VanMoof No 3 - Upgrade to 8-speed gear

Written By: Martin Hampton
  • Comments: 4
VanMoof No 3 - Upgrade to 8-speed gear

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

7

Time Required

2 hours

Introduction

VanMoof's are fantastic-looking bikes but quite heavy and I found the 3-speed gear way too over-geared for the hills here in Sydney. Converting to an 8-speed suddenly made my bike much more usable.

It's really important you get the correct hub gear (36 spoke, with coaster brake) - I brought the wrong one first so don't make my mistake! Gears last for a long time so I was happy to use a second-hand one.

Spreading the dropout to take the new gear was a concern so I had this done at a bike store and there's no evidence of damage.

  1. 53FoePAYYv4rdhYG

    • Shimano SG-C6001-8C Nexus 8. This is the one with the coaster brake.

    • Chain ring, gear lever, seals, and clips

    • Shimano Grip Shifter Nexus 8-speed Sl-C60008

    • Gear cable (inner and outer)

    • Spokes 36 * 284mm stainless steel spokes

  2. KfMh5lgYWxPIyMaJ

    • Measure the inside diameter of your wheel

    • Use this calculator https://leonard.io/edd/

    • Add 2mm. You should get 284mm spokes

    • I brought silver Halo spokes from ebay. They are decent quality and have not rusted.

    • You need to stretch the rear frame dropouts because the 8-speed hub is wider (135mm) than the 3-speed one (110mm)

    • I got my local bike shop to do this because there's a risk for damaging your frame.

    • The cost was $150 AUD

    I got a Vanmoof No3 second hand, currently set up with a single speed coaster brake hub.

    I want to upgrade to a sturmey archer 3 speed with coaster, the only thing is that this hub has a OLD of 116mm the dropouts on the frame have an OLD of 110mm. The frame being aluminium, it is not recommend to stretch the dropouts.


    How much were your dropouts able to stretch? And did that create any issues?

    Thanks !

    Arno

    nanisushi -

    I changed 3-speed sturmey archer + coaster to the 8-speed nexus which requires a 135mm dropout. The stretch was large - and more that I wanted to try myself - but the bike store had no problem. I'd say that stretching 6mm will be no problem. I went for the 8-speed because we have plenty of hills in Sydney, the bike is pretty heavy, and I found it over-geared in the 1st gear.

    Martin Hampton -

    Thanks for this Martin, very helpful.

    Are you still using your bike to this day?

    There is no internal cable routing options in my frame I believe because it was he single speed version.

    nanisushi -

    Arno, Yes I use the bike every couple of days and think it'll last years. The brakes are terrible, and it's way too heavy, but I really like it and always get asked questions because they are very unusual here. You could attach the gear change cable with a clear cable tie or drill the 2 holes in the frame to route internally which will look much better.

    Martin Hampton -

  4. hAsFRC2HnixbZisL
    hAsFRC2HnixbZisL
    owZCgmM6EPlo21Im

    • Remove all the old spokes from your wheel

    • Spoke the 8 speed gear into the wheel. This is the best guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIU6mi0K...

    • Tighten all the spokes using a screwdriver. Use the same torque on the screwdriver and check by "plucking" the spokes so they sound the same

    • Turn the bike upside down, install the wheel, and true the wheel. I hold a screwdriver against the frame and slowly spin the wheel. When it moves in, I just tighten the opposite spokes

  5. jdLjxbZriqOoDNbw

    • Pull the old inner cable out from the front

    • Push the new inner cable into the old outer cable

    • Pull the old outer gear cable out of the back of the bottom of the frame. LEAVE THE INNER CABLE IN so you can use it as a guide through the frame.

    • Push the new outer cable in from the back

  6. LaSdnkDblVjmXuEX

    • Remove the handlebar grip. I pushed a spoke between the grip and the bar and rolled the spoke to loosen the grip

    • Install new gear change

    • Replace the handle bar grip. I wiped the handle bar and inside grip with alcohol.

    • Connect the gear cable.

    • Use a spoke to rotate the gear change

Author

Martin Hampton

Member since: 13/02/16

1298 Reputation

0 comments