My Bike

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Modified Sussex Kudos

full suspension frame, 7005 series alu
Marzocchi EXR Pro Air low pressure suspension fork, 120 mmm travel
Tektro V-brakes (looking currently into mechanical AVID front disc brake)

Shimano Inter-8 Premium internally geared hub
Shimano 8 speed twist shifter
Sussex shaft drive with four cro-moly spiral bevel gears and carbon steel propeller shaft

Thomson stem, alu 7000 series, CNC-milled
Haro BMX bar end plug, non-twisting wedge design
Techno Glide threadless headset with sealed Tange cartridge bearings

Specialized Body Geometry seat
Diamondback BigFoot magnesium pedals with removable traction studs

VDO C2 wireless cyclo computer

Specialized ATB Compound PRO high pressure (100 psi max) street/hardpack tires with flakjacket puncture protection, 26x2.2

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shaft drive greased with Red Line CV-2 with 3% Paratac tackifier
fork stanchions lubed with Slick Honey

So far I got about 2,200 miles on the bike.

PS: Gear ratios:

1st: 0.95
2nd: 1.16
3rd: 1.35
4th: 1.53
5th: 1.80*
6th: 2.20
7th: 2.55
8th: 2.91

*5th gear is direct drive and thus the one with the least frictional losses.

[ July 12, 2006, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: moribundman ]
 
quote:

do non-full suspension, shaft drive bikes exist???

Most chainless bikes are hardtails or have no suspension at all. There are road bikes, cruisers, hybrid bikes and even BMX bikes and folding bikes with shaftdrive. MTB shaftdrive bikes are rare. I don't think the market is ready to accept them, and the performance is not yet quite there.

I'm aware of two makers of chainless bicycles that sell in the US: Taiwanese Sussex and Danish Biomega.

The Sussex comes with some cheap, and I do mean cheap, components (fork, headeset, pedals, saddle) that you should replace with upgrades, unless you are very easy on the equipment. I don't mind modifying and upgrading, others may find a Sussex straight from the box to be a disappointment.

I can't say anything about the Biomega bikes, because I've never gotten a chance to try one out. They sure do look well-made, but whether the cool design is engineered well, I don't know.

quote:

I'll bet you take it off some cool jumps.

3 foot drops are the highest I've jumped with it, and this sort of thing scares the crap out of me now. I used to do stunts with my bikes that I'd never attempt again. No hill was ever steep or rocky enough. Of course, this was before there were suspension bikes and when I was 15 years younger and 30 pounds lighter!

quote:

Thats the coolest drivetrain(on a bike) Ive ever seen outside of a magazine!

Cool commuter!

The reason I wanted a chainless bike has to do with where I live, which is near the beach. Take wind, salty air and sand, and a chain and chain rings won't exactly last very long. You are looking at constant maintenance, or you'll be riding around with a rusty, squeaky chain that eats up chain rings. Because of the sand and salty air issue, I also prefer the internally geared hub over external gearing. Hub gearing and shaftdrive complement each other very well.

Shaftdrive, ya or nay?

Unless your environment is harsh, I say nay to a shaftdrive, because performance is lower than with a perfectly maintained chaindrive.

Weight: the shaftdrive does weigh more than a chain and chainrings, so weight weenies don't like the shaftdrive and the hub gearing based on that. I'm not a competive rider and use the bike mainly for excercise, so I don't mind that it's not an ultra-light bike. It just means more exercise!
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Friction: depending on chain condition, the chain offers less frictional losses, but a shaftdrive will be much better in this regard than a less-than-meticuluously maintained chain. Hub gearing is less efficient than external gearing. I can't tell what's sapping more power, the driveshaft or the hub gearing. For the non-competitive rider it shouldn't be an issue. I replaced the heavy and buzzy offroad tires with high pressure street/hardpack tires that offer very low rolling resitance, and I have no trouble keeping up with other bikes.

Durability: I'm sure the shaftdrive will outlast most chains and chain rings. The only concern with the driveshaft would be an alignment issue that results in gears not meshing properly, but that won't happen if the rear axle bolts are properly torqued. Replacement parts for the shaft drive are not expensive, and each component is available separately and easily replaced.

Apart from low maintenace, the shaftdrive offers more ground clearance (no derailleur hanging down or chainring) and clean pants.
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The shaftdrive is in my opinion ideal for a commuter bike, mostly because of low maintenance and for safety reasons. The commuter bike won't need any suspension, but should have fenders, a cargo rack and a lighting system (consider a hub dynamo) with which you can actually see in the dark.

I use my bike for recreational purposes in the park and on light trails and also run some short-distance errands. I also have a clamp-on (to seat post) bike rack that can hold up to 20 lbs cargo. I may get fenders for the wet season.
 
Whoa! I must crawl from under my rock once in a while. I had no idea they had this kind of drivetrains on bikes!

Looks great! How much does one of these cost?
 
Well, if you don't replace any parts and go with what you get out of the box, my MTB will run you about $800. A hybrid bike with shaftdrive will be about $600.

Consider that good suspension fork alone will cost upward of $400 new. I bought a basically brand-new fork for less than half that on ebay. But replacing parts does add up. To get the best deal in term of quality/price, you should always go for the least expensive bike that consists of the highest number of quality components. I had to replace non-stainless steel nuts and bolts, for crying out loud! Because I was set on getting a shaftdrive bike, my options were limited.

Shaftdrive bikes have been around for over hundred years. Sussex has been making chainless bikes since the early 1990s. I saw a fair number of shaft and beltdrive bikes in Japan. Supposedly, China is the main market for chainless bikes, but Europe seems to be a budding market, too. I belive shaftdrive will replace chaindrive in the long run. Shaftdrive is still a bit funky in both, engineering and perception.

One thing I forgot to mention before. The shaftdrive is super-smooth and totally quiet -- quiet to the point that I have to yell at people from behind all the time.
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quote:

Originally posted by moribundman:
To get the best deal in term of quality/price, you should always go for the least expensive bike that consists of the highest number of quality components.

I always heard it different than that... i always heard to buy the best quality frame atthe cheapest price, and youl know soon enough what you need to upgrade... and then you upgrade that stuff to the best components.

Thats why I have a nice easton ultralite frame, top of the lne mavic rims with no-name hubs, a mixup of deore and XT stuff, and avid mechanical discs... works for me.

OK, so question of the thread... can a shaft drive be retrofit onto any bike????

Thanks,

JMH
 
quote:

i always heard to buy the best quality frame atthe cheapest price, and youl know soon enough what you need to upgrade... and then you upgrade that stuff to the best components.

Well, that's the right way to do it if you are willing to upgrade. What I suggest is for when you want the best off-the-shelf bike for the money and don't plan on upgrading. You'd want a bike that already comes with components (I'd consider the frame the main component!) that already meet your needs.

You cannot retrofit a shaftdrive (easily or at all) to a regular bike, because the bottom bracket housing is wider and shorter than on other bikes. If you can find a bike with the proper bottom bracket, you may be able to shoehorn the components in. The drive shaft unit costs ca $80. You'd still have to figure out how to install the front transmission housing, which you'll also need, into the bottom bracket. The dropouts are also different from those on other bikes. Check out the diagram:

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Nice bike
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A very interesting piece of work, indeed. Is that a Pacific frame by any chance? Except for the chainless drive, the frame looks identical to a Pacific bike I had about 8 years ago.
 
quote:

Is that a Pacific frame by any chance? Except for the chainless drive, the frame looks identical to a Pacific bike I had about 8 years ago.

I have absolutely no idea. I can only presume it's a Taiwan-made frame (What bike stuff isn't made in Taiwan? Even Sturmy Archer is now a Taiwanese company, Sun Race Sturmey Archer!). I've seen the same frame design on cheap and expensive bikes. I also have no idea for how many years Sussex has used this frame.

I'm kind out of the loop when it comes to bikes. My previous MTB was a 1992 Gary Fisher Mount Tam, which was a very nice bike. Unfortunately I didn't get to ride it much and a few years ago it was stolen. I finally decided to get a new bike and was in for a real surprise when I began looking around. It seemed like there's a lot more junk out there now than ever. And the cheap junk is worse than the cheap junk from yesteryear. There's really high quality stuff, but the prices are outragous. People drop 5 or 7 grand for bikes!
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My Fisher was a hard tail, so no bobbing in the rear.

I'll soon replace the rear shock on the current bike with one that features lockout. There's some bobbing when going uphill, but very little on level surfaces, unless I really lean into it. The front suspension however has, due to speed sensitive valving, no bobbing issues, at least not even when going up moderate inclines. I'm way too lazy to tackle steep hills anyway! I don't mind riding downhill, but uphill? Naw..
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Wow....this is a first for me too. But something I saw in a magazine a while back intrigued me. Jeep was selling an AWD mountain bike. Anyone here have any experience with that? I bet it was a heavy b*tch.
 
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