26 October 2012

The Trek Changes Its Status, But Remains A Single




I've made a change to the Trek 560 I recently built.

As you may recall from earlier posts, I'd equipped the bike with a Velosteel rear coaster brake hub.  Well, I swapped it for a single speed rear hub.


  

I might use the Velosteel hub on another bike, perhaps an old mixte or mountain bike.  I hadn't quite gotten used to its idiosyncrasies   They include the "dead" pedal stroke of half a pedal revolution I experienced when I started pedaling again after braking and that when I backpedaled, it seemed that the hub had to find its "sweet spot" before the brake engaged.  (Other coaster brakes I've ridden would stop the bike as soon as I backpedaled.)  I suppose that if I rode the hub more (I put about 200 miles on it.) I'd get used to it.

But even if I were to grow accustomed to, and like, riding with the hub, I don't think I would have wanted to keep it on the Trek--assuming, of course, I decide to keep the Trek. It's a good bike, but a little bit too large for me.  Plus, for a winter/beater bike, I think I'd rather have something that can accept wider tires.

One thing you might have noticed is that some of the spokes are silver and some are black.





I didn't plan it that way:  It just happened that I had 28 silver and 12 black spokes in the length I needed, and the wheel needed 36 spokes. I used all of the black spokes and 24 of the silver ones.  So, every third spoke is black.

Somehow I think that might actually be a selling point!

2 comments:

  1. I started riding my new Velosteel hub a few weeks ago, and I haven't noticed the same hub characteristics that you are experiencing. I am getting way less than one fourth of dead pedal revolution-from brake to pedal mode. Also, the hub brake engages with just the slightest back pressure. I do notice an engagement click, that I can feel in the pedal, when I go from a light braking action to a heavier one. Maybe something isn't right inside your hub. So far I'm having a kick riding this thing.

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  2. Chris--Thanks for your feedback about this hub. I might try to strip mine down to see whether something needs tweaking. I will probably use it on another bike in the future.

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