Abu Mahendra

On Café Touring duty this morning...
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tomtomtom123

I was thinking that maybe it's possible to add a front derailleur to the spin 3. If this image is correct with 52t the chain is almost at the level of the clamp so the derailleur mechanic should clear just above the clamp. If you take a derailleur and press it against the seatpost you can tell if it will.
you would just need to 3d print your own braze on bracket to go on the lite pro clamp like i did with my dahon vigor.
although I am not sure about clearance with the rack stay braze on.
You could then put on 53/33t 110bcd double with chain catcher and 30/11t cassette for 438% range.
your 36/11 is 327%.
I have the Shimano 4700 GS Rd on 520mm tire on 406 rim with 30t Max cog and have 40-45mm ground clearance to the lower pulley. Is the spin 3 with 305 rim or 349?
With 10 speed double I can only use up to 7th gear on inner chainring so technically you only need 36t capacity if you allow chain slack and ignore gears 8-10. Then maybe you could use the SS Rd but it has 33t capacity. Sram mid cage length is in between ss and GS, so it might work better.
my vigor has 46/26t with 30/11 for 482%. I'm thinking of changing to 44/24 and 32/11 for 533%.
the 30/11 is custom arranged 11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,24,30 with a big 6t jump between the largest cogs. I bought an older cs4600 cassette and a 11 and 12 cog for hg500 and they shift fine. You can also use 2 pairs of hg500 to get the cogs that you want.
20t chainring jump is the max I tried and it works ok. Larger jumps may not shift well. 33t is the smallest on 110bcd which leaves you with 53t. But you might be able to push to 54t.

tomtomtom123

If your rim is 305 then Schwalbe has just the marathon 1.75 or big Apple 2.0 for wide tires. The Green guard on the marathon works really well against punctures but I did start getting some after 2 years. Big Apple is more comfortable but I did occasionally get punctures on City roads from nails and Staples.

Oh after looking closer, a braze on clamp might overlap the slit in the seat tube.

tomtomtom123

Something like this might work for the front derailleur. I made a quick 3D model. It would screw into the rack braze-on. A cutback on the lower part to get around the seat tube clamp. I forgot to model the cable stop, but it could be integrated to the rear of the right part, to pass the cable behind the rack braze-on.

(If the slit in the seat tube goes all the down to the BB) The screw connecting the 2 parts at the front would only be tightened so that the parts touch the seat tube snugly, not so much that it starts to compress the seat tube because that would affect the ability of the seat post to slide in smoothly. Instead, a small amount of 2-component epoxy could be applied between the front edges of the 2 parts and the seat tube to remove any vertical rotational play.

This would have to be 3D printed in aluminum, but it's expensive and having 2 separate parts would make it cost more. My braze-on adapter was printed in stainless steel-bronze which is half the price as aluminum.

splithub

As far as i understand - but cannot speak for the Spin 3.0, have a 2.0 and a 5.1, there is one big flaw against a front derailleur setup. There is no space behind the chainring for a second because of the two parallel extended chainstays, a second had to be in the exact place where the original is, which would mess up the the chain line, BB and cranks had to be replaced - cranks because it is almost impossible to find chainrings in BCD 144 and 3/32 or 11/128 width. The longer BB spindle and the replacement crank would increase the Q factor dramatically since the original crank is excellently narrow. It wouldn't feel like the same bike after.

tomtomtom123

Is there really zero clearance between the single chainring and the right chainstay?
Do you know the chainline on your spin 2/5?

On my Dahon I have built a double with chainline at around 44.5mm, and a gap between chainrings of 7.8-8mm.

With 305 rim, I would use 50/30t (110/80 BCD) with the FSA Tempo Adventure, it has 148 q-factor. Or 53/33t (110 BCD) with any standard 110 BCD crank. The Shimano 5750 has 146 q-factor.



Hmmm after looking at the chain, perhaps it would rub on the chainstay with a 30t chainring.

splithub

39mm on the 2.0, Q = 129, stock condition
45mm on 5.1, Q = 138, self build up
those funny less-than-1mm clearances you can find all over the 2.0, which is straightforward philosophy to it, no room for customization at some key points. I guess the same for the 3.0


Spin 2.0


Spin 5.1

splithub

..just spotted one good example in the upper picture for messing up the stock precision of these bikes, necessary for the rotational fold, by customizing them at some sensible spots. I wanted BigApple tires, brake arms were too short for, mounted longer ones, now there is no room left for proper cable routing - it is fold related, there is no alternative route.
The lower picture is nothing stock, i built the bike with mostly leftover parts. The spindle length is 118 and fits the chain line by chance, the 3.0 is for sure narrower without disc brakes and with that stock dished chainring as seen on the 2.0

tomtomtom123

I made a roller to go into the bottom of my Thudbuster seat post, when I need to carry my folded Dahon in a bag, when it's not allowed to have the bike exposed, for example on a train. I read in some countries it's not allowed to roll the bike in the station, so having the bike in a bag with the seat post sticking out the bottom with this roller installed would allow me to drag it on the ground.

I bought a 35mm replacement luggage wheel on eBay for $4, which comes with the axle. I then modeled and 3D printed a holder thing with a flared / ribbed end that sticks into the bottom of the seat post and stays there by friction. The ribbed ends gradually increase in diameter from +0 to +0.2mm wider than the hole in the seat post. The width of the axle is wider than the seat tube so this contraption is only designed to be quickly pushed in or pulled out when folding or unfolding.
I haven't yet tested it on the bike. I wonder if it will hold up to the weight.

The Thudbuster is also too short by 6cm, so when folded, the bike is a bit unstable and tends to lean to one side when at rest on the ground. The extra 6cm in height from this roller thingy will help stabilize it. I'll 3D print another one without the wheel for general use when not traveling, that might stay on more permanently using screw design like how bike mirrors work in the handlebar end.

tomtomtom123

I 3D printed a 6cm extension for my Thudbuster. It's in 2 pieces with a flared end that locks against the inner wall of the seat post. What's not pictured is the interlocking fins that I added to the longer lower part to stop the small upper part from spinning endlessly. This will stay in my seat post unless I need to pack the bike away.

BCATC

Even though a Solorock Spin 3 is currently available on their site, I wanted to experiment by exclusively buying a bunch of bike related items through Taobao. Why? Not sure, just went with it. Here is a teaser of what will be coming in the mail soon. It was an easy process overall, but I'll reserve judgement until everything is delivered. If anyone has questions about that, I'd be happy to answer.

tomtomtom123

This one doesn't have braze on for racks?

BCATC

BCATC

Update on my little project. My package arrived from China and needless to say it's pretty disappointing. A good amount of key items that I ordered were missing and the frame itself is in decent condition... except the swivel is fairly seized. I managed to take it apart into the two halves and clean it up, but now I'm having a difficult time making them flush with each other... And the seatpost (33.9mm FnHon) was unable to fit inside the seat tube until the metal groove insert was removed on the upper portion. The lower portion of the seat tube is extremely tight and really scratched up the seatpost.


The other items that managed to make it in the parcel are the following:
44mm Litepro headset
Litepro Ghost handlebar
37cm Litepro T-shaped post
Litepro stem extender
Kinetix Pro 305mm wheels

splithub

This is very sad to see, i hope you dont lower the expectations for the result. It looks like a quality check fail or assembly trainer from the factory :-(
Do you have a fork for it already?
Make sure nothing is bent, especially the swivel halves, before you sand/polish it to slide easily. I use plastic inserts for the seat tubes, they dont scratch the post.
There seem to be only two choices for rim widths in 305. I would have choosen the wider ones to be able to mount BigApples or similar. 1.75 Kenda tires are already a serious pain to get onto the kinetics pro rims - too beefy around the wire bead. Did you think of 349 wheels?
Wish you good progress with it..!

BCATC

Thank you. I managed to clean up the swivel point and it's better. The seatpost is still tight, but better than before... can't imagine I could easily and quickly reposition it for quick folding before hopping onto an arriving bus or train. I do have Big Apples on order, so I hope that they will fit these wheels since the Dahon Curve SL also seem to have the same tire and wheel configuration. I did think about 349 wheels but from what I read, the consensus seemed to be that 305 would be more comfortable. Yes, the fork was included as well and seems to be in decent condition.

tomtomtom123

Are the forks and brakes able to take 349? Enough space for 1.75" and mudguards?

BCATC

I will find out shortly once my tires arrive. A problem I didn't take into consideration is that my rims appear to be drilled for presta valves. It seems that it's more common to see 16" schrader tubes, unless I'm mistaken. I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to drill to fit schrader valves and how much that may compromise the integrity of the wheels.

tomtomtom123

I've never modified rims before, but if you drill a hole, you should use a lot of lubrication and use a series of increasingly larger bits, and sand down the sharp edges.
I've never used presta, always schrader. More convenient since gas station pumps use the auto valve.

Schwinnsta

Its very easy, minimal enlargement. Its so fast I would say no oil required and so fast no problem with heat.

BCATC

Sounds promising and not too hard to do then. I'll work up the courage to get the drill out soon.

BCATC

Sorry for basically hijacking this thread as I'm building my Spin 3.0... but I ran into another problem. I recently installed the Litepro headset and handlepost. The handlepost itself was ridiculously tight to get on the steerer tube, I had to use a rubber mallet despite a loosened clamp screw. Not sure if that's normal. There's a lot of play in the post or headset, but I'm assuming it's because the copper washer/shim that goes under the compression bolt doesn't fit, and I've tried to to see if I could go without it. Went to a few hardware stores to see if I could find a similar washer in a slightly smaller diameter to fit, but so far no luck.

splithub

..if everything else is alright, this missing washer cannot cause any play. It looks like the handlepost's base mount has a different design. The hole where the washer goes, should be 36mm in diameter, it looks way smaller. So forget about the washer for now. There is two types of upper cones the headsets come with, one for Tern handleposts that is shorter, and one for all others. If it is the wrong cone, the headset cannot be tightened at all, resulting in massive play. This could be fixed with a short standard headset spacer. This scenario is only one out of a handful of possibilities, that might cause this problem. More pictures please...

splithub

..helpful pictures would show:
bottom side of handlepost base mount
headset in pieces
headset mounted with fork in but without handlepost

BCATC

Thank you for your help splithub. Took me awhile to wrestle the handlepost out, not looking forward to putting it back on... might just consider purchasing another if for some reason this one isn't going to work out.Nevertheless, here are the photos.


Handlepost base with measuring tape


Top portion of handlepost base


Headset + fork, measured there is approximately 1cm of length for the steerer tube exposed



44mm Litepro headset in pieces. This is someone else's photo but parts are the same.