Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Jun 15th, 2009, 2:03pm:Internally geared hubs are out there, but I've heard they're expensive. From what I understand as well, they don't give you as close of a "step-up"/"step-down" range as a typical cassette, but if "external" simplicity is a priority, it could allow you to eliminate the triple chainring / rear derailleur mechanics.
By the way, what's the overall rough BUDGET for this vehicle of yours?
Our overall rough budget is about $7,000, but $4,000 of that is travel expenses to go to the competition and haul the vehicle (budgeted for the farthest location of this year's US competitions). The construction amount is so high because we still are in the process of detailing our design and figuring out which parts we are going to use. Also, we might have to get outside help with processes we do not have the capabilities of carrying out at school and order custom parts. As we make more decisions the budget amount will hopefully be decreasing. Realistically, we probably will not be employing an internally geared hub due to the cost and limitations they impose. We still have to decide this as a group though. Many people have recommended we use one, so that is why we have been looking into it and getting opinions from those more experienced with the subject on here.
There are further explanations of the budget on our website
www.teamrecumbent.com/budget .
Lesley