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Factory fitted gears

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  • #1

    Factory fitted gears

    A few months back, I had posted a query if factory fitted gears are fine as compared to upgraded/locally installed gears

    Here is the original post along with the relpies that I had got,
    I had saved the original post as a text file, and was able to resurrect the post from there

    Hope this helps, everyone who had contributed

    ---------ORIGINAL POST STARTS HERE----------

    Factory fitted gears
    Hi All,

    I already own a Hercules RockShox bicycle, which I purchased a year and a half ago

    It has a single gear.

    I use it everyday to commute to office ~5 Kms one way.

    I was wondering if additional gears can be fitted to it, so I asked the local cycle vendor near my place, if he could do so.


    My question is
    - "Has anyone has experience on this after fitted gears as compared to factory fitted gears?"
    - "Are these after fitted gears reliable?"
    - "Are these value for money?"

    The other option I have is to go for a new factory fitted gear bike, will cost me around 5-6K.

    Please suggest

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 1:
    I personally have no experience about such an exercise, but people I've asked have generally discouraged me from doing so.

    Usually, the rear triangles of single speed bicycles don't have enough of a gap between them to allow for the added width of gear cassettes. When the cassette is inserted between them, they get stressed and are prone to breakage.

    You can test for yourself by measuring the width of the cassette and the gap and see if there is room. If not, just leave the cycle as is, and get a new one. Bicycles which are designed to have gears obviously perform better with them as compared to those on which gears are retrofitted.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 2:



    See this page for more info http://shark8me.blogspot.comkirankarkera
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 3:

    Local brand gears have complaints; either factory fitted or upgraded.

    If you have to install gears (rear), here are few things you should note first.
    1. Need a new rear hub. (So the spokes)
    2. The number of gears you want determines spacing b/w dropout. (Said)
    3. Your chain should change. (Check if cranks are suitable)

    Is your understanding that [1], [2] and [3] costs 600/-? If you are ready to shell around 1500/- go for Shimano (I remember it is 6-speed). More reliable than the local brand.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 4:
    Same response here too.

    One my friends installed a five gear mechanism on his bike, and things started to get worse right from day one.
    - the chain slips off easily,
    - the gears do not change smoothly.
    - sometimes there is weird noise in the gears

    I talked to him yesterday and he says "The cycle was better off with a single speed gear", he has already done a 4-5 visits to the local cycle repair guy, to get things fine tuned and fine-tuned.

    I attribute most of his problems to
    - cheap quality gears
    - gears not fitted/tuned correctly
    - existing cycle does not have enough framework to support multi-gears

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 5:

    There are a lot of things including wheel dishing out, adding spacers, changing the chain and chain wheel, prying the seat and chain stays and many alignments which need to be checked for that and there is no bicycle shop which is sincere and particular enough to do all that for you.
    They will just fit the gears and hand over the bike to you leaving you with dropping, sucking chains, bad gear changes, noises and god knows what more.
    I, being an engineer used some logic and got all this gone (though not very satisfactorily) on my bike, but it was a very frustrating thing with a lot of arguments with cycle shop owners who are just out to make a fast buck.
    Sorry for the discouragement but these are the facts
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 6:

    I own a hero hawk which came without gears when I bought them.

    I got a speed starlit gears fitted onto them for Rs. 650.

    I used to have all the problems mentioned here for a week. then got my bike checked and corrected with the help of a good mechanic and now things are fine.

    Some problems still do persist like the gears slip sometimes or there is some noise in the chain but I also figured out that the solutions for these problems is one/two screw adjustments away or in some serious cases one visit to the mechanic away.

    Considering the difference between Rs. 600 (for gears) and Rs. 4000 (for new bike) I would say t makes sense to get gears fitted onto your existing bike. this is keeping in mind the fact that you pedal about 5kms one way.

    If you ever want to graduate to longer rides (> 50kms a day) or to other activities than juts communing (off-roading) you can then think of an upgrade to a new bike.

    For now the Rs. 600 gears should do good. Make sure that you patafiy the mechanic as you will need some visits to him to get things in shape in the initial days.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 7

    Based on what I've read on this forum in the last few months, I'd say that you stick with your single-speed until you can afford a Trek/Merida.

    The way I see it... when I was a kid, the cars were all older, and people understood that cars break down all the time. You'd see cars stopped on the side of the road, cars would be HELL to start on cold mornings (sometimes taking 10 minutes), they'd have to be push-started every now and then... these were all acceptable because that's how it was. Even when running, there were constant problems--the car would have to go to the mechanic every couple of weeks for something or the other.

    Then times changed and it's no longer acceptable for a car to break down on the side of the road. You can drive your Japanese car for two years or more without a single breakdown or inability to start. It's no longer acceptable to have constant and niggling problems. The car just works.

    Same now for bikes. If you're having one problem a month, that's too much. Heck, one problem every six months is too much (see if you can find breakdown statistics.) The Indian single-speeds (unless times have changed horribly) are nearly indestructible. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case with the geared bikes--people seem to have problems all the time, or accept a degree of unreliability as "normal". (This is based largely on what I've read here - if you think it's an unfair conclusion, throw a punch, I'll handle it.)

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 8:

    I suggested the 600rs. option as it was best among the two you had in mind.

    If things go wrong you can think that you had splurged at a multiplex over a weekend while a 5-6k investment going bad may not be easy to digest.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reply 9:

    Hi Guys!
    I think I owe an apology for generalizing all bike shop owners. Its only because of the frustratingly bed experience I had with Bicycle shops in Pune - at least the ones I visited.
    'there is no bicycle shop which is sincere and particular enough to do all that for you.'
    There must be others in Pune and definitely in places like Bangalore, Mumbai etc who might be doing a good job.
    Guess I just let out my frustration; no hard feelings please
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Tags: bicycle, gears, upgrade
  • #2
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    • #3
      I would recommend you try the 5-speed

      Hi Nazeer,

      I think you can definetly try the local 5-speed gear set. Of course you should never compare it with a Shimano etc but still if you can get them to be set properly and with little maintenance they do give pretty good service.

      I have a race bike(Raliegh) which is well over a decade old and it originally had a single gear and later on I fitted it with a after market 5-speed gear set(the make was spark) and though it hasnt been used much for the last cpl of years, I never had any complaints with it. Yes, it doesnt shifts with the tick tick of a shimano but within days you will get used to the shifting and proper setting of the screws will help avoid the chain falls. I had also installed the same set on a Ranger LE without any complaints.

      Just take care of one thing though - make sure you strech/expand the rear drop-out equally so as not to adversely effect the overall geometry. The only thing I had to do was add one wheel nut on either side of the axle right after the bearings and that was more than enough to accomodate the new freewheel.

      I would recommend you learn the points to install, configure and maintain the gears yourself rather than relying on some mechanic(unless he is an expert). That will save you from a lot of headache since 90% of the mechanics out there still don't know a bit about the gears. Which city are you from?

      All the best.
      Yaser.
      Fast and Safe

      Comment

      • #4
        Originally posted by yaser_cyclist View Post
        Hi Nazeer,

        I think you can definetly try the local 5-speed gear set. Of course you should never compare it with a Shimano etc but still if you can get them to be set properly and with little maintenance they do give pretty good service.

        I have a race bike(Raliegh) which is well over a decade old and it originally had a single gear and later on I fitted it with a after market 5-speed gear set(the make was spark) and though it hasnt been used much for the last cpl of years, I never had any complaints with it. Yes, it doesnt shifts with the tick tick of a shimano but within days you will get used to the shifting and proper setting of the screws will help avoid the chain falls. I had also installed the same set on a Ranger LE without any complaints.

        Just take care of one thing though - make sure you strech/expand the rear drop-out equally so as not to adversely effect the overall geometry. The only thing I had to do was add one wheel nut on either side of the axle right after the bearings and that was more than enough to accomodate the new freewheel.

        I would recommend you learn the points to install, configure and maintain the gears yourself rather than relying on some mechanic(unless he is an expert). That will save you from a lot of headache since 90% of the mechanics out there still don't know a bit about the gears. Which city are you from?

        All the best.
        Yaser.
        Great post! Thank you so much for your post.
        Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.
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        Comment

        • #5
          Nice query.
          I did this on my Bicycle around 12-13 years ago.
          It was a hercules and I got 5 speed gearbox err 5 gears for it for 400 bucks then,and they used to work perfectly.

          Comment

          • #6
            Thanks for the info
            I am from Pune

            I went ahead an bought a Hercules ACT 104, instead of repairing my old one
            The original Hercules RockShox bicycle I donated it to a needy guy

            Comment

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