Nexus 4 hub gearing

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JA331

Ride it like you stole it.
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I recently bought an old barely used electra hawaii with a nexus 4 speed hub. This hub is no longer made and has the unusual feature of a direct 1st gear. if coupled with the gearing of the typical 26” cruiser you would have 2nd through 4th as overdrives. I decided to try the hub on my heavy duti which is the only bike a i had with a 38t chainwheel. I swapped the 20t rear sprocket on the hub with a 23t to give a good range of gears. Using these gears, 1st is a touch higher than 1st on a typical 3 speed, 2nd is direct and 3rd and 4th are overdrive. I was surprised the one extra gear over a 3 speed nexus made such a noticeable difference. Also its much smoother when changing than the 3 speed. The electra hawaii will get a single speed coaster and eventually find its place in the office fleet.
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They look like nice bikes @horsefarmer. I can understand you dont want to swap out the ross sprocket. I’m not keen on small chainrings but the 36T on my heavy duti looks ok behind the chainguard and works well with the 23t rear. I’m sure I’ll be using this bike more now.
 
A 24 tooth cog will drop your ratio and keep the Ross chain wheel, if the 24 cog can clear the chain guard. This is calculating with 26 x 2.125 tires:

Gear Inches for this wheel in these gears
Ring Cog 46474849Ring Cog
2254.8856.2057.2558.5622
2352.5253.5754.8855.9323
2450.4251.4752.5253.5724
 
Nexus 4 hubs were originally designed for a 33t front and a 22t in the rear.
I like these hubs.
Still have one laying around waiting to be used. The problem is the shifters nowadays, they are discontinued by Shimano.

Did you know they also made them with automatic shifting?

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-J600FN met Tapatalk
 
Nexus 4 hubs were originally designed for a 33t front and a 22t in the rear.
I like these hubs.
Still have one laying around waiting to be used. The problem is the shifters nowadays, they are discontinued by Shimano.

Did you know they also made them with automatic shifting?

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-J600FN met Tapatalk
Thanks for the info. I wondered what gearing shimano intended for this hub. 36:23 as I am using is pretty close to the 33/22 you mentioned. If you need a shifter there is a seller on ebay with stock.

I read about the auto shifting system on sheldon brown’s page and I discovered there was a dealer nearby who had a few complete kits for sale. The price was about 5 times what i paid for the whole bike i pulled the wheel set from. Apparently this dealer is claiming they have the last kits available anywhere. Would be cool but that would be offset by the weight penalty. I removed the same roller brake assembly from my 7 speed hub and it weighed 540 grams. However the thought crossed my mind if the auto shifting 4 speed would work nicely on a ebike cruiser conversion................
 
Btw, this was the donor bike. Paid the grand sum equal to USD $70. Early 2000’s Taiwanese made pre flat foot Electra. It will get a nexus 3 wheel set and become part of the office fleet.
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Thanks for the info. I wondered what gearing shimano intended for this hub. 36:23 as I am using is pretty close to the 33/22 you mentioned. If you need a shifter there is a seller on ebay with stock.

I read about the auto shifting system on sheldon brown’s page and I discovered there was a dealer nearby who had a few complete kits for sale. The price was about 5 times what i paid for the whole bike i pulled the wheel set from. Apparently this dealer is claiming they have the last kits available anywhere. Would be cool but that would be offset by the weight penalty. I removed the same roller brake assembly from my 7 speed hub and it weighed 540 grams. However the thought crossed my mind if the auto shifting 4 speed would work nicely on a ebike cruiser conversion................

No thanks man!

Yeah i could do that but i refuse to pay that much[emoji849]
And the one i want is this one, even harder to find, and since i'm not from the US, the shipping is ludicrous.

I come in a lot of bikeshops and i hope to find one some day[emoji120]

If you like to upgrade to auto shifting, zou have to be sure you have a compatible hub.
I have a complete kit, but it doesnt fit on the hub i have... I believe it has to be a 4c35 Auto-D hub. I have a 4c30 hub and it doesnt fit. That is for coaster hubs, for rollerbrake it's 4r35 auto-d.

And yes rollerbrakes are heavy!

I placed a bid on something i never saw in my 20 years as a mechanic. Auto-d for Nexus 3. It's a Ai-3s10, and i hope to get it.
It's powered by 4 penlites and fits any Nexus 3 speed hub.

There is also a Ai3s30 Thats a bit more advanced. You can adjust the shifting moment and it's powered by a dynamo hub.
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Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-J600FN met Tapatalk
 

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