Grace with Stumpy

I had worked with grace a few times.. and I’d been working on Stumpy (aka “Suburbinator”).. the goal of that bike was to be a super keen crazy machine with as many gears as I could stuff in to her frame as possible… How many??

2 up front to a 9spd cluster on a 3spd internal Sturmey- Archer hub= 54 gears

The bike has a ton of gear overlap.. and it’s not the number of gears I’m interested in (especially if I swap out the crankset for a triple) its.. TOP potential. The number of gears just makes it a bit easier to push up to the top speed.

The (members) Gallery

 

Sadly, I do think that this dream of mine is being put to bed. I’m a bit older now and as you age, repairs take longer. And I know there will be asphalt slides, broken bones, parts ripped apart by going over their intended speed/ heat generational tollerances etc. .. but mayb.. just maybe.. I’ll find a pilot for this thing and get her running to reach top speeds.. unfaired and all on it’s own with legs pushing.

The goal, as originally discussed w/ Rick over wine at Bloomfield Bike Company (Bloomfield, Ontario.. ) was to install a “jack shaft” to increase gear inches- two bottom brackets with a triple chainring on each.. connected to an eight speed (back then, 8 was tops) and see how fast a person can push the bike. I think it started by me saying that as soon as I crest a hill, I’m out of speed as in- I spin too fast so I gotta just tuck in to the saddle and glide..

and gliding isn’t pushing.

So, increase the gear inches to the point where I am able to push downhill and see how fast I can go.

Eric Barone hit something like 230Kmph just gliding. I wanna know how fast I can go.. PUSHING. That means legs flailing and being massive resistance. And, yes- the faster you go, the harder it is to go faster so.. it was a curiosity that I have wanted to prove in real world explorations since.. the early 1990’s.

We’ll see.. for now, we have Grace with Suburbinator almost finished on her build (a couple simple steps left.. cable housing, grips.. new shifter pods.. new clip ons/ bar ends.. nothing serious). Then she’ll be ready for another pictorial with another model 😉