On Boxing Day morning I took Louis for a long walk around the area where Bill and Joan live. It is a retirement village with over 500 homes. It is really a little community of it own except that the average age is over 70. I think I'll stay put in my own little house where I can meet younger people.
I stayed for a barbecue lunch before driving home with Louis.
Now the interesting stuff. Just before Christmas I had become interested in modifying my folding bicycle which I had bought early last year. It has been great but since my stroke in June I have been having problems with operating the left hand grip shift which controls the front chainring changer. It requires a firm grip and twist motion which on even a short hilly ride caused me some discomfort. I am not sure if it is a result of the stroke or arthritis but I was looking for a solution. I had previously use thumb shifters but even back in 1995 on my tour of England and Wales these had caused me problems.
The solution to my problem appeared to be with the new range of Internally Geared Hubs (IGH) installed in the rear wheel which have a wide enough gear range to touring cycling. The best of these has fourteen gears and is made in Germany by a company called Rohloff . It is the best but costs over $AU2000 which is more than the bike's cost. it also uses a grip shift operated by the right hand. After some net surfing I began to consider the Shimano Alfine which has only 11 gears over a narrower range than the Rohloff, 410% as against 520%. It does still however enable one to achieve a suitable range for leisurely touring. Its cost is about $AU750 and it uses a Rapid Fire right hand thumb operated shifter. I decided to give myself a Christmas present and ordered one just before Christmas. It arrived just before the New Year.
I went on a social club ride on the last day of 2011 using the old derailleur gear system and on the 1st of January dismantled the bicycle and began the IGH installation.
First I had to remove the old hub from the rear wheel and build it up again with the IGH installed. I used an old pair of front forks suitably modified to mount the wheel as I assembled it.
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"Spreading" my bicycle's rear dropouts to 135mm. Sorry for the side on view I'll replace it later.
Truieng the rebuilt wheel using the old forks, a rubber band and a screwdriver as a feeler.
Checking that the new wheel fits.
Looking at the installation using an alternative mount for the chain tensioner before installing the cassette joint and sprocket. I hoped to use the existing gear hanger but I decided to use the recommended Shimano Hanger attached to the back axle.
Fitting the the new single chainset.
The final installation.
If you enlarge the picture you can see the Rapid Fire Shifter next to the front brake.
The two yellow dots are aligned in sixth gear to set up the gears.
The final assembly after a test ride. Note that the red reflector under the saddle normally faces to the rear. I was carrying tools in the saddle bag.
The installation from behind.
Due to a delay in getting a rear sprocket I didn't complete the installation in time for the club ride on the next Saturday but it was ready on the Sunday. I have done about 100Km on it and I am satisfied with the shifting and am looking forward to many more comfortable rides.
