Sturmey-Archer



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Hi All.
A rare Sturmey-Archer AM gear hub, of 1951 vintage, was
offered for sale recently on one of the U.S. bike lists, from what I've heard. $95 U.S., about $190 Aust. Apparently in good, second-hand condition.

The most common hub here is the perennial AW, a wide-ratio
3 speed.

The AM hub (M for Medium) has medium i.e. closer ratios.
Whilst the AC hub (C for close) is rarer still.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could take an AW hub apart, put in an axle with a different sun gear on it, and some suitable different planet pinions, put it all back together and have a hub with some new gear ratios? (Sigh).

Keep those wheels rolling.
Will.
 
I remember in the early 1950s buying an el cheapo Raleigh road bike with a 3 speed AW Sturmey Archer. "Upgraded" it by fitting a 5 speed Simplex derail in tandem! Gave me 15 gears. Cool for those times! :eek: Derail gear change lever plugged into the bar end! It worked well and although it weighed a ton it got me fit! :p Can't remember details now but I must have extended or fitted a longer axle somehow to take the derail? ???
 
That 5 Speed Simplex Derailleur is probably a collector's item today. I didn't know that bar-end shifters went back that far!
I guess you would have had at least 5 or 10 more gears than most other cyclists in those days. :)

I think the longest axle was 6 1/4 inches. Just enough for a roadster with mudguard stays on the axle. The "driver" was the hard part to get - that's the part the sprocket fits onto, with 3 splines, or nubs. The aftermarket driver was threaded to take the cluster of sprockets. Some folks fitted 3 speed Cyclo clusters, with 1/8" chain, I believe. I think it's called 'hybrid gearing' nowadays.

Sachs have long offered their famous 3 X 7 hub as OE, original equipment. Now called Sram Dual Drive. The 3 speed gear hub takes 7 sprockets, and can be extended to 8 or 9 at extra cost. Very popular with recumbents, I'm told, since it gears up their small 20 inch rear wheels.
Cheers.
Will.
 
On Sheldon Brown's remarkable website there is a page giving details on how to convert a 3 speed AW hub to a 2 speed fixed gear hub. There is a drawing, and some notes. There is a bit of machining and grinding to be done. I believe that the conversion gives a direct drive and a step down gear.

Further details on this conversion, however, are available on Tony Hadland's site, in addition to conversions of 4 speed hubs to 3 speed fixed gear, etc. You may have to dig around to find the relevant page - I don't have the url handy. The office computer I was using after hours froze up on me temporarily. May need Acrobat Reader for this. Another outstanding site.

Would anyone have any infomation on Sun Race Sturmey-Archer? Have they launched any new gear hubs onto the market?
 
From a recent newsletter, a reconditioned S.A. 3 speed hub is offered for sale for - wait for it - $200 !! Hmmm, must be gold-plated. Buy a new one for that, and still have change for an ice-cream.
Could be a new trend here. Since Sturmey-Archer went down the gurgler, some folks want to put the prices of old parts through the roof.
 
Can't believe my luck! Just bought a brand new, old stock AW hub for $20 in Canberra. But best of all was the cluster of sprockets that came with it - a 3 speed cluster which is splined to go straight onto any Sturmey-Archer hub, with room for the standard retaining clip.
Never seen one on these before; I thought they were only available threaded, to screw on. Looks like some or all of the sprockets can be removed with two chain whips. Hmmm, just need an old bike to put this gear on.
 
Hi Willie,<br /><br />You're a man after my own heart when it comes to old bikes. I'm hoping to pick up Sturmey stuff from an old chap who had a bike shop in the north of England until recently. Among the bits and pieces he has are FM and AM hubs, K Series hubs going back to the 1930s and a two-speed fixed TF hub.<br /><br />He has an interesting part for the hubs as well that he had specially made for him about 10-15 years ago at some cost. These are splined drivers that replace the normal Sturmey driver and take about five Shimano sprockets. He apparently has a few of them but I don't know yet what he wants for them pricewise. With these gizmos you can then fit a derailleur and a two-ring chainset to have 30 perfectly useable gears-better and harder wearing than the new Campag stuff in my opinion (if a tonne or two heavier!). If you use a four-speed FW Sturmey hub, you end up with 40 gears-60 if you use a triple chainset!<br /><br />As for the two-speed fixed conversion of the three-speed AW hub, I can confirm that it works. A local student did the conversion for me as part of his course work. I haven't built the hub up into a wheel yet but he tested it and found it to be OK. You need some pretty heavy duty machinery to make the necessary changes to the hard steel in the AW hub and the university was the only cost-effective method I could think of. Why not see if some of your local students would be willing to undertake a conversion for you.<br /><br />If you want to find out more about your Claud Butler, there's lots of info at this site:<br />http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nkilgariff/<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Bruce<br /><br />