Poor man's 3 speed gear

OK, some people know, that I like to touch my bits while riding...

I was thinking, if Sheldon Brown can manually change the gears by moving the chain by hand I could do that to. I'd be geared and Pistanator would shut up about my Pina.

I've got the rear mechanism, I have the front derailleur, got two chainrings, but I can't be bothered with gears - it's not my thing and I can't be bothered to maintain them.

Can I just put a freewheel back on the rear, fit the rear derailleur, 9 spd chain and maybe two chainrings on the front? And maybe also a front derailleur connected to the lever?

Would it work, dear forum?

What is asking you?

Cassette + rear derailieur + lever + cable = 9 speed gears for you.

If you add to this,

Extra chainring + front derailieur + lever + cable = 18 speed gears for you.

You need the former before the latter, ideally both actually.

Not cassette - a single speed freewheel to be precise. That's the thing. I've never tinkered with the rear mechanism and gears and I'm not sure I would do a good job (and I'd need another hub/wheel too).

Interesting idea! I have no idea if it would work, but I can't see a reason it wouldn't, on 9speed chain etc...

I reckon you just need to give it a try. THe only problem would be the rear freewheel sprocket, I dunno how sensitive the design of the teeth on the sprocket is to a chainline when moved by a front mech...

What you need is a Sturmey Archer hub.
Go on: you know you want to...

If you put the rear derailleur on as a chain tensioner, you have already given up the whole of the low maintenance/high efficiency of a singlespeed, since the RD pulleys are what catches all the crap and need cleaning to keep the drive train efficiency at acceptable levels. If you want a few gears as simply as possible, a 1x5/6/7/8/9/10 set up is the way to go, i.e. one chainring plus a multiple freewheel. Depending on you spacing, it may be possible to put a 5-speed Shimano Cadet freewheel on your existing hub, then use a friction type gear lever on you down tube boss and you're ready to go 70s stylee

Yes it would work. But why would you?

If you go for friction shift you will have a reliable gearset up. s long as the limit screws are set correctly. If you run non indexed gears they will run with all types of crap on them.

kris, nooooo!
it is a nice as fuck set up as ss the way you had it before - pop the nu' wheelz in and bling around, mate.

..or go all the way and get a proper working XXspeed setup. i would help you set it up as it is such a sweet thing to fiddle with.

... and as a thank you, you could always hand me the now unused sh*m*l wheelset

:P

Ahhhh, I get it now!

A faux geared setup. With only the front mech attached to a lever.

Would work as long as you can get the rear mech to align the chain with the freewheel.

You'd only end up crashing so I'd forget the idea if I was you.

he does that anyway ^ honest!

What was I asking for again? Nooooo.... Must drink less.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna try it out just to see if it works.