Wouldn't it be great if we could go down to the market with the kids on the two Yubas Saturday morning, and the beach on Sunday, Mrs Yuba mentioned at the breakfast table recently.
Today was too hot to go out, and I had my day so I was a man with a mission, finish the V3 Yuba before the end of the day. Rumbling through my parts bin I popped the BB7 cable pull brake on the front which as ever was easy to fit and mega powerful. On the back I put an Avid single digit 7 v-brake and levers which are capable of locking up the back wheel at speed. These too are excellent.
I had a rear Shimano SLX derailleur,
two SRAM chains an old set of cranks. The toughest part was fitting the bottom bracket (a wide one !) to the frame threads which were full of paint overspray and crap. But most of the frames I have come across are like this... Once that was on it all fitted together nicely.
I have not fitted a front derailleur as I dont have one, and I think 9 speeds is great for now.
All this done I took her out for a spin by the river. The headset creaked as did the crankset, so I tightened them up. The main difference was from the tires I felt. I had a set of Maxxis Larsen TT tires which zip along and hum on the road, but are quite hard compared with my V2's ballon tires. The bike feels longer too, but that is because of the stem which is longer and that I will have to swop out. The brakes are tighter and the 9 speed drive is a dream. I put the H bars on the back too, they don't seem as wide as on the V2 and are slightly swept back. Look good though and went on really easily. Lighter bike too...
One of the things I loved about my V2 was the lack of a front derailleur, giving me a much simplified gearing. I like being able to go from 6th to first as I approach the traffic lights without any complex double shifting, and the range is good too. It set me onto the path of the internally geared hub.
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