have had some very fun excursions on rail trails , disused railways turned into pedestrian/bike paths. The trails typically go through very beautiful areas and rarely do you have to concern yourself with motorized traffic of any kind. Reader Will appears to be interested in rails as well, but he wants to ride on them - literally. Check it out - Will included the following text - A rail-bike is a bicycle that has been modified to be able to ride on the rails of a railroad. The front wheel has a device attached to it so that the bike won’t steer off the rail while an outrigger is used to support the bike using the other rail. I used conduit, cut up “razor” scooters parts, one bike fork two bits of steel and numerous nuts, bolts, washers and retaining pins. Nothing is welded. The hardest part is getting the spacing right so that friction and play are minimized. A lot of person hours certainly went in to this working model and the details are pretty amazing. [Keep re
I ride cruisers and my xcross in the winter here in alaska and I find my brakes and deraileurs freeze up when it gets below about 15degF. I have two frames I am going to rebuild into coasties. I think the most important thing is the hub. There is no such thing as a high-performance coaster brake hub, so I am going with an old bendix coaster, thinking the old steel will probably stand up better. The other bike is getting an old Sturmey-Archer internal 3 spd w/ coaster brake. All coaster brake hubs have high rolling resistance, but I have heard a Czech company called "Velosteel" makes a design that is more like an internal drum brake. I think they will be fun and low-maintainance. NYCBikes.com sells complete 700c wheelsets for 170 bucks if you don't want to build them yourself, but they are on new, less durable shimano hubs. I would put some front brakes on your coastie if you live in a hilly area, because coaster brakes will HEAT UP and FAIL CATASTROPHICALLY if you lean on 'em too long. Godspeed!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI am ordering a case of Velosteel hubs direct from the factory to the USA. I will be reselling them when they come in for about $35 - just trying to spread the shipping costs and help out. If someone else had stepped up, I'd have bought one from them!
Anyhow, I'm posting them on the Bike Forums' singlespeed area when they get here. Should be in the next few weeks.
Muttley.
Hey Muttley, I'd get involved with the Velosteel hub order. What sizing (O.L.D & axle length) and style (thread cog or lockring)? Spoke holes?
ReplyDeleteshoot me an email, and thanks for posting it.
scvajda@yahoo.com
Folks,
ReplyDeleteThe Velosteel coaster hubs are in! I got one or two threaded-cog hubs, the rest take standard coaster/internal-gear splined cogs. Each hub includes an 18t cog and the chainstay clip. They are beautiful pieces. I'm selling for $30 each + $10 shipping USPS Priority Mail, I can get several hubs into a box for the same shipping costs.
Send me an email at ronald_russell_pe@nospam.yahoo.com ,you can take out "nospam".
OK, the Velosteel coaster hubs I ordered have sold out. Thanks for the interest.
ReplyDeleteRon
it looks lika a velosteel is about the same as a "Favorit" coasterbrake, which are (or perhaps were) pretty common here in the netherlands.
ReplyDelete