Sparky’s Genesis Smithfield

Thinking of selling the fixed gear and buying one of these. Does that make me old? They look nice. Perfect commuter.

Looks like the perfect commuter to me aswell. Just wish Genesis would stop using unicrown forks, they got it right on the equilibrium 853, how hard can it be to source a basic one? Surly seem to manage it.

Yup your officially an old fuck! welcome to the club. I have a Day One set up just like it with Surly Open bars for the daily grind and love it. Not sure if Genesis have any to buy just yet? early next year i hear.

Just wish Genesis would stop using unicrown forks.

To be fair, they're the strongest and lightest option of the crown, sure a nice lugged crown look awesome, but not as cost effective.

That's as maybe. But still fook ugly.

So I ended up buying one of these. Have 7,000 miles on it now. Changed the rims to set it up tubeless. Also put an XT dynamo hub on and front/rear lights. Changed the rear rack and added a Pizza rack and Royal Mail box at the front. Also added GB mudguards and changed the bar/stem. Pretty happy with this as a daily commuter.

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Attempting this today.

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surprisingly clean

Madness

What are you doing to it, more grease or a bit oil as well?

That's looking good, for that amount of mileage. I'd definitely go with an Alfine, if I needed a geared commuter bike.

I pulled the internals, dunked it in an oil bath (automatic gearbox oil, for cars) and left it for 20 minutes. Then it sat draining for 5 minutes. The hub shell got a through clean, then I greased the ball bearings on both sides as well as I could and reassembled.

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This is what was left in the bottom of the oil jug. I’ve rebuilt the bike now and the hub seems to spin with a bit less resistance. The cranks still slowly spin when the wheel is at high RPM though. Going to take it for a quick test ride later this afternoon. This bike takes a real battering and doesn’t have to be super efficient. It weighs a tonne and has dynamo lights anyway, so a little gear resistance is the least of it.

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Good job. The ball bearings in the big cage go first IME. It all looks very clean.

Hopefully this will run for another 7,000 miles. When the hub goes I’ll use it as an excuse to build another commuter or maybe buy a Bullitt.

I really can’t fault the Alfine for utilitarian use. The drag and weight would play on my mind if this were for longer rides but it just cruises 20 miles a day back and forward to work in all weathers. Never even changed a cable and it’s always worked great.

I liked this bike in Christmas tree light mode best.

It’ll come back in December, fear not.

Here you go!

https://instagram.com/p/_kCvA3DVLO/

When the hubs go, just buy a new internal which is about £150.

Also given that your bike got heavier, did you change the ratio to compensate? (Like bigger sprocket).

Much better.

Like the lights- do they not rub your thighs? I’ve had a set on front basket the last 2 yrs- people stop and point but I’m ok with that, they’ve seen me!
Scared the life out of a guy fishing on Peak canal at 5am once in December as I switched them on ready to join the road- think he thought I was aliens

I normally put them on for Christmas. They don’t rub normally. Bit of festive fun, and you’re right - no harm in being easier to see during dark December.

Went to ride this to work today and there was a rhythmic click every crank rev or two, with a little slippage each time. In every gear. Walking home to swap bikes now. Have I cocked up when rebuilding the hub?

Assuming you've lined up the dots in the correct gear? cable would be my guess. All the issues I had with my Afline/nexus's were always cable related, apart from one where I'd severely neglected one hub for years.
I've had the yellow dots line up, could change up and down the gears and dots still went back to being lined up but the hib still slipped.
New lubricated cable and cleaning the cassette joint sorted it.

Good thinking, I'll take a look when I get home tonight. Was all a bit panicked and rushed this morning so just grabbed the CX bike and rode in on that. When the bike was brand new I had some slippage problems as the cable stretched and settled. Could be something similar. The hub is shifting into every gear and there is drive between slips, so I don't think anything internal was put back in wrong - it mostly stays in one lump during servicing anyway.