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I recently bought a single speed - a Charge Plug Racer, and I realise I've made a mistake - too many hills on my commute and I need a smaller gear to help me up the hills. It's pretty hilly in my area.
I still like the simplicity of the bike, but cannot get up all these hills!
What's the easiest way to add a gear?
Depending on what you want, you might just be okay lowering the current gearing. It comes with a 42t chainring and a 16t freewheel, and switching to a 17t or 18t freewheel will decrease your overall top speed somewhat but make it easier to climb up those hills. If you want to have the option to swap for a harder gear when you're planning a mostly flat ride, you could either install a different sized freewheel in place of your fixed cog (on the flip side) or get something like a White Industries DOS 2-speed freewheel. In either case, you'd change gearing by loosening the rear wheel and moving the chain position by hand.
If you want to switch to a true multispeed bike, you've got a couple options. Easiest might be to purchase a new wheel built around an internal gear hub. Your rear dropout spacing is 120mm, and there are a few hubs that come in or can be reduced to near that width - notably the Shimano Nexus 8 Red Band, the SRAM P5, and several of the Sturmey Archer hubs can be made to work. You could also look into getting the frame cold set to a wider dropout spacing, which would open up more IGH options (the Alfine 8 being a great one) as well as conventional multi-speed cassettes - though you'll need to get a derailleur hanger chain tug, like those made by DMR.
I have a charge plug bike dressed up as special edition by the Jasper Conrad lot.As a replacement from a dealer for a substandard bike Apart from nice quality bits and their decor touches, it came equipped with a sturmey archer 3gear hub and after my previous freewheeled fixie it is great. It’s not up for anything more than modest hills, but suits my normal use. Whether it would be cost effective to convert a fixie is another story. Regards to all Ian T
