It's all back together now & ready for a test ride. (Please ignore the crappy rack but something was needed & a friend had this kicking around & it worked, a normal rack is going to be difficult because of the ultra short chain stays).
Anything bright that was no longer bright got a coat of Smoothrite, anything still bright was left alone. Six spokes in the rear wheel, a couple of tyres, a couple of chains, couple of cotter pins, brake blocks & over 200 BBs, first time I've had to use four different sizes on one bike!
The front brake works adequately but the rear was in need of a part & new cables, couple that with the splitter set up I haven't re-fitted it just relying on the hub brake that also is just adequate. Stupidly before taking it to bits I didn't check for three distinct gears, it being a Sturmey AW "Always Works", so I only found out now it's back together it only had second & third, no matter how the toggle chain is pulled first is no longer there...........
So, before I even got it all back together I had an idea, in the back of the shed I have the remains of an early electric assist bike that died, the wheels of said bike are 36 spoke 26" with a four speed Nexus & roller brakes.......
While not perfect the four speeds & decent roller brakes seem like a good idea, I think with a bit of fetling I can make them work without altering anything permanently, the rear width seems about right so that may become phase two if the Missis approves of it after a few gentle rides..... We will see.
The modern 26" ETRTO of 559 mm as opposed to the original 26" X 1 1/4 of 597mm means a 38mm difference in diameter so 19mm lower (with the same height tyres).
Does anyone foresee a problem with this idea?
