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Post by brianbutler on Jun 25, 2023 21:47:00 GMT
This bike started out as a 12-speed Fuji del Rey purchased a couple of years ago for $50. I initially did a complete overhaul and left it as a refurbsihed 12-speed, which I never used. About a year ago I saw another Fuji del Rey for $30 and bought it for parts, especially the black anodized wheels. A while ago I laced a 1968 Sturmey Archer AW hub into the rear wheel and set it aside with the idea that I would make a 3-speed Viscount. I have not found a suitable frame and eventually decided the black rims would look good on the black Fuji, so I stripped off the derailleurs, shifters, shift cables, and the large chain ring, swapped the wheels, and added a 3-speed bar-end shifter and some hardware items for cable routing. Here is the result.
A 1968 Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed hub is laced to one of the Araya black-anodized rims from a different del Rey.
I kept the small chain ring on the inner position of the original crankset and installed shorter chain ring bolts. This position in combination with a cog dished "out" on the hub gives a near perfect chain line. The resulting 42/18 ratio gives a 2nd gear of 63 inches, just about right for most rides I take on a single speed bike. The 2nd gear is "direct drive" for best efficiency. The low gear is about 47 inches and the high gear is 84 inches.
The Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed bar-end shifter has a solid feel and shifts very crisply. The cable has a standard road shifter end and the housing exits the shifter body just below the handlebar,
The cable housing is stopped on the top tube by a "fulcrum clip" from an old Raleigh 3-Speed and is then routed along the top tube, through a pulley (also from the old Raleigh), along the seat stay, and terminates at an adapter that threads into the hub shift chain.
I used a KMC S1 brown chain cut for approximately the middle of the dropouts to allow for adjustment. I have taken the bike on a short test run and everything seems to work properly. The shifting is good, the hub is quiet and smooth. As I get used to this setup I might consider different chainring/cog ratios. It would be possible to get some very low gears by making the high gear the normal one, with two lower gears. For the time being I want my normal gear to be direct drive.
Brian
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Jun 26, 2023 4:46:23 GMT
Nice build; I like it!
All The Best
Jim
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Post by wheelson on Jun 26, 2023 11:58:49 GMT
Nice build, Brian. I don’t have a S-A currently but have lots of memories from the 1960-70’s. All good.
If you want to get exotic, find one of the drivers that is threaded instead of the three-lobed snap ring type. A freewheel will screw onto that giving a huge range.
I like what you’re doing with the del Rey, always fun to tinker!
Best,
John “wheelson”
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,389 
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Post by Jem on Jun 26, 2023 12:37:35 GMT
Absolutely superb write up Brian - Thanks for taking the time to do the photos and details.
Looks like a great lightweight bike!
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Post by brianbutler on Jun 26, 2023 14:40:51 GMT
A couple of follow-up comments:
This morning I took this bike out for a 16 mile ride around town on streets and a stone dust rail trail. I tried a paved 5.5% grade and it was no problem in the low gear. I really liked the high gear for downhills and slight downhill cruising. The lack of a high gear is probably my biggest complaint with the single speed but I can just barely climb local hills with the present gearing so I'll live with spinning out on the downhills.
The shifting was flawless and the hub was silent in 2nd gear, I could hear a slight "hum" in low gear, even less in high gear. After I rebuilt this hub I put in 8cc of sewing machine oil. Seems to work.
Regarding cable routing, I initially tried to route the shift cable as I would with a rear derailleur, using the brazed on cable guide and stops. I ran the cable through the last stop near the hub and this resulted in too much angle coming out of the hub and interfered with shifting, Then I tried going from the cable guide on the BB shell directly to the hub. This shifted OK but the cable came too close to the spinning chain ring and was too vulnerable overall. Eventually I searched my barrel of odd bits and found the fulcrum clip and pulley, which I was able to use after some shimming with inner tube rubber.
Brian
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Post by brianbutler on Jun 26, 2023 14:43:46 GMT
Nice build, Brian. I don’t have a S-A currently but have lots of memories from the 1960-70’s. All good. If you want to get exotic, find one of the drivers that is threaded instead of the three-lobed snap ring type. A freewheel will screw onto that giving a huge range. I like what you’re doing with the del Rey, always fun to tinker! Best, John “wheelson” Well, I just acquired an old A-W hub with the threaded driver as part of a truly weird bike, which I will describe in this section later.
Brian
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Post by brianbutler on Aug 2, 2023 17:36:10 GMT
Fuji 3-Speed Update - I have now ridden this bike about 130 miles on roads and bike trails and it seems very solid. It is part of my working fleet.
Brian
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Aug 3, 2023 4:52:22 GMT
Nice work, nice bike, nice ride!
All the Best
Jim
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