In defense of the old 3 speed igh, the drag, at least for the old SA AW,
has been tested at considerably less than that of much more complex,
multi-epicycle internal gear trains with 7+ gears, and my experience
(considerable with 2 and 3 speed SA hubs, only a little, but some with
modern 7+ gear hubs) bears this out very clearly.
IMO, the simplicity and low drag (and lower weight) of the simpler
multigear hubs makes them preferable, at least to me, to the more complex,
draggier, and heavier ones.
I have a QR 17/19 Dingle wheel on my Riv 1999 fixed gear road custom and
switching from the 76" to a 68" headwind gear is very easy, but I noticed
that I downshifted much more often and readily with the 2 speed TC hub (76"
direct and 66" underdrive), helpful when your direction into the wind or
the slope of the terrain changes often. My point is not that you ("all
y'all") should go get a TC -- last made in the 1940s? Mine is 1937 -- but
that igh's do offer some benefits over manual "get off the bike and move
the chain" shifting.
Personally, I perfer the external simplicity of a simple igh over multiple
cogs or rings, and I prefer multiple cogs over multiple rings, again for
simplicity and ease of use. AAYMMAWV.
I get back to that downgeared AW Schwinn: 69", 52", 39" which for a
$50-total-expenditure beater including new 36 t chainring + shop
labor (1989) proved to be very versatile indeed.
On Mon, Jun 19, 2023 at 10:32 AM Drew Saunders <drew.saund...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> My orange Quickbeam came set up as a "2 speed" with 32-40-chainguard
> chainrings on a 74/110 triple (still has those) plus an 18t freewheel.
> I immediately made it a "3 speed" with a 17/19 Dos Eno freewheel. The
> chain is too slack for the 32/17 to work, so only 3 options: 40/17 (99% of
> my riding), 40/19, 32/19.
> I later added a 22T freewheel to the flip side of the flip/flop hub, which
> will work with the 32, but not the 40, so I have an extremely inconvenient
> 4-speed.
>
> I rarely take it out of the 40/17, but the headwinds this morning made me
> wonder if I should have used the 40/19.
>
> All of that was much cheaper and easier than getting an internally geared
> hub, and if I did go for an IGH, I'd get a modern 7 or 8 speed anyway.
>
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