auto shift

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picin this up this morn,mint condition
CoastingM_anglesmall.jpg
 
trek and giant use rhe same shimmano setup,works perfect,there were older auto shifts with weights in the rear wheel but they didnr do as well,this one has a shimmano 3 speed coaster
 
I had a Trek Lime a few years ago. Same drive train. There is a tiny hole in the servo box where you can adjust the shift points with a small tool. I sold it because of the riding position is too 'comfort bike like'. I bought the bike cheap because "it didn't shift". Turns out someone had set the servo to N for no shift.

I previously had a Autobike, first gen with the counter weights in the rear wheel. Way overpriced because the shift mechanism added cost. To make up for it they started with a really low quality bike. There was a later version of the Autobike called the LandRider that used a much smaller flywheel mounted on the derailleur to shift. Landrider started with a decent bike but spent a fortune on tv infomercials (tv or web orders only) so it was way over priced too. All these auto shifting bikes have the same problems. You have to maintain a constant speed up hills or it tries to shift on you. Shifting on up hills is never good. You really need to add a decent speedometer and take notes on the shift speeds and tape that to the handlebars so you could be sure you didn't cross over those shift speeds while going hard or uphill. Next problem is you need to slow down when approaching a stop sign to give it time to fully downshift so you aren't starting up again while its trying to shift. The Autobike with the derailleur was the worst in that respect. The servo shift 3 speed on the Trek/Raleigh shifts pretty quick. The Autobike and Landrider mechanisms were also messed up by road grit and bad weather.

IMO, the Shimano AUTO-D is a vastly superior system but it so rare. I got to ride a few at a dealer show many years ago. Shimano sent a bunch of the hubs to OEM builders and asked them to build a demo bike around it. Then Shimano took those bikes to the shows. Result was hardly any companies decided to add such a bike to their line ups. The Auto-D had a couple of auto modes but better yet was the soft touch up/down buttons. The Auto-D was a 4 speed hub. The fully automatic version was the later design that did get picked up by a handful of companies.

IMO, fully automatic shifting is a sure-to-fail attempt to sell bikes to the clueless who can't even be taught how to shift. And they are the same people who wouldn't think of spending more than wallmart bike prices. Any bike with automatic technology will cost more that the same bike with regular gears.

I wouldn't be surprised if your Raleigh was built on the same production line as the Trek Limes. They look very similar. On the Trek, all the wires are run inside the fork and frame so they aren't visible.

rick
 

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