Cruisin'
I took my wife's Electra Townie 3S to work today as an experiment. I haven't actually ridden her bike more than just around the parking lot to make sure it's adjusted right and working properly. The rack holds my panniers nicely. The geometry is awkward coming from traditional flat-bar bikes and my road bike, but all in all it's a nice ride. I think her "lightweight aluminum" frame actually weighs more than my steel Diamondback Sorrento, but the long wheelbase frame takes a lot of metal to make.
On with the experiment. No, it wasn't to see how many people would get a chuckle from me riding a "girl's" bike with a step-through frame. It was more to see how the 3-speed gets around my bus-assisted commute routes. It works about as well as I figured it would. In low gear, the Quivira viaduct and the climb from Main to Central on 11th St are do-able. On flat land, 20 MPH or so is attainable. On downhills... well, you can always coast. You won't get much faster than 20 or so with the gear ratios on this bike.
I'm pondering throwing an internal-greared hub on the Sorrento for winter beater duty. My initial reaction was to try fixed gear for winter but I've never had a hub freeze up on me. The Sorrento is going to need at the bare minimum a new rear wheel and cassette, chain, chainrings and front derailleur to be ready for winter. I could forgo the front derailleur and just leave it in the middle chainring, but the chainrings are all worn and I'd be wise to go ahead and replace the whole crank anyways.
I'm sure some would rather have a NuVinci or Rohloff SpeedHub, or even a Nexus 7 or 8 but since this is going to be my winter beater, the Nexus 3 makes the most sense. This bike will be mostly used for getting to and from the bus, riding around downtown and for running errands close to home. It will be exposed to snow, slush, sand, salt, and other crimes against bike parts. When it's nice, I'll probably be on my road bike anyways, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to throw expensive parts onto this bike when they're likely going to be abused and ridden for short-distance rides.
Given the trouble snow has given me in the past, I may go with a relatively small chainring or larger rear cog for an even lower gear ratio than the Townie came with. I don't need the bike to go fast, I just need it to get me there. Heck, I might even like the 3-speed on the novice-level singletrack trails that I like to ride if the gear ratios are low enough for the climbs.
I'm still not ruling out a fixie or singlespeed mountain bike, though...
I might end up taking the Townie out on the Monday Night ride. Heck, I might even try riding this thing all the way back home from downtown. The top-end of my road bike would be missed but I can only think of one hill that will give me any trouble: just south of 75th, either via Switzer or through the industrial park off Wedd Road... it's an unavoidable climb.
More to come. This is a fun bike to ride, but definitely more in its element as a short-distance urban commuter and recreational cruiser bike.
For those of you who have used fixies, single speeds and internal-geared hubs for winter commuting, do you have any suggestions?
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