Decisions, decisions... Helios spec + have you got a few things in the bits box?

[Adam]

One of the first things I changed after getting the Helios was the rear wheel.  I think the Alfine 8 is a dreadful thing - heavy with a not very helpful range of gears.  SRAM Dual Drive is definitely the way forward (and upwards).

[danhopgood]

One of the first things I changed after getting the Helios was the rear wheel.  I think the Alfine 8 is a dreadful thing - heavy with a not very helpful range of gears.  SRAM Dual Drive is definitely the way forward (and upwards).

It's horses for courses and there are a good range of options with the Helios:

Straight derailleurs - light, cheap, not so tough, not too good a gear range, higher maintenance, inefficiencies from chainline
Alfine 8 - not so light, gear range for the flat, tough, minimal maintenance, medium cost, perfect chainline
Alfine 11 - not so light, useful gear range, tough, durable, minimal maintenance, high cost, perfect chainline
Dual Drive - lightish, extreme gear range, not so tough, higher maintenance, high cost, inefficiencies from chainline
Rohloff, - lightish, excellent gear range, tough, mega durable, perfect chainline, mega cost.

By tough I mean no parts to get bashed when manoeuvring the bike in and out of tight spaces like work bike sheds etc.
By low maintenance I mean mainly amount of cleaning of sprockets.
Inefficiency with chainline is magnified on a small wheel bike as the crank is closer to the back hub - and magnified further if the loads on the chain are doubled as with a tandem.

Personally I don't need any more gear range than an Alfine 11 and I like the tough, low maintenance approach - and can't afford a Rohloff, so that's what I will stick with.

[Kim]

As with recumbents, this is one of those bikes where the Dual Drive is quite a good solution to the problem.  Lovely wide range, and the ability to do an emergency downshift without turning the drivetrain is particularly handy with inexperienced stokers.

When I rode Butterfly's (which is geared for That London) I found the range of the Alfine 11 lacking (though I could probably compromise and lower the ratio of the sprockets - it's not the sort of bike that you normally care about spinning out).


TBH, I think on a small wheeled cycle, the main risk of the dérailleur being bashed is when you get particularly unlucky with a blowout or the edge of a pothole at speed just after changing down for a stop (and you'll typically go tens of thousands of miles between such incidents).  The main problem is the lower jockey wheel acting as a combine harvester when you ride through cut grass (if you're sensible, you remember to select a small:small (or dual-drive equivalent) ratio before riding on grass), and that only really damages your fingers when you stop to pull all the oily grass cuttings out of the drivetrain .  I don't think they're any more vulnerable to being manhandled than the dérailleurs on larger wheeled cycles, and if you're putting enough force on the dérailleur to do damage while manoeuvring the bike out of a tight space, then you're not being careful enough.

[danhopgood]

The issue with bike bashing in the bike sheds is not only how careful I am, it's how careful - or not - other people are.   I must admint haven't had a problem yet with deralleurs getting bashed in bike sheds though.

The main issue is with me moving the bike about.  I find that I catch the rear hub nut on corners as I manouver around both the bike sheds at work and my son's school, plus the shed at home - where I have to do tight 90 degree turns.  And I do all of this manouvering several times a day, every day.  The long length of the bike and weight at the back with Alfine 11 and childseat on the back make it awkward to move around.  Much more so than a solo.  It's a testament to the versatility of the bike that the Helios fits in a bike shed for solo's at all! 

If I do catch anything it's not an issue with the Alfine as there are no sticky outy bits - but I think I'd have bent something by now with deralleurs.

[danhopgood]

Timing chain broke this morning!  Was under full load going up a steep hill, but I was solo (75kg), without much luggage and seated.  Was moving across the lane to turn right at the time.  Thankfully car rushing up behind saw me and stopped OK - a bit embarrassing though.

Chain snapped across two main outer links and had done less than 1000 miles.  I've been cycling 45 years and never had a chain break before, so am pretty peeved.  It was minus two degrees at the time, but even so.  SRAM chain as supplied with the bike - not sure which model.

Got spares at home - but that's a good walk away.  Grrr! 

[Kim]

Timing chain broke this morning!  Was under full load going up a steep hill, but I was solo [...]
Got spares at home - but that's a good walk away.  Grrr!

So, you've got the rest of the day to recruit a stoker...   

[danhopgood]

I'd just dropped the stoker off at school.  Just as well - pedals went round mighty quick when the chain went bang - could have done little legs that got in the way a nasty injury. 

I still can't believe the links went - across the "waisted" section, not the hinge point.  Chain's supposed to have a min tensile strength of 1000kg!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BySMW7YA0TAgdWpxZlZHZ1pfeWM/view?usp=sharing

SRAM PC850 - not a rubbish chain. 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Not seen that failure mode before (not actually seen it this time but...).

[jsabine]

I've snapped two chains like that on my fixer. I wouldn't mind so much if I could plausibly claim it was down to my thighs of steel.

[danhopgood]

The Helios is now happy again after a walk/freewheel home last night.  Being new to tandems it was novel having to join two new chains together just to get one long enough to replace one of the two chains on the bike.  New chain is identical to the year and a bit old failed one - SRAM PC850.  SRAM's warranty is two years - great - except "wear and tear" parts, like chains of course, are excluded.  Fingers crossed the chain I had was from a bad batch - I've read generally positive comments about the PC850 from other tandem users.

Having now had a good look at the old chain, there were two other locations where links had also failed on one side and were ready to go completely.  These had failed on the outer links again, but at the hole for the pin.  Looking again at where it snapped, the failure point was actually around the pin hole on one side - which I bet happened first, then the other side failed in the waisted section.  I'll be checking my chains  a lot more closely when I clean them in future.....

Little fella was boasting to his drama teacher this morning how clever his dad was at fixing the bike, which gave me a bit of a boost -  so something positive has come out of it !

[danhopgood]

A tip for anyone with crunching mis-shift gearchange problems on an Alfine 11.  From new our Helios had suffered with mis-shifting gears.  This gradually got worse on our bike, to the point where I was concerned the hub was on the way out after only 1000 miles.  I nearly got it looked at by an expert.  First though I did several things:

1  Adjusted the gears away from the recommended "lining up the dots in gear 6" position to one that minimised mis-shifts.  This made a significant improvement, but didn't solve it.

2.  Lubricated the gear cable with top of the range gear cable specific lube - possible slight improvement.

3.  Cut the loop off one corner of the front bag (Brompton T, which is always on the bike) to improve the gear cable line.  - possible slight improvement

4.  Removed the gear cable and re-routed it to improve the cable line.  Gearchange totally transformed - not a single mis-shift since.

The problem must have been excessive friction in the cable run - which meant that the cable position for up changes was different from down changes.

 

[CrinklyLion]

An old uni friend that I haven't seen for years was in town yesterday, for my ex's wedding reception, with his 9yo daughter and some time to kill so popped round for a brew.  The plan was to go to a cafe or similar for lunch but instead I cooked them some grub and sent them out for a spin on the Helios while I was doing so - he's a pretty keen cyclist, and his daughter was intrigued by the tandem.

I think we have some new converts

[clarion]

We dusted off our Helios yesterday.  I suspect Butterfly enjoyed riding it

[tiermat]

We dusted off our Helios yesterday.  I suspect Butterfly enjoyed riding it

Going through a load of photos, last night, I found some brilliant ones of Butterfly and random stokers on your Helios.

The photos made me smile, the memories of that weekend more so