spokewrench
Active Member
- Region
- USA
I used to love the Sturmey Archer hub shifter. When I bought my Abound, I had little experience with derailleurs. I needed a lot more shifts, and to avoid shifting under load, I needed to anticipate. To anticipate, I needed to know what gear I was already in, and I couldn't read the number through the distorted little window on my Shimano rotary shifter.
So I ordered a Shimano push-button shifter. Nowhere did the description state the length of the attached cable. I figured that meant it was plenty long, and I was expected to snip off the excess. When it arrived, I ran the cable along what seemed to be the path of the housing. It looked 2" short. I figured I'd leave the old cable in place and attach the new shifter to it.
That would work with brakes or the classic Sturmey Archer shifter, but I had to destroy the Shimano shifter because it wasn't made to release the cable. What were they thinking! The new Shimano shifter was almost as bad. To attach a new cable, I would have to thread the derailleur end through the shifter. To withdraw the old cable, I'd have to snip off the cap at the derailleur end. I could get it out okay, but with loose ends, I might not be able to slide it back in through the housing. It didn't matter. In getting the cable out of the old shifter, I had somehow snipped a strand. Having a loose end in the housing would be asking for trouble.
I withdrew the old cable to measure. It was 10" longer than the new one, not 2". The new one was 2.1 meters, the most common size. There are also 2.3 meter cables, but I needed 2.35. I'd have to go to 3.1 meters, costing as much as the shifter and maybe not arriving until next year.
So, after a 35-mile break-in, I accidentally customized my Abound as a 1-speed. I've ridden 1-speed ebikes for 3 years, and it works. The throttle gets me underway, and PAS gets me up steep hills. Shifting gears would mean losing speed on hills, while PAS keeps my speed up. With a torque sensor, I can get the boost I need without even shifting the PAS level.
With no assist, pedaling isn't as strong as with my Radmission. That seems strange as my Radmission has 81 gear inches while my Abound has 72 in high. The stock Abound has a good pedaling geometry, but I guess it's not as good as my modified Radmission. On the black market Raleighs I used to ride (imported as boxes of motorcycle parts and selling for $10), second gear, for hills, was 70 gear inches. Seating geometry can greatly increase torque on the pedals.
So I ordered a Shimano push-button shifter. Nowhere did the description state the length of the attached cable. I figured that meant it was plenty long, and I was expected to snip off the excess. When it arrived, I ran the cable along what seemed to be the path of the housing. It looked 2" short. I figured I'd leave the old cable in place and attach the new shifter to it.
That would work with brakes or the classic Sturmey Archer shifter, but I had to destroy the Shimano shifter because it wasn't made to release the cable. What were they thinking! The new Shimano shifter was almost as bad. To attach a new cable, I would have to thread the derailleur end through the shifter. To withdraw the old cable, I'd have to snip off the cap at the derailleur end. I could get it out okay, but with loose ends, I might not be able to slide it back in through the housing. It didn't matter. In getting the cable out of the old shifter, I had somehow snipped a strand. Having a loose end in the housing would be asking for trouble.
I withdrew the old cable to measure. It was 10" longer than the new one, not 2". The new one was 2.1 meters, the most common size. There are also 2.3 meter cables, but I needed 2.35. I'd have to go to 3.1 meters, costing as much as the shifter and maybe not arriving until next year.
So, after a 35-mile break-in, I accidentally customized my Abound as a 1-speed. I've ridden 1-speed ebikes for 3 years, and it works. The throttle gets me underway, and PAS gets me up steep hills. Shifting gears would mean losing speed on hills, while PAS keeps my speed up. With a torque sensor, I can get the boost I need without even shifting the PAS level.
With no assist, pedaling isn't as strong as with my Radmission. That seems strange as my Radmission has 81 gear inches while my Abound has 72 in high. The stock Abound has a good pedaling geometry, but I guess it's not as good as my modified Radmission. On the black market Raleighs I used to ride (imported as boxes of motorcycle parts and selling for $10), second gear, for hills, was 70 gear inches. Seating geometry can greatly increase torque on the pedals.
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