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'Manning up' isn't really what is at issue here.
I cycle 25 miles a day.
3 largish hills there, 3 largish hills on the return
i was cycling brakeless...which i had done for 7 years and by friday evening my knees were swollen to shit and painful.
i switched to single speed.....current frame.
was all good. but i felt that with gears i could knock off time.
which they do.
however i'm now in this situation.
don't want to have to change everything so drastically but maybe this is my only option.
The Brother frame is very nice to ride.....and thats all i'm looking for.
Comfort.
I'll see the tart on the weekends
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The thing is you bought the wrong bike. If I had three hills on my way to work, I wouldn't buy a track frame... simple as that. I might consider one with disc brakes and 135 mm rear dropouts to fit an Alfine hub gear, but certainly not a track frame that leaves you with no real world options.
If you are not happy with the Sturmy Archer and you do want gears, sell it and buy something appropriate to your kind of riding. Get a Genesis Equilibrium disc or something
ugosantalucia
That would be my thought too...
Going the derailleur route sounds a lot more hassle... and can only be done with obsolete componentry... can you not just MTFU and keep it as a single speed? Gears are kind of useless for urban use... and anyway why did you buy a track frame if you wanted gears?