Just get out there and ride! Don't need lycra or special shoes. A helmet is optional...your choice.

I am just a guy with a love of the bicycle and a firm believer it is a viable form of transportation. The bicycle is an amazing invention. It allows a small human to transport a large load over long distances easily. It is THE MOST ENERGY EFFICIENT FORM OF TRANSPORTATION...PERIOD!!!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Boxes on the Back Porch...

means BIKE PARTS!

Just got home from a week on the road to several boxes waiting for me. This is a good thing. Hubs are here for the Raleigh Record build. New Brooks Flyer for my expedition bike build/tour bike. The hubs I ended up ordering are Sturmey Archer. Ordered an X-RD5 for the rear and an XL-FDD for the front. I would have liked to have the 90mm drum for the rear, but apparently they aren't available state side at this point.

More parts have been ordered and will be trickling in over the next few weeks. Hopefully a complete bike or two will be coming out of the shop in a few weeks.

Pictures...forthcoming.

Aaron

11 comments:

Tom said...

I've just spent some time thinking about the XL-FDD. I'm thinking about upgrading my current shimano roller brake on the front with the XL-FDD. I can't decide between that approach and installing a tire dynamo, since my bike has a integral dynamo bracket already.
I've heard people complain that the XL-FDD is overly heavy. Let me know what you think.

James said...

I think you will love the X-FDD.

Earlier this spring I installed laced one onto the front of my Mt. Hood MTB to City Bike conversion.

The braking feel and power is amazing and nothing short of a fully-hydraulic disc brake is going to come anywhere near as close to as amazing as this front hub for braking. The lighting options the 3W dynohub open up are also amazing and comparing this hub to a bottle dyno is like comparing Fred Flintstone's car to a 2011 Lexus LS. Bottle generators are what the unfortunate people who couldn't afford dynohubs do to get through the night ;)

It is a bit meaty though and not for the weight weenie -but I let go of weight concerns long ago when I put on the MKS-3000 rubber-block pedals that are SOOOO comfortable but weigh like 2lbs each. To heck with how much my bike weighs.

2whls3spds said...

@Tom,
I contacted WorkCycles in Amsterdam and got them to send me a Shimano dyno hub that would work with the roller brakes for my big Redline R530. They suggested an upgrade to a larger roller brake than the stock IM41F that was on there. IIRC it was a IM70F, the front hub I ended up with is a DH-2R30-E, which is actually a 2.4 watt, but with LED lamps it really doesn't make any difference. Love the convenience of the dyno hubs over any other choice.

Aaron

2whls3spds said...

@James,
I ain't no weight weenine...me, my Redline R530 and a load of groceries weigh in at over 300# rolling weight, we go very fast...downhill! Much slower up hill.

Glad to hear the brakes are phenomenal, my son is most likely going to be the on using the bike and he is a tad larger than I am. I knew I wanted the largest drum I could get for the front.

I use dyno hubs on most of my bikes that see night use, currently the only two that don't, one has a bottom bracket mount generator, the other a regular sidewall. But neither of those bikes sees the kind of night service that the dynohub ones do.


Aaron

Tom said...

@Aaron,
So why didn't you just put an XL-FDD on your Redline instead of the Workcycles route? I remember you commenting that it was a shame that Shimano didn't have a dyno/drum combo available.

@James, yes I get it dynohubs are great. Tire dynamos cost $20 to $60. xl-fdd is $95 or so, plus $40 for spokes and $40 for labor --$175. Quite a difference for something I would use only from Nov to March on my commute.

James said...

@Tom

I forget sometimes that other people don't do all their own bike work -including lacing wheels.

I got my X-FDD on Amazon for $70 at Niagara's storefront. I usually make a big order for parts and tools once a month anyhow and combine shipping so the extra for shipping was probably nothing on what was a $250 order of stuff anyhow.

There is a guy I know in the chicago area who is a great custom spoke-cutter and has a $4,000 Phil wood threading machine. Even with shipping his spokes cost about $20/wheel. If one buys 2-3 wheels worth of spokes at a time (I do a number of wheels) the per-wheel cost is well under $20.

To me, $90 is a pretty good price for dependable all-weather/all-season brakes up front and a reliable light source even in the deep-dark rain-soaked nights.

But I can see that the labor cost of building a wheel at an LBS would make the X-FDD (or even XL-FDD if you had a big heavy cargo-hauler or tandem) much less attractive

Tom said...

@James of course I could get a decent light set, buy the $20 dyamo then talk myself into a dynohub upgrade next year. I might as well replace the Shimano 3 speed coaster hub at the same time. *grin*

James said...

@Tom

The light set is what I went a little bit cheaper on. High-end LED lights can easily eclipse the price of a newly-laced wheel with a new dynohub (excuse the pun.)

I went the cheaper route with a Halogen Busch and Muller Lumotec with standlight mounted to a home-made bracket on my now-empty Cantilever brake lug on the fork's left side. It probably set me back about $35 with shipping -but going with a super LED unit would have given me much more light had I wanted to spend 1.5-3 times what I invested into the wheel -perhaps even more with the ultra-high end LED hardware.

Tom said...

The Lumotec Lyt seems to have the best bang for the buck right now... 25 Lumens for $40 ($50 with stand light).

I have a cheapie "3W" LED light that takes rechargeable AA. http://www.dontgethit.com/3waledbihe.html It's not so bad when you combine with a headlamp. If I carry some extra AA's I won't get stuck in the dark.

James said...

The disposable battery powered LED lights really do work well. It is just that I am too much of a techno-weenie to be happy with feeding AA batteries through my light. It sort of feels a little bit too much like pumping gas into a gas tank to me ;)

A dyno is just a more elegant long-term technological solution IMHO. Sure it'll probably never pay for itself compared to buying alkaline batteries. But it's the principle of the thing for me. But I can't deny the fact that even at $90 (my price for the X-FDD and spokes) that buys a hellalot of AA batteries.

2whls3spds said...

At the time I was upgrading the Redline I don't believe I could find any SA X-FDD hubs available. That was about 2.5 years ago. I also wanted to stay with the Shimano Roller brakes if at all possible. Glad now that I did.

My XL-FDD was ~$70, rim will be $40, spokes run another $14 or so. Total cost for me is $125. Not bad for an all weather wheel.

There are quite a few affordable LED headlights out there now. B&M has come out with the Lyt which sells for less than $50usd, which is a great price for the B&M LED and optics. The Lumotec Halogen is about $20 less, but then you have to worry about going over voltage and replacing the bulb, as well as the cost of a spare bulb.

I look at the dyno hub as a long term investment in my safety as well as being a legal requirement. I don't put dyno hubs on all my bikes, just the ones that I plan to use regularly, I treat most of my bikes as a second car, I want them ready to go in any weather at any time of the day or night.

Aaron