Sturmey Archer 3 speed questions

Hi Gents,
Couple of questions, firstly what is the best oil to put in the hub? I assume this is put in through the nipple on the hub body itself, how do you know when it is full/got enough in? Secondly, can you use a friction shifter with one of these hubs or does it have to be a sturmey leaver? thanks

I just use finish line wet lube which seems to work fine, as for when its got enough in it, you definitely don't want to overdo it coz the interplanetary bits cant move on the thread then. I normally just squirt the bottle for like 5 seconds

cheers mate. anyone had any experience trying to set one up with a friction shifter?

I know "proper" oil is SAE 30, but this is as rare as rocking horse faeces. You can use lawnmower oil, which is exactly the same, and available in 500ml boyttles for about a fiver. As long as it's pure mineral oil, you'll be fine.

I overheard one of the stallholders at HH jumble talking about his special bottles of SA oil, and he said he just buys gallon cans of lawnmower oil, decants it into small bottles and prints up a label, Nice profit margin in that, I'd imagine.

No idea on the friction shifting, but it should be doable, as the cable pull for the hub is pretty short (less than 2 or 3cm total)

Thanks very much mate, much appreciated. now to build a wheel...

i dont think a friction shifter will work.

Oil in 3/4 speed hubs will exit all over your spokes and rim if you overdo it. Sturmey Archer recommend you add a few drops per month! Makes a mess and you get no brakes.

You need a thinnish oil and when you get used to it the sound will tell you when its working right. Friction shifters are chancy because the SA triggers are indexed. You have a sweet spot between top and middle and if you miss it you suddenly get no drive. Can be painful if you are honking. Get a proper trigger. They don't cost much.

From the ever-useful East Beers thread

Just fill it up with SAE30 lawnmower oil or SAE80 motorcycle/scooter gear oil (they are the same weight, despite the different numbers - different scales, see) until it drips out of the axle. You won't need much. Get a 10ml syringe to put the oil in - much easier than getting the bottle in there.

Sturmey sell their own but it's very poor value.
http://www.freemanscycles.co.uk/product2.asp?product_id=1585&pname=Cycle%20Oil
£2.95 for 100ml

And it's more or less the same stuff as this
http://www.racelubricants.co.uk/VP/castrol-garden-4-stroke/castrol-garden-4t-1-ltr-106.aspx
£4.49 for a litre

gear oil here, but it's pricey
http://www.powersport.co.uk/07stockdetail.php?partno=PUT/GP80.1&catno=I2&department=Lubricants&groupid=0&show=3&group=1
£752 for a litre.

Use a proper trigger. The difference in cable travel between a gear and the neutral in between is tiny.
The newer SRF-3 3 speeds do not have the neutral problems of the old AW3

A friction shifter will work in that you will be able to change gears, you'll just have to be carefull you get it in the right place. Whether it will have enough cable pull to go through the full range is another matter.

I only recently learnt how to set the gears properly. I always assumed it was done at the most slack position. It's different for nearly every model. The cable tension is set in the "2" position and is relative to the position of the indicator rod compared to the axle (me not realising why it's called an indicator rod FAIL).

...Sturmey Archer recommend you add a few drops per month! ...Get a proper trigger. They don't cost much.

^this
2 drops, maximum.
SA have recently produced some new handlebar shifters (look like old-school MTB friction shifters) and bar-end shifters.

http://www.sturmey-archer.com/products/shifters/cid/3/id/10

cheers mate. anyone had any experience trying to set one up with a friction shifter?

No, you do not want to overdo it and end up disengaging the hubs causing it to freewheel when it shift right at the far end (beyond 3rd).

We had a bike with 3 speed fixed hubs, when it arrived, we found that the indexed shifter wasn't set-up properly that it end up freewheeling, once set-up, it's fine, bit alarming as it came with a front brake only.

Blue quinn is right, he da man.

I ought to say that it needs a lot more than 2 drops in the first place. More like 10cc. The excess will drip out and once you've cleaned it up you're ready to go.
That 2 drops is how much you add each couple of months to top it up.

You can get SAE30 quite easily from motor factors - very old cars (like from the 1930s) use it as do some gearboxes. I put in a good squeeze every couple of months and clean off the excess.

I used a friction shifter for years on my AW 3-Speed hub, but it did take a bit of practice not to pull the cable clamp apart by over-shifting it. I replaced the bar tape recently so I swapped to an old trigger shifter on the end of the drops - it works better.

cheers gents.