Shifting?

Most of the time, for the last 6 years, I ride bicycles with only 1 gear to choose from. My favorite thing about single/fixed riding is that there is very little chain noise. No chain slap. No caught between gears grinding. No derailleur rub. And if I run 1/8" chains (and remember to lubricate them), there is VERY little noise. So when I first saw the Sturmey Archer SX-3 two years ago now(?), I thought I better try one.

A while back now, I had to do some ordering at the bike shop which is not my normal job. This always gets me into trouble because it forces me to look through catalogs and browse distributors web sites. Sure enough, the SX-3 was on special so of course it went right onto the order. Over the next few weeks I collected the rest of the parts for the wheel build and now have a multi-geared fixed gear.


I wanted to keep my Cross Check clean, so I mounted the shifter on the rear rack. It takes a little getting used to, but ended up being very easy to reach back for shifting. I don't plan on shifting a bunch anyways, so the overall outcome is very much to my liking. My first impression is that there is waaaaaay too much play in the hub. I don't have a digital angle finder (I should look for an app), but I estimate my cranks can move back and forth nearly 4 degrees. Doesn't seem like much, but that is 12mm of travel. And it's weird travel too. I am used to having a bit of runout, but there is always tension on the chain. This is free play. A little different and weird.

I also feel like there is a lot of drag in the lowest gear. I spin at a pretty high rate, and I chose a cog that was in stock and it is too high of a gear. This means that I have been riding in the lowest gear most of the time. I feel a lot less drag in the second and third gear. There is very little rolling resistance, but some drag as the gears churn. I am looking to order a larger cog to lower everything down. I think the gearing steps are spaced appropriately, I just hope I can make everything work out to my liking. I am more than likely going to have to change my chainring as well.

So I am playing around with gearing and am going to ride it until the weather turns foul and I have to break out the winter bike. I am fairly certain I can get used to the hub resistance, but I have a feeling the play is what is going to be what keeps it from going back on the bike next year.

Vacation Time

This time of year is when I am able to take a little time off from work. We try to celebrate our wedding anniversary by taking various trips often including camping expeditions. This year was our 10th year as an official couple so we stepped it up a touch and went to a Bed & Breakfast near Grand Marais. It was a nice little place, probably not exactly our style of vacation, but a great experience.

One of the most exciting things is that I borrowed my cousin's Nikon D90. I haven't used that nice of a camera, ever, and it was a real treat to shoot. I was amazed how easy it was to operate, but most of my photos show my lack of experience with it. I did manage to come up with this sunset photo right on the bay.



The fall colors were great, but as a rainstorm had blown through a couple days before, a number of leaves were knocked onto the ground. We also had a fair amount of cloud cover and rain. But a great place to get in touch with nature and remind me of how lucky I really am.