component advise

[ruppster]

I'm about to place my orders for parts for my next build a '50 Schwinn panther or a '49 Higgins I haven't decided yet. I wish I would have asked this question before my first build because it would have saved alot of grief but I didn't.

What would be the ultimate components for reliability and be the most maintainance free at a cost effective price? I have a cheap wheelset with coaster brake now and I spent more time fixing the rear wheel than I did riding. I want to keep them old looking is the only cosmetic goal.

Just to give an idea what I'm after I'll give my ideas first. Grubee 66cc slant head kit ( have motor already), Sbp H.D shift kit, Shimano 3 spd rear hub on husky 26x2.25 clincher rims,coaster brakes rear and drum front, thick brick tires, springer front fork. This seems to be the best bang for the buck from what I can see. I'm not crazy about the coaster brake because I had them fail badly twice this summer and they required way too many tear downs/repacking (every 50-75 miles!). I welcome any insightful input, and hear what is holding up for you guys. My goal is to build a very heavy duty reliable bike that I can take on 100 mile day trips. Is that even to much to ask of a bicycle drive train?

 

[dash]

kinda hard to make it better but i guess you could ditch your 3 speed hub send it to me and lace up a cassette hub with a disk mount not real sure if you would would want to weld a caliper mount to your sweet vintage bike but it is possible i have done it and the bike would stop on a dime

 

[ruppster]

Thanks for the response Dash, I guess I should rephrase my question. My bigest concerns are reliabilty and functionality. I would really like a shift kit because around my home I have long steep hill and long runs of flat roads. My question is would the set-up I named be a sound choice for what I want to do? Are internal shift hubs reliable? Should I forget the whole idea and stay with my sprocket adaptor and single speed
I wouldn't be against a disk but I don't want a cassette simply because The bike would just look like any other modern wal-mart bike. What are people running that work??

 

[GearNut]

The majority of the 3-speed hubs are not up to the task of handling the power that an engine can dish out. For a shifter set up you would be better off with a cassette hub and derailleur. There is however one Sturmy-Archer 3-speed hub out there that some folks have had good luck with, but I cannot recall the exact model right now.
The holy grail of "geared" hubs is the NuVinci hub. It is capable of handling 2 horsepower. Some folks have pushed 4 through it, but that seems to tax the special fluid inside it. It is not cheap by any means though.
http://www.fallbrooktech.com/

 

[dash]

i wish i could aford a nuvici hub but that hub is worth more than my whole bike some day i will own oh yes some day!

 

[ParadoX]

Ive been running a nexus 7 speed hub and it runs great. One thing to keep in mind with gearing is that the more speeds you have, the more often you need to shift and with a a top speed of a All tweaked out bike of 45, with 7 speeds, you shift every 20 feet it seems! I live in San Francisco, so I have some very steep hills. Theres no where in the city I cant get to.

My friend bought the nuvinci hub, and honestly, Id rather have the nexus. He is shifting non-stop! The nuvinci may have a higher range of gearing, but you dont ever really need them. In my opinion, with the proper gearing on both the shift kit and the rear wheel, 6 speeds is ideal. 6th gear happens for me after a loong straight away, 7th gear almost never except maybe a long downhill.

 

[dash]

how long have you had the nexus on your ride?

 

[ParadoX]

Im about 1k miles on it...I chose the nexus hubs from a recommendation from pablo of SBPs.