My birthday ride

If I had to describe the ride with the new hub with just one word, it would be "awesome"! I was very pleased at the variables that the eight gears provided. When you are used to riding single speed, it becomes a nice treat to shift just a little bit to get it just right.


Below is the route that I rode. With the head wind blowing for more than half the ride, it sure felt more than 23 miles.


Today I turned 38 years old. My gift to myself was a ride that allowed me to test out my new hub and enjoy a great day. It was around 24* and sunny. That makes for a pretty nice winter day. I did experience some 18mph head winds that weren't the best of fun but it's all part of the ride.


I stopped by the Old Spokes Home to look things over. It is only about 5 miles from my house but I figured it was long enough to show any problems if there was going to be any.

The next few pictures are at the Burlington waterfront on Lake Champlain. Some day I will get a nicer camera in hopes to create a picture more closely to what I see in person. It was a wonderful day out.






When I left the waterfront, I headed south down Shelburne Rd. and cut over towards Hinesburg. I wanted to take more pictures but I was enjoying the ride and views too much to want to stop.

Camels Hump off in the distance.

This panoramic view is the result of not knowing what my camera was doing. Pretty cool looking. I later figure it out at home and will use that feature more often for sure.

Back home with ~23 miles on the new hub. I am very happy with the setup. When I first took off from the house the hub was acting as if it was asleep. I would shift and it wouldn't respond. Then when it did I would be in a gear that was way wrong. This all happened in less than 200 yards. I thought it was the STI shifter and/or the cable. I very quickly "learned" how to use the system and discovered that there was no problem at all. It is incredible to me how instant the shifting is and that there are no rules (that I know of yet) on when to shift. I have noticed that if you are loaded on the pedals when downshifting, it will not drop a gear until you come off of it a bit. Shifting up did not seem to have that issue. I also have not got on it while standing and shifting but I don't suppose I will ever need to be in a situation like that.

After the ride, I checked the cable for proper adjustment and it was still dead on. I feel that everything is where I want it and tomorrow I will wrap the bars and call it done. I look forward to plenty of winter riding. It might just prove to be a low or no maintenance system.