few bikes from Kiddles myself over the years.

sweeks

It's quite possible that if Divvy had existed when I started "multi-modal" commuting I never would have bought a folding bike. I'm kind of glad things worked out the way they did, because sometimes there are no Divvys at my destination METRA station, and sometimes the Divvy system shuts down (eg in extreme cold) when I might still be willing to ride.

Another "how I built my first wheel" story: That spare wheel I bought was built by the mechanic at Kiddles. When I got home after picked it up, I noticed it had been built with spokes crossing over the valve hole making it difficult (at best) to inflate the tire. I took it back to the shop and was told I was S.O.L. because the mechanic no longer worked there. So I did it myself and have never looked back, and build all my own wheels.
Life/Lemon=>Lemonade!
Steve

noglider 

IGH and drum brakes are good choices for winter riding. The Citi Bike fleet has thousands of bikes outfitted this way. Drum brakes need less frequent servicing than any other kind. Same for IGH.

JonathanGennick 

Photo below, from two days ago in my driveway. I'm running a Shimano Nexus 8-speed hub, and last winter I ran a Nuvinci N330. I'm also trying out a set of Michelin StarGrip tires, which you can see in the photo. No studs, but Michelin claims a winter rubber compound and some suitable tread. So far, so good on the tread, but I've yet to encounter any clear, black ice with them. I've only just gone around the neighborhood a few times.

20171229_162547 (Small).jpg

baldilocks

Nice bikes. I've been off work since the 20th. Unfortunately, It has snowed steady since then and the roads seam too messed up to start riding again. The two bikes I though of are

https://https://westridgeoutdoors.com/collections/beach-cruisers/products/chatham-3-mens-beach-cruiser-bike?variant=1914614317086

https://https://www.sun.bike/bikes/revolutions/#3-SPEEDINTERNAL26

Seeing how I just bought a new bike last year, I will have to wait awhile to buy my bad weather bike.

noglider 

@JonathanGennick, what happened to the NuVinci? We have those hubs on the Citi Bike fleet in NYC.

JonathanGennick 

Still have it! Not giving it up. Hadn't ridden the Nexus in over a year though, so threw it on for a change of pace.

Dahon.Steve

I love the 3 speed hub and have been riding them for over 25 years. However, today was so cold, it made riding any bike difficult. I still believe when the temperature drops below 20 degrees F, the internal grease of the hub starts to freeze making it more difficult to pedal. The hub is about 4 years old now but it amazes me how the weather effects the internal hub. The temperature was 8 degrees today so maybe I was asking too much.

The hub I use is the Nexus 3 without roller brake.

55murray

A general question- do IGHs in general work down to -20 degrees Fahrenheit? I like the idea, since the dang derailleurs attract so much slush and dirt, but at least they will run to -20...

ThermionicScott 

If I ever came to my senses and built up a multi-speed bike for winter, an IGH would be my choice. Something that runs on oil instead of grease.

JonathanGennick 

I've had my IGH out in +6 F recently. My friend has been out with his closer to zero, and maybe a few degrees below. So far, so good. No issues w/the hubs. We haven't had any -20 F weather though.

I sometimes feel my Nexus IGH downshifts a bit sluggishly in the extreme cold, because it's relying upon a spring in the hub to pull back on the shifter wire. My NuVinci hub has wire pulling in both directions. Again though, I've not had any -20 F weather to experiment in. Coldest we've had lately has been maybe -5 or -6 F.

fietsbob

Nexus also is grease lubricated, inside, that thickening in the cold can be an issue..

Rohloff uses thin oil inside and has a pull-pull 2 cable grip shifter... disc brake option..

Dahon.Steve

I don't know anyone who rides in that kind of extreme temperature with an internal hub. It would not surprise me if it worked but you'll just have to pedal harder!

gate28

I have ridden all sorts of internal gear hubs, Shimano 3, 7 and 8 and also Sturmey Archer 3 and 5 and Torpedo Duomatic.


The best in my opinion for speed, lack of drag, simplicity and great sound is the Nexus Inter 3 speed, with a coaster brake. This hub goes on any bike with any sized rim. It's just so versatile. And it makes a great ticking sound :-)