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Archive for September 2nd, 2009

1. Order Early – Shipping your bike may take a while

Rhoades Car does not ship bikes one-at-a-time as they are built. They wait till they have a full load of bikes – then ship them all at once. Every time you miss a “shipping date”, delivery of your bike will be set back two or three weeks! You must pay the full purchase price plus the cost of freight before Rhoades Car will ship your bike. I waited until July to order and didn’t get my bike till the end of October! Your results may vary.

2. The single-speed option and the single brake option are adequate for indoor use only.

Unless you plan to ride exclusively indoors – in a shopping mall or factory – do not order the single speed or single brake options. For hills and sudden stops in the real world, you’ll want the dual brake option.

3. Order the “36-speed” gearing – it’s worth every penny

Remember the Rhoades Car is a steel-framed four-wheeler and you’ll feel the weight on even modest grades and hills. Add some groceries or a picnic lunch – your dog or a kid or two and you’ll be wishing for more than 6 gears.
The compound gearing on the Rhoades Car uses two loops of chain and two gear clusters. Driven by a single front sprocket at the pedals, the first loop of chain turns a 7-speed cluster. That cluster is keyed to an intermediate shaft and single sprocket. The intermediate sprocket turns a second loop of chain and a 6-speed cluster fitted to
the rear axle. This arrangement (7 x 6) yields 42 ratios not 36. With the optional compound gearing, the Rhoades car has a 15-inch bottom gear and a 77.5-inch high gear.