Ever Seen a Chainwheel Like This One?

[Andrew Gorman]

Or your Sugino Cycloids. Dang wobble drives keep coming back every few years. This one looks kind of interesting, and probably lighter than a Dana 3 speed.

 

[RaleighRich]

Is that little pole like object the same part in both photos?View attachment 927696

View attachment 927697

Not the same part -- actually a tooth on a sprocket.

 

[psmcd]

Here's another sort-of infinitely variable/infinitely heavy drive gear system.

 

[RaleighRich]

Here's another sort-of infinitely variable/infinitely heavy drive gear system.

That is a strange drive system. Thanks for the post.

 

[MarkK]

Back to the yard this morning, and the trike is an Elba, Orlando, FLView attachment 928221

View attachment 928222

View attachment 928223

The only part there is the chain wheel, no tensioner, no lever, no changer. That white stripe on the downtube is where the changer was mounted?

This discussion probably ended 3 years ago, but just in case it didn't, I can add a comment. I actually bought one of these drives in the late 70's and mounted it on a Raleigh with a 3 Speed Sturmey Archer hub. I thought it worked pretty well, and it gave me a broader range of gears than the 3-speed hub alone. The shifting mechanism was just a brake-like shoe that held the control plate stationary. (It normally rotated with the chainwheel.) The spiral shaped groove in the control plate then moved the toothed small wheels inwards if you were pedalling normally, or outwards if you backpedalled.

There were only two problems I encountered. It was heavy as a rock! Also, on rare occasion, it would shift itself. I was never able to analyze why.

I saw the picture of it in Frank Berto's book, "The Dancing Chain". Brought back an interesting memory.

I got rid of (sold, gifted, don't recall) the 3-speed bike with the Hagen Allspeed when I graduated and bought a shiny new Motobecane 10-speed.

 

[MarkK]

That is a strange drive system. Thanks for the post.

Here's another sort-of infinitely variable/infinitely heavy drive gear system.

The Stringbike seem like a modern variant of the American Star or Svea velocipede.

 

[WillWork4Parts]

I just bought one of these. Does anyone have better pictures of the shift actuator? I'll probably end up adapting something to work for this one, but it would be nice to have a starting point for what I'm going to make.