16 inch kids bike hub gears

chrisscammell

Hi. I am wanting to add a 3 speed internal hub gear to my lad's 16 inch Dawes Blowfish. The rear frame spacing is 110mm. He is only four but we live in a hilly area and I think he could handle changing a 3 speed shifter to allow him to peddle uphill a bit more easily.

Can anyone suggest a a geared hub/ 16" rim combination to fit the bill. I have been looking at a SRAM i3 at 117mm axle length but I am concerned that squeezing it into a 110mm alloy frame will cause damage. Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Chris

craker

well ... no hub gear recommendations. Of course your 4yo will have grown out of his bike in a year or so - if you do want to mix things up how about putting a bigger freewheel on? I live in a hilly area and I take the children to suitable terrain if I want a cycle with them. Generally it's a struggle to get them to do much more than pootle up and down the track behind my house.

baudman

I have a SRAM i3 on my (pretty-much) daily commuter. 10,000 miles down and still going strong. (And yes, I love the coaster brake on it - for my commute it works well).

Thing1 has a Shimano Nexus 3 with coaster on hers. Again, no dramas with it - great reliable shifting.

There's also the Sturmey Archer variants as well. I think they have a bigger spread between the gears - probably not something required for your son.

chrisscammell

Thanks for the replies. I will start by putting bigger freewheel on then. It has a 16t at the moment. Will an 18 make much difference? I guess i'll need to lengthen the chain a little too, right? Can you suggest what I look for to replace the freewheel. A quick search suggests that there are critical dimensions i.e 1/2x 1/8 inch. What does this refer to and how do I know what mine is and what to replace it with?

Your help is much appreciated. Thanks

Chris