Persistence of Pigeon

Just sort of touching base, but I continue to ride my PA-02 Flying Pigeon more than my other bicycles, and the more I do, the more I am aware of  how oddly "right" it feels.  I was considering putting on a three speed IGH hub in the back, but now I'm not so sure. According to Sheldon Brown's Gear inch calculator, I'm running around 56" and basically I climb on the bike and go.  My daily commute features a few gradual hills, and one steep 20% grade climb 50 feet up onto a former railroad embankment.   I'm not out of the seat for this.

Sunflowers from the backyard - back in September. Actually this is kind of neat:   They were last planted three years ago.  Now the chipmunks have them coming up all over the place. 

Admittedly I top out at a pokey 13mph, at a comfortable spin, but on the miles of crushed limestone trails, and suburban back streets this speed feels entirely fine.  The responsiveness of the single speed drive train is terrific. Or, maybe it just feels natural?   In comparison, the Nexus Inter 3 on my Felt Cafe, and Nexus 8 on my Workcycles/Azor Kruisframe feel lethargic, disconnected and full of friction.

When I got the Pigeon, I repacked the wheel bearings out of curiosity of the process when I was assembling, it, and waiting for other parts to arrive. I also later upgraded to the 20 tooth 3 pawl BMX freewheel.  Now the wheel is tight in the stays and on the bearings, no slop - but I can spin it with one stroke by hand, and it keeps going for almost a minute Neither of my IGH bikes can do this.

There is some sort of mystic British Raleigh Perfection here even when executed as a Chinese knockoff.

Not that the Pigeon is entirely trouble free - Yesterday evening, before my ride home I checked the crank tightness, and found that the cotter on one was  a bit loose and notchy. (I had dismissed it as the slightly crummy MKS 3000 pedals)   I rode it home carefully and then hammered the cotter in with a few good whacks, seating it further and tightened the cotter nut. Problem solved.  Also, I finally found 5mm hex head screws to replace the nearly stripped originals for the rod-brake clips at the local hardware store.

So I'm thinking about simplifying the Kruisframe a good bit, maybe try the very efficient SRAM automatix 2 speed hub on it, strip the bike down a little bit.

It is interesting, how perceptions change with experience.  I was thinking about getting a 10 speed-ish road bike next year, possibly to do Ragbrai with, and then a few months later, I was thinking about just 3 speeding it with a front derailleur and Paul Melvin tensioner...     now I'm realizing that I can just go all day on a single speed.