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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
Gear hub fans have never had it so good. With the formidable
maturity and reasonable prices of the Shimano 8 speeds, the renaissance going on over at Sturmey-Archer and radical new (or very old) designs like the Nuvinci, it is easy to overlook SRAM’s new three speed. For three speed lovers, that would be a major mistake. This is one of the best, if not THE best, ever made. I have ridden many three speeds over the years, and loved them all (except for that 333 hub), but I have never had as much fun as I am having on the SRAM. Two caveats: #1-This is the common complaint about gearhubs, but the grip**** is God Awful. The mechanism is so rough that I though it was broken when I first installed it. After some lubrication and riding in it has improved somewhat, but it still feels like you are breaking something when you shift. The barrel adjuster set up is even more annoying than the ones on nexus shifters. The grip part has come off in my hand twice already (it is mounted on drop bars). I don’t expect the shifter to last two years. I confess that I loathe grip**** in every form, but SRAM has made much nicer ones than this. The hub deserves better. The only good things that can be said about it are that it works and is very simple to set up (credit for this belongs with the hub itself). As impressed as I am with IM3, there is *NO WAY* I would pay $400 for an IM9 and have to deal with a shifter this poor on a nine speed, and I wonder if the complaints about that hub being loud and grindy aren’t caused by the crap cheap shifter failing to pull cable correctly. A trigger shifter has been sighted in a photo of a cannondale prototype, but there is no evidence of that shifter being available aftermarket. The good news is that the cable pull is about 6mm, less than a Sturmey, so with due care and some fiddling it should be possible to adapt one of Sturmey’s new bar end shifters. All that said, it is a three speed and just about any shifter will do just fine on such. #2-Imotion distribution runs from bad to terrible in the states, even more so for small parts. I almost had to cancel my wheel build when the shop couldn’t find a shifter. After calling seven bike shops here in _bicycle_crazy_ Portland, Oregon I managed to find one that had a distributor with a shifter in stock. Shops that could not get the shifter included two that specialize in gear hub bikes and three that stock the Imotion equipped Swobos. SRAM’s “just in time” distribution system means that when parts are out of stock it can be just a really loooong time before they come in again. This problem is worse with the IM9 as it needs its own special cogs. All that said, SRAM has actually brought their product to market (I’m looking at you Sturmey-Archer) and they didn’t try to charge me extra for a bunch of small parts that should come with the hub to begin with. If the Alfine is the Death Star of gearhubs, this is the Millennium Falcon. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. (I guess this makes the S3X the X-wing: you better be a Jedi knight to be an early adopter, and you will probably have to use the force to actually buy one.) Under the discrete steel shell is a three speed mechanism perfected and purged of every bug and flaw, fully matured, tough as a panzer and solid as a single cog. Shifting is perfect, and after a week of trying to foul the hub I managed to induce a single pawl skip during a shift under heavy load, and was unable to induce it again. No waiting for the hub to engage, no pedaling through a grindy zone, no neutral, just an instant shift. The shift cable linkage is a huge improvement over the click box, cassette joint, and bell crank, with better protection than an axle chain. A cable comes out of the hub and connects to your shift cable, making tire changes no more difficult than on any other bolt on hub. As the hub does not use A/R washers, you can position the shift arm in any direction you like (anyone know why this hub doesn’t need them?). The unity gear feels like a single cog and I find the efficiency hit in 1st & 3rd to be unnoticeable. SRAM’s T3 was the most efficient hub of its generation, and as this hub seems to be an all around improvement it is a safe bet that this is the most efficient gear hub available. Due to the problem of small cog inefficiency, the top gear in this hub may actually be more efficient than the top gear on a modern derailleur set up. With a Sugino chain ring and Izumi chain I had no problem setting up a fixie- tight chain line, with no drag or binding. The coaster brake has more power than the roller brake it replaced, without the dreaded fade effect. It creaked once or twice the first day and has been silent since. It has enough play to be ridden over trails, dropped off of curbs and even down stairs with engaging unintentionally, and enough power to throw my 1.5 inch Schwalbe marathon into a skid under all conditions. While Sturmey-Archer is the hands down winner for style and variety, and the Shimano hubs are far more available, this is the hub to buy for hard use, be it sprinting of off-roading, and I really recommend this hub to fixie riders. Let the hipsters find out the hard way if the S3X has teething issues. The mechanism is perfect and the coaster will make your brakeless track bike street legal and at least slightly less kamikaze to ride in traffic. -Rando |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Nov 25, 2:35 pm, pdxrandonneur wrote:
Gear hub fans have never had it so good. With the formidable maturity and reasonable prices of the Shimano 8 speeds, the renaissance going on over at Sturmey-Archer and radical new (or very old) designs like the Nuvinci, it is easy to overlook SRAM’s new three speed. For three speed lovers, that would be a major mistake. This is one of the best, if not THE best, ever made. I have ridden many three speeds over the years, and loved them all (except for that 333 hub), but I have never had as much fun as I am having on the SRAM. snip As an internal-gear fan (although I should not be, at my weight), I appreciate your review. I am intrigued by your comments that Sturmey-Archer is working on new offerings and hope there will be reviews on their equipment as well. Pureheart Sachs Elan 12 speed (R.I.P.) SA Sprinter 7sp Sachs DuoDrive |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Nov 25, 6:12*pm, pH wrote:
snip As an internal-gear fan (although I should not be, at my weight), I appreciate your review. I am intrigued by your comments that Sturmey-Archer is working on new offerings and hope there will be reviews on their equipment as well. They have actually updated the web site, have a blog and a facebook page and the new catalog is mouth watering: http://www.sturmey-archer.com/userfi..._Catalogue.pdf The new shifters for the 3 & 5 speed hubs look extremely nice and will be available in thumb, downtube and bar end versions. Last word from Sturmey is that they will be available when the S3X hubs get to market, supposedly in a few months. Every gear hub fan should make a point of buying one in order to demonstrate that there is in fact a market for nice gear hub shifters. We have been bitching about this for long enough that we need to put our money where our mouth is now that someone listened. -Rando |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
pdxrandonneur wrote:
On Nov 25, 6:12 pm, pH wrote: snip As an internal-gear fan (although I should not be, at my weight), I appreciate your review. I am intrigued by your comments that Sturmey-Archer is working on new offerings and hope there will be reviews on their equipment as well. They have actually updated the web site, have a blog and a facebook page and the new catalog is mouth watering: http://www.sturmey-archer.com/userfi..._Catalogue.pdf The new shifters for the 3 & 5 speed hubs look extremely nice and will be available in thumb, downtube and bar end versions. Last word from Sturmey is that they will be available when the S3X hubs get to market, supposedly in a few months. Every gear hub fan should make a point of buying one in order to demonstrate that there is in fact a market for nice gear hub shifters. We have been bitching about this for long enough that we need to put our money where our mouth is now that someone listened. -Rando That's a very good point. I won't take much persuading to buy a new shifter. My 5-speed SA twist grip looks like it's made by Fisher-Price. The new twist grips look better, but I especially like the look of the simple lever which can also be used as a down-tube shifter. |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Nov 27, 5:18*pm, Jim A wrote:
pdxrandonneur wrote: On Nov 25, 6:12 pm, pH wrote: snip As an internal-gear fan (although I should not be, at my weight), I appreciate your review. I am intrigued by your comments that Sturmey-Archer is working on new offerings and hope there will be reviews on their equipment as well. *They have actually updated the web site, have a blog and a facebook page and the new catalog is mouth watering: http://www.sturmey-archer.com/userfi...y-Archer_2009-... The new shifters for the 3 & 5 speed hubs look extremely nice and will be available in thumb, downtube and bar end versions. Last word from Sturmey is that they will be available when the S3X hubs get to market, supposedly in a few months. Every gear hub fan should make a point of buying one in order to demonstrate that there is in fact a market for nice gear hub shifters. We have been bitching about this for long enough that we need to put our money where our mouth is now that someone listened. * * * * * * * -Rando That's a very good point. *I won't take much persuading to buy a new shifter. *My 5-speed SA twist grip looks like it's made by Fisher-Price.. * The new twist grips look better, but I especially like the look of the simple lever which can also be used as a down-tube shifter.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I've been using Sturmey Archer's rapid fire style shifter on my 5 speed hub for almost 3 years now. http://i45.tinypic.com/2430pza.jpg Definitely a worthwhile upgrade over the rotary style which I was using previously. |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Nov 25, 4:35*pm, pdxrandonneur wrote:
* Gear hub fans have never had it so good. With the formidable maturity and reasonable prices of the Shimano 8 speeds, the renaissance going on over at Sturmey-Archer and radical new (or very old) designs like the Nuvinci, it is easy to overlook SRAM’s new three speed. For three speed lovers, that would be a major mistake. This is one of the best, if not THE best, ever made. I have ridden many three speeds over the years, and loved them all (except for that 333 hub), but I have never had as much fun as I am having on the SRAM. Two caveats: #1-This is the common complaint about gearhubs, but the grip**** is God Awful. [snipped] That's the clincher for me. There's only two shifters for infernal hubs that I've ever liked, and that's a regular ole S/A trigger and the first generation Nexus 7 speed. The Shimano grip**** are bearable, and the S/A and Sram stuff is nasty. That said, the Sram hubs are durable--you just don't see any stateside. In Sweden you see a lot of the 5 speed Spectro version. Seems they also got all of the four speed Nexus hubs over there as well. |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
In article
, landotter wrote: That said, the Sram hubs are durable--you just don't see any stateside. My LBS in Minnesota usually stocks the Sram T3 (formerly Sachs Torpedo 3) and the 5 speed version because he gets enough calls for them, and has gotten other IGH stuff from them too. And he stocks Shimano IGHs but I don't think he stocks the Rolhoff. He also carries a number of bikes that come with IGHs, such as Breezers. I have thought for many years that the ideal bike for the majority of people is the classic British 3 speed,although it needs closer gear spacing or a 5 speed. Simple to use, durable, comfortable, far less horrible looking than the "comfort" bikes one sees today (and probably lighter, too). |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Nov 26, 9:58*am, Tim McNamara wrote:
In article , *landotter wrote: That said, the Sram hubs are durable--you just don't see any stateside. My LBS in Minnesota usually stocks the Sram T3 (formerly Sachs Torpedo 3) and the 5 speed version because he gets enough calls for them, and has gotten other IGH stuff from them too. *And he stocks Shimano IGHs but I don't think he stocks the Rolhoff. *He also carries a number of bikes that come with IGHs, such as Breezers. I have thought for many years that the ideal bike for the majority of people is the classic British 3 speed,although it needs closer gear spacing or a 5 speed. *Simple to use, durable, comfortable, far less horrible looking than the "comfort" bikes one sees today (and probably lighter, too). Those comfort bikes that are easy to make fun of are usually closer to the geometry of what Dutch and Japanese ride in the city every day. The problem is, more often than not, that they're not dialed in. At the LBS, for example, the plain Electra Townies look goofy to me, but the decked out version looks the business: http://mybiketinley.com/product/10-e...4d-51843-1.htm Take your average more upright hybrid, add $100 worth of curvy bars, an SKS chainguard, fenders, and a rack--you got yourself the Dusseldorf edition. Conversely--if you took your average beater Japanese "mamachari" and took off the practical bits--it would likely look like upper end Xmart. I do like hub gears--but TBH, a 1x system with only a right shifter is just as stupidly simple--and dead easy to service. |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:17:48 -0800 (PST), landotter
wrote: [---] I do like hub gears--but TBH, a 1x system with only a right shifter is just as stupidly simple--and dead easy to service. Agreed - but by no means as maintenance-free as hub gears. |
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Sram i-Motion 3 Speed Coaster Review
On Nov 26, 12:56*pm, Andrew Price wrote:
On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:17:48 -0800 (PST), landotter wrote: [---] I do like hub gears--but TBH, a 1x system with only a right shifter is just as stupidly simple--and dead easy to service. Agreed - but by no means as maintenance-free as hub gears. Probably less of a PITA than the hub gears, IME. You might need to floss the cogs every few months--but on the odd chance you get a rear flat with a gear hub, it's a wash. ;-) |
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