How many gears? - Part 2b: three-speed bikes and the "Goldilocks" hub

For me three-speed hubs are the "Goldilocks" of gears - not too few, but not too many; advanced enough to give a real benefit, without being complicated to maintain.

Far and away the most popular three-speed hub is the Sturmey-Archer AW model.

How many gears? - Part 2a: two-speed bikes

This time, I will start by looking at two-speed hubs, then discuss other two-speed systems after that, such as the two-speed Brompton derailleur system and the Schlumpf crankset systems, then briefly mention older, obselete, systems.

How many gears? - Part 1: intro and single-speed bikes

Bicycles can be bought with a bewildering number of choices for gearing.
Some prefer single-speed bikes, others prefer hub gears with between 2 and 14 gears, while still others prefer various forms of derailleur set up with between 5 and 27 gears.
So, is more better?
Is it just down to cost?
Or are there other factors to consider as well?

So let's start with the simplest set-up:
the single speed

Why cycle? - because it's good for you!

Why cycle?
Good question!

There are many answers.
 For example, the NHS (the National Health Service - the UK's main health service provider) claims cycling:

Long Term Test: Bike Bins pannier boxes

Length of test period so far: since June 16th 2010 - so that is almost 10 years and counting !!!
Product obtained from: Practical Cycles, via E-Bay
Product obtained by: personal purchase through "regular" sources
Price paid: approx. £65 Pounds for a pair (c. $103 US, 75 Euros)
Second Gear rating (marks out of 10): 8.5(1/2 mark lost because they only have a load rating of 5kg, 1/2 mark lost because they won't fit on a heavy-duty Dutch Steco rack, although there is a "work-around" as outlined below, and 1/2 mark because sometimes the hinge-pins need adjusting)

 We use a pair of "Bike Bins" plastic panniers when we want to carry more than a bit of shopping. Both Anna and I have front baskets on our bikes, so if we just want a few bits, we just use the front baskets. But when we want more, we clip on the Bike Bins panniers!

Long Term Test: SRAM PC1 1/8" nickel-plated chain

Length of test period so far: a couple of years (since July 2011).

Product obtained from: local bike shop (Buckingham Bikes)

Product obtained by: personal purchase through "regular" sources.

Price paid: approx. £16 Pounds (c. $25 US, 18 Euros) 

Second Gear rating (marks out of 10): 10 - excellent.

Long Term Test: Schwalbe Marathon and Marathon Plus tyres

Length of test period: about 27 months (since July 2011)
Product obtained from: local bike shop (Buckingham Bikes)
Product obtained by: personal purchase through "regular" sources
Price paid: approx. c. £17 Pounds (new, but old stock) (c. $27 US, 20 Euros)
Second Gear rating (marks out of 10):9(one mark deducted for early cracking of the tyre wall - that maybe because my example was "old stock", but I can only test what I have!)

Update: My wife has had Marathon Plus tyres on her bike for a couple of years, and it seems to make sense to group my comments on them in with this review.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus

Length of test period so far: about 3 years

Product obtained from: mail order (Dutch Bike Bits)

Product obtained by: personal purchase through "regular" sources

(no marketing "freebies" for me!)

Price paid: approx. c. £23 Pounds(c. $37 US, 28 Euros) plus shipping - the shipping is a bit pricey, but I bought these as part of a larger order.Second Gear rating (marks out of 10):10 (sidewalls are a very stiff, making them harder to put on and take off, but NO punctures!)

Note: the price paid above for the "regular" Marathon tyre was for an "old stock" tyre (tire). It was the only one in the shop at that price. The rest were about about 50% more expensive!
The Marathon Plus tyres were bought at "normal" price.

Riding the legend - the day I hired a Sinclair C5

The Sinclair C5 - photo from Sinclair Research

Click here for Sinclair C5 specifications

A while back - I guess it must have been about 15 years ago, I went on a holiday to the seaside.

I think it might have been to Weymouth.

Anyway, there was a chap there who was hiring out Sinclair C5s, the legendary, and odd, product of Sir Clive's fevered imagination.

So I hired one for a day...

Memory Lane

Back in the day, when I was MUCH younger, I had a Falcon bicycle. It was bought for me as a present when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. I fairly sure it cost about forty pounds, second-hand (that's 150 to 200 pounds sterling in modern money, allowing for general price inflation, approx 250 to 300 US dollars).

Reynolds 531 tubing, Huret 5-speed rear derailleur, drop handlebars sporting Weinemann brake levers with centre-pull brakes, steel rims, skinny tyres, and a small, hard, saddle.

My Bicycle

Update: 29th June 2016
I now have another bike, and I found an old pic of my first "proper" bike, so this page will now cover all 4 of those bikes. The latest developments will be at the top of this page, with older stuff being further down. The order is:
Hoppy (my current ride, a BTwin Hoprider 300)
Mermaid (my "fill-in" bike, a Universal Mermaid)
Cinzia folder (that I rode for almost 20 years)
Falcon (my first "adult" bike)

Hoppy

Hoppy, fresh out of the box, with Mermaid

I found Hoppy's saddle put too much pressure on my perineum.
Whether that is just a 50-year-old man's prostate, I can't say.
Anyway, this saddle with a nice cut-out is MUCH more comfortable.
On the original saddle, it was uncomfortable even for 5 km.
On this saddle, I have ridden two metric centuries (100km+, 62 mile+) rides already

Mermaid's bars, along with a couple of bar ends mounted half-way down the bars, acting as aero" horns, find their way onto Hoppy. the bottle mounts allow for longer rides without stopping.

Hoppy, just before a test run for the local
100km (62 mile) charity sportive. Mermaid's
wheels are fitted, and the mudguards
and stand have been removed to save weight

Hoppy came with a hub dynamo. Too heavy for sportives,
but VERY handy for commuting in the winter, and
audax/randonnee rides with long night sections.

Hoppy came with a halogen headlight fitted.
It will be replaced with an LED model I bought for my Cinzia

Hoppy came with a "carrier light".
It is only a basic bulb model.
It will be upgraded to an LED "standlight"
model in due course.

The Shimano Altus rear derailleur (shown right) came with Hoppy. But I had a brand-new, unused, Shimano M590-series
Deore derailleur in my parts box, so that went' on instead.
Hoppy started life with a 7-speed 14-28 freewheel, but is currently running an-8-speed 11-32 freehub.
A change to 9-speed may or may not be on the cards for the Summer.
(update: 8-speed for 2016. Maybe 9-speed for the Spring of 2017)

Me, setting out on the local charity sportive, on a somewhat modified, and lighter Hoppy.
Weight is down by about 2 kilos (4.4 lbs), and the gearing is 3x8 rather than the 3x7 Hoppy came with.
In this guise, I rode the charity sportive a whole HOUR faster than last year (when I rode Mermaid).

Happy has recently gained a speed/cadence sensor, and is shown on my new Tacx trainer.
Given that the wheels, tyres, crankset, gears, and bottom bracket are the very same ones I was using on Mermaid,
it is merely timing that means it is Hoppy on the trainer, not Mermaid (which I broke up for parts)

Mermaid
My regular ride was (at the time I wrote this page) a Cinzia folding bicycle, that I purchased new from a bike shop in Walthamstow, East London, in the early 1990's.
Following a frame failure (theoretically repairable, but far from economically sensible), I was riding Mermaid.

So this page was about Mermaid, which I rode to work every day, and in 2015, I rode Mermaid on the 100km route of the local Tour de Vale, the BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride, and a 200km "Audax" / "Randonnee" ride. Some of Mermaid's parts now feature on my current bike.
Pics of the Cinzia folder are further down the page, as is the story of the problems I had ...

Mermaid's final spec:
Weight (without panniers or basket, but with basket mount and mini-lights): 18.0 kg (about 40 lbs)
Gearing: 48/34/26 triple crankset (Sugino pattern) driving an SRAM PG850 11-32 8 speed rear.
Derailleurs: Shimano "cheapy" triple up front, Alivio (8-spd) rear.
Chain SRAM PG850

Wheels: 700c (622) heavy duty double-wall with Mach 1 240 rims (19mm) and 14g straight-gaage spokes.

Tyres: Marathon Plus, 622x35. In winter, I've been running Marathon Winter in the same size.

Mermaid in Rickmansworth, during my 200km Audax/Randonnee ride this Summer (2015).
Tools, rainwear, food and drink are in the panniers and the basket, as are maps etc. etc.

Mermaid is a cheap, steel framed, "hybrid" bike that I upgraded a bit for general usage.
Here Mermaid is seen at the end of the 2015 London to Brighton ride, which took us (me and Mermaid)
just 4 1/2 hours to cover the 56 miles from Clapham Common (London) to the seafront in Brighton.
This is Mermaid's THIRD "century" ride of 2015 (I know London to Brighton isn't 100km if you start at Clapham Common, but I started at the British Museum, and I had a "warm-down" on the seafront road at the end!)