Sturmey Archer AB

[Adam Rush]

I was looking through the spare parts bench at an LBS and found what could be a gem: a 1982 Sturmey
Archer AB. It shows no spoke marks and the flange is not worn, so, best I can tell, it is NOS. I
want to put it on an old army bike.

So, is this worth the 200:-? (~25-30US) Also, when I'm looking for parts, will I be able to use AW
bits? When I maintain it, is it safe to use an AB/C service manual for reference?

Also, is there any particular motor oil that one would recommend for use in Sturmey Archer hubs?

 

[Bill Putnam]

[email protected] (Adam Rush) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I was looking through the spare parts bench at an LBS and found what could be a gem: a 1982
> Sturmey Archer AB. It shows no spoke marks and the flange is not worn, so, best I can tell, it is
> NOS. I want to put it on an old army bike.
>
> So, is this worth the 200:-? (~25-30US) Also, when I'm looking for parts, will I be able to use AW
> bits? When I maintain it, is it safe to use an AB/C service manual for reference?
>
> Also, is there any particular motor oil that one would recommend for use in Sturmey Archer hubs?

The AB hub is very similar to the AW, relevant differences are in the width of the planet cage and
left side cone design. Axle, gears, clutch and so on are interchangeable.

If it is a 1982 model it should have the later style shoes, earlier Sturmey drum brake hubs used a
leather shoe which was not very effective. The drum brake is not as powerful as a correctly adjusted
rim brake but for my use it served me well. $30 US for a NOS unit would be a fair to low price IMHO.

Sturmey Archer sells oil for the hubs, but a lightweight motor oil should be ok. My LBS (Yellow
Jersey, Madison WI) sells an oil for SA hubs that I find to give good service. Do not use 3 in 1 oil
as this can get gummy. Add a few drops each week but do not over oil as then you will get oil on the
shoes which is not a good thing.

Quality on some of the later SA hubs was not always the best. I had two AB hubs from 1985 and both
of these had poorly formed gear teeth, especially the sun gear. I replaced the axle, sun gear,
planet gears, planet gear pins, and clutch with parts from a relatively unworn early 1960's AW hub
and all was well after that.

Bill Putnam

 

[A Muzi]

Adam Rush wrote:

> I was looking through the spare parts bench at an LBS and found what could be a gem: a 1982
> Sturmey Archer AB. It shows no spoke marks and the flange is not worn, so, best I can tell, it is
> NOS. I want to put it on an old army bike.
>
> So, is this worth the 200:-? (~25-30US) Also, when I'm looking for parts, will I be able to use AW
> bits? When I maintain it, is it safe to use an AB/C service manual for reference?
>
> Also, is there any particular motor oil that one would recommend for use in Sturmey Archer hubs?

Most AW service parts yes ( planet cage no). That's a sturdy
dependable hub with marginal braking ( I've ridden an AB
for many years but I use the front brake almost exclusively)

Anyway, they give a nice clean line to the back of your bike
. On the other hand you now need to carry tools to remove the brake strap bolt when you flat.

People argue about the lubrication as much as anything here. Any good machine oil will be OK.
Singer's or something like it. We use Paneff but a wide range of products work well.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971