Bakfiets with a NuVinci...

[mickle]

A few days ago I sold my Colnago to purchase a used Bakfiets and had barely ridden it before I installed a brand new (old model) Falbrook Industries NuVinci CVT hub. O. M. f. G. It's amazing. Pictures to follow later - teenager is using it today to ferry bikes and parts around - but this is the hub:

and this is the bike, a picture taken many years ago before the box was smashed and rebuilt and the frame powder-coated in blue:

I love that they drilled out the flange to save a few grammes on a hub which weighs half a ton.

It's an extraordinary feeling - having no steps between gears. There's a 350% range, about the same as a compact road and in some conditions I find that I'm changing almost constantly. I can change 'gear' from one pedal stroke to the next and it means that I'm never in the wrong gear. Interestingly this early hub requires a freewheel. Which suggests that it might be possible to run it as a fixed...!

The Shi**no roller-brakes are barely adequate for a bike which has so much momentum so I had the wheel built with a v-brake compatible rim. So I'm going to run both roller-brakes from one brake lever -a common upgrade for special-needs bikes - and use a v-brake mounted to an aftermarket plate (the frame has no braze-ons) to give me three brakes.

I've already installed 'Stan's' liquid latex sealant in the tubes for piece of mind - I really don't want to have to remove that hub ever again.... Future jobs include: Dynamo installation, remaking the poorly made and way too heavy box, fabricate a rain cover, fit mudguards, trailer hitch, and possibly an electric kit to the front wheel.

 

[mickle]

Another view. That's not me either....



There's more on the subject on the blog.

 

[Globalti]

Kewl! Carbon fibre for the box?

 

[mickle]

Kewl! Carbon fibre for the box?

You saw that coming didn't you!? Yup, carbon/kevlar honeycomb.... the real diffculty will be getting a decent aero shape which still holds children.

Though they are pretty flexible....

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Children or Carbon Fibre box's?

You saw that coming didn't you!? Yup, carbon/kevlar honeycomb.... the real diffculty will be getting a decent aero shape which still holds children.

Though they are pretty flexible....

 

[mickle]

The little children obviously.

 

[DrMekon]

Sounds like fun. I'd love to try a nuvinchi - any reason you went for one over a Alfine 11?

I have to say though, if your roller brakes aren't adequate, it can be fixed. I used to believe that they weren't up to the job when I got my second bakfiets (first was a Defietsfabriek with a coasterbrake that could strip the tarmac off the road) until I tried my wife's BSP mummybike that you could endo with panniers. I've since traded my bakfiets.nl cargobike for a bakfiets.nl cargotrike. The cargobike can lock the front and back wheels if unloaded, and stops quicker than the Circe Helios with discs I tried this weekend. If the kids sit at the front of the box, I can even endo it. Hugh at dutchbike.co.uk thinks that the company that makes the levers that bakfiets.nl and bsp used changed the amount of cable they pull. Whatever it is, they are amazing. I can lock the back wheel at will, which everyone used to say couldn't be done with rollerbrakes.

I should add, I'm using standard IM41s not the IM50s that everyone raves about.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

The little children obviously.

 

[mickle]

Sounds like fun. I'd love to try a nuvinchi - any reason you went for one over a Alfine 11?

I have to say though, if your roller brakes aren't adequate, it can be fixed. I used to believe that they weren't up to the job when I got my second bakfiets (first was a Defietsfabriek with a coasterbrake that could strip the tarmac off the road) until I tried my wife's BSP mummybike that you could endo with panniers. I've since traded my bakfiets.nl cargobike for a bakfiets.nl cargotrike. The cargobike can lock the front and back wheels if unloaded, and stops quicker than the Circe Helios with discs I tried this weekend. If the kids sit at the front of the box, I can even endo it. Hugh at dutchbike.co.uk thinks that the company that makes the levers that bakfiets.nl and bsp used changed the amount of cable they pull. Whatever it is, they are amazing. I can lock the back wheel at will, which everyone used to say couldn't be done with rollerbrakes.

I should add, I'm using standard IM41s not the IM50s that everyone raves about.

I was intrigued by CVT - it seems the perfecty solution for the tiny weak motor that is me. And I avoid Shi**no if I possibly can.

Re: the brakes. A little further inspection has uncovered that it's the front which is playing up - it can barely bring it to a halt with a full squeeze at the lever. 'Couldn't skid the skin off a rice pudding..' The cable is good so the problem is with the brake itself. I've never had one apart so it's new teritory for me. I happen to have another M brake on a trashed wheel so might just swap it out.

The rear meanwhile is pretty effective, though I was rather pushing its abilities with me, two ten year olds and a week's shopping hurtling downhill towards the river on Saturday afternoon.

 

[mickle]

Here it is - finally found my data cables under the teenager's bed...

 

[mickle]

Rear end showing twin legged stand (phoarr eh?) carry freedom trailer hitch, awesome drop-outs with integrated chain tensioners, Shi**no M brake (which I must confess works very well and which bolted straight onto the hub), NuVinci CVT hub drilled for (snigger) lightness, bolt-on/strap-on V brake plate. Which is very tidy. And enormously strong and sort of integrated rear rack.

 

[Arch]

Spotted today - Mickle on his Bakfiets!

Looking good.

And the bike, too...

 

[DrMekon]

Rear end showing twin legged stand (phoarr eh?) carry freedom trailer hitch, awesome drop-outs with integrated chain tensioners, Shi**no M brake (which I must confess works very well and which bolted straight onto the hub), NuVinci CVT hub drilled for (snigger) lightness, bolt-on/strap-on V brake plate. Which is very tidy. And enormously strong and sort of integrated rear rack.

I'm sure that if you asked nicely, Hugh at dutchbike.co.uk would be able to source you one of the 4-point bakfiets.nl stands with the magnetic catch. I don't fancy that Pletscher's chances with >100kg up front. For what it's worth, I've had ~125kg in the front of mine, and whilst it was a bit wobbly, as long as you max out the pressure on the front, it's very usable. I did about 15km with it loaded like that.

 

[mickle]

I'm sure that if you asked nicely, Hugh at dutchbike.co.uk would be able to source you one of the 4-point bakfiets.nl stands with the magnetic catch. I don't fancy that Pletscher's chances with >100kg up front. For what it's worth, I've had ~125kg in the front of mine, and whilst it was a bit wobbly, as long as you max out the pressure on the front, it's very usable. I did about 15km with it loaded like that.

Thanks for the advice. I'm still undecided whether to repair the original 4-point stand or replace, but that can wait until I've made my new box. The Pletcher works perfectly well when the box is empty.

I - probably prematurely - got carried away at the weekend and destroyed the overly heavy and poorly built box in the pics. I've sourced some waterproof (and boilproof !) 9mm beech faced ply for the replacement.. but then I had a dream about making a replacement box - enclosing the front wheel - in the shape of a small cabin cruiser:

 

[Piemaster]

Box of frogs!

Do it. Please.