Sturmey Archer Hubs

Hi all

Sorry that this isn't quite fixed or ss related but I hope someone can help.

I'm building up a vintage (70's) Dawes Super Galaxy in a porteur style & initially was going to build it fixed.

After a bit of thinking I thought it might be good to put a sturmey archer hub on instead. Does anyone have any experience of using these & could point me in the right direction? I used to have one on an old Grifter but can't remember much about it other than twisting something on the cable to adjust it! My first question is around dropout spacing - on the Dawes this is 120 - do sturmeys come with different skewer sizes - do they even have a skewer?

Any help appreciated.

http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer.html

Out of the current range you could pick up a 3 or 5 speed hub.

Have a look at http://www.sturmey-archer.com/hubs.php for the OLD for each hub.

Cheers man. Should have said I've already checked Sheldon but can't see anything relating to spacing.

Thanks Sam - exactly what i was after. So if I buy from e-bay do i just need to ask the seller to measure the width of the hub?

As long as the hub bits themselves are less than 120 could space it?

Whole new world for me!!

Yep, just space the hub out the wee amount.

You'll need to think how you'll run the gear cable from the gear changer to the rear end, including how you attach the barrel adjuster to the cabling. I'm sure Google will help you.

(crap example)

Ha - that's the thing on the Grifter i used to twist - barrel adjuster.

cheers Sam - am ready to enter a world of pain.

It's about 130mm for the new 5 speed.
The AW 3 speed is avaliable in several sizes, but most you would find on Ebay off old Raleighs are 107.7mm.
The threads are non-standard, so you need the nuts too.
I'm not sure whether it's the old Raleigh 26tpi or something even higher.

Great replies - cheers all so far. BQ - it's making a lot more sense now.

if all goes well i'll start a new forum londonsturmey.com.

Surely a 3 (ish) speed hub is ideal for daily use?

i love my sturmey 3 speed,
its and old one but it works great and never lets me down. The gear range is actually pretty good aswell.

The rear spacing is 110mm if that helps atall as i think most of the old sturmerys are...

Cohen - thanks.

Can you give an idea of what the geari range you have is?

That would be really helpfull to me in this adventure - cheers

pretty low - medium - pretty high ??

sorry goodhead i don't really know the technicals.

Thanks cohen - maybe a better question should have been how many teeth you have front chainring?

I love Sturmey Archer 3 speeds. My regular ride is a 30 year old Raleigh Superbe and it rides like a new bike (and stops like a Victorian one!). I was at Brick Lane polo on it for a while.

According to Sheldon, the Superbe is 44/18, which gives 50, 66, and 89 inches on 26x 13/8 rims. I rarely use top - it's a very heavy bike with terrible brakes so I don't like to go too fast on it.

Most 3 speeds are the AW model, the W standing for Wide ratio.

Actually, screw that, I've just counted instead of being lazy, and mine is 46/19

That gives me 47.0, 62.7 and 83.6

Wow - BQ thanks mate - good dedication! I'm going to go for it.

Is this your bike? I like it a lot.

It is indeed one of those.
Here's the actual machine.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t246/londonbabe_photo/IMG_0326.jpg

If you need photos of specific bits let me know.
As well as the hub and matching axle nuts you are going to need the barrel adjuster for fine tuning, a fulcrum clip and sleeve (which keeps the cable under the correct tension) and the change lever - this can be the normal trigger or a twist grip, or a raleigh-chopper style "sports" lever which mounts on the top tube.

I love sturmey archer hubs too. Normal 3-speed hubs have a direct drive and two gears that are the inverse of each other. I think 4:3, 1:1, 3:4 is common. (I think of them as 'starting off', 'normal', and 'full hurtle'.) Once you get the knack you can accelerate away from stopped faster than most other cyclists. Where derailleurs need a period of forward peddling at reduced pressure to change, especially across a wide range of gears, a hub gear can change with only a moment of back-peddle, so you can get back to putting power down straight away.

There is one thing to watch out for when riding old 3-speed hubs which is explained here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/sturmey-archer.html. Basically, there is a neutral gear somewhere between top and direct drive, and very occasionally when you are peddling very hard in top, the hub will jump into neutral. It happened to me twice in several years of daily cycling, and i (just) managed not to fall off when it did. I've modified my current hub to prevent this. The old 5-speed hub I had before that didn't do this (it's clutch engaged with dedicated protrusions on the face of the planet carrier, rather than with the planet pinions), and i have no experience with the current production. Don't stand up when going fast in top gear and you will be fine - you will be more aerodynamic and can put down more power if you keep your arse just hovering over the saddle anyway.

Again - thanks for all this - really useful info and massively appreciated. Moth - you've just brought back a lot of memories with the neutral gear. I remember it well from my childhood days on my Grifter - all of a sudden you'd be pedalling furiously & going nowhere. In fact all your responses have triggered quite a lot in my memory & I remember much better how that Grifter hub worked / fitted together now. Am definitely going for it with the Super Galaxy rebuild as somehow it just feels right. I'll post some pics when it's done (although will probably have more questions when I source the parts). Thanks again.

Guys - if any of you are around is there any reason you can think of why i shouldn't bid on this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110293999098&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

Have confirmed with seller the dropout spacing & it all seems good. He's come back with 4 3/8" with the washers which is 120mm.

Thanks

Sprocket looks worn but usable. I'd say go for it. Even if it isn't all right inside, having a 36 hole shell gives you the option of buying any other AW hub and swapping the guts into this one.

i have a sturmy hub on one of those raliegh roadstars with rod brakes. probably very similar just heavyier. i absolutly loved it, alougth i have alot of experience falling into the nuetral gear.

ive always wanted to put one of these hubs into somthing a lighter and more modern, but im worried that on a bike built for speed im going to be in the nuetral gear territary more often. its very disconcerting when you loose all drive while pelting it. lost a large chunk of my foot becuase of this once.

i reckon id want a higher chainring if i were to do that, i find myself mostly in the top gear on that dinosaur, definatly would want somthing harder on a much lighter/faster bike.

I cured mine of this by making the ends of the pinions slightly flared (as suggested by Jobst in the article i linked before). The steel is very hard so i got a set of small diamond files to do it.

The blow-up diagram of the modern version shows a completely different clutch mechanism - hopefully it doesn't suffer from this at all.

I've only ever ridden girls shoppers with SA 3 speeds and it annoyed the hell out of me when they'd go into the neutral gear. So I've not really bothered with them much since then.

I'd quite like one now though. Although a 5 speed rear derailieur isn't exactly hard to maintain.