New Sturmey Archer 3 Speed Hubs

[Rat Rod]

Has anyone had any experience with the new Sturmey Archer 3 speed hubs that they are putting on the China bikes these days? I'm assuming that the company isn't in England anymore????

Instead of buying a Shimano Nexus hub off of EPay for $$$, why not just buy this bike and use the hub, shifter and tires for $109? You could just chuck the rest of the stuff, ha ha!

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3596787

Just an idea.

 

[Vroom]

I have the new style S/A hub on one of my bikes and they are very poor quality . L.B.S. does not like them either. Old S/A hubs are very good but are hard to find with the coaster brake.

Nexus hubs are my favorite, if you put like a 23 tooth cog on them they are a great cruising hub , hills and all!

 

[Rat Rod]

Well,...bummer...thought I had found a cheap solution. :roll:

Thanks for the info Vroom!

 

[Kustomkarma]

As I recall, SA went out of business a while back. The name was bought and stuck on department store junk just like Schwinn.

 

[bad news]

are these sturmey hubs worth anything ? i have an old one just laying around its a free wheel kind ? i want to put on my streched but iam to lazy !

 

[Kustomkarma]

Check your hub to see what the date code and model number are. Then go to Sheldon Brown's site (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/english-3.html)to find out specifics about your hub. Hope this helps.

 

[Slick Rick]

I'm thinking that like everything else, there is pretty much two grades of things. Usually one lower ticket and one higher ticket. My new Torch has a S/A 3 speed hub w/coaster brake, I didnt notice where it was made but it sure doesnt look or perform like its cheap. As far as the Nexus hub, all I can say is,you get what you pay for. That is one nice piece of machinery! And I'm not a shimano fan usually ! Later & PEACE!!!

 

[karfer67]

nirve used the new archer hubs for a long time and starting last year they started phasing them out and installing nexus hubs. i have delt with them both and hands down go with the shimano unless it is a vintage archer hub. the new ones tend not to shift well, i am not a big fan on the ratios, and for the most part installing them on other frames seems to be a pain. not to say there are not good ones out there but i can't say i have ever come across a nexus that has given me a problem. in fact i have a schwinn cruiser 7 that since 1998 i have put about 3,000 miles on with no issues at all.

 

[xddorox]

Old Sturmey's are indestructable. I've had them on many bikes in the past 30 years and never had one die on me. The code on the hub is 3 or 4 digits in two sets. So if you have "11 54", it means it was made in November 1954 "7 65" it was made in June 1965, etc.. Great way to date a bike if it is the original hub. I managed to rebuild a NOS 1951 hub SA3 with drum brake once, the grease had dried up. I put 5 000 miles on that hub with no problem. I've had old Shimano 3 speed hubs with coaster brake die on me twice, but from what I hear the Nexus seems a lot better.

 

[vancruisers]

New Sturmey, Old Sturmey

I'm a bit of a Sturmey freak so I'll chime in on this one...

There's no question the older Sturmey hubs (ie pre 198x) are built really well, at least on the 3-speed side of things. Where they all fail however is coaster brakes. The TCW is a dangerous nightmare, the S3C BARELY has a coaster brake and the "Old" Sturmey AWC finally got a strong brake but didn't make the hub shell strong enough to keep it attached!

I ran a '95 Sturmey AWC on my Manhattan for a while, until the brake housing disconnected itself from the hub shell. I'm now running a 'New' Sturmey SRC3 which has already out-lasted the AWC. The SRC3 looks good, is REALLY quiet and has been a dream so far in terms of reliability. Unfortunately it's brake isn't particularly strong, much like all the Sturmey 3-speed hubs. Not that you'll break it, just it doesn't have the stopping power of some other internal gear 3-speeds.

I did a little article on my site talking about the differences between the 3-speed hubs out there, you can check it out here at Vancruisers.ca

Just because the "New" Sturmey hubs are made in Taiwan doesn't automatically make them crap. The last 10 years or so of real English Sturmey Archer production was absolute junk - there's a very good reason they went out of business. Sun Race bought the entire Sturmey factory, machinery and all and shipped it over to Taiwan. They brought the factory foremen along too to get everything up and running. The "New" Sturmey hub most people have experience with is the AWC which had problems before Sun Race ever got involved - the SRC3 is an example of where things are going with the "New" Sturmey product line.

Remember, there's a heck of a lot more people riding bikes in China per capita than there is here!

 

[xddorox]

That's a very good reply Van, very informative. Thanks :wink:

 

[karfer67]

well the one that schwinn is using on the repop krate is crap. sorry it is it took me an hr to get it working smoothly and to where the shifter did not requier a vice grip on the shifter to change gears. i will stay with shimano thanks for the new internal hubs.

 

[vancruisers]

well the one that schwinn is using on the repop krate is crap. sorry it is it took me an hr to get it working smoothly and to where the shifter did not requier a vice grip on the shifter to change gears. i will stay with shimano thanks for the new internal hubs.

That'd be an AWC, the "budget" hub of the Sturmey line...

What kind of shifter is on that bike? The hub itself doesn't have much to do with how it shifts - there's no index mechanism or anything inside the hub.

 

[Honestfrank]

Hey Vancruser - Excellent information on 3 speed hubs. Thank you for that. Regards, Frank

 

[Ratfink1962]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but... I came across an old ladies Sears (Murray) cruiser with a S/A three speed. After breaking down the back wheel and cleaning the grease off it appears to be a TCW III coaster brake model. I spun it a few times before I got it out and it appeared to shift and the coaster brake worked ok. Im sure it will need lubed though. I think its from the late 60's to early 70's as the bike had a 1977 bike license sticker. I looked on Sheldon's site and saw the date code, and this one has what I think is 67 stamped real light then it has a 8 stamped real prominent to the right of the 67.

I want to use it on my Cruiser, but ive heard it has issues with the coaster brake, especially a dead spot between gears?
Its not like I ride my cruiser a whole lot, and it dont get ridden very fast or hard, but it would suck to not have brakes when you really need them. If I do end up using it, I will fabriacte my own shifter.

 

[user 135]

I want to use it on my Cruiser, but ive heard it has issues with the coaster brake, especially a dead spot between gears?
Its not like I ride my cruiser a whole lot, and it dont get ridden very fast or hard, but it would suck to not have brakes when you really need them. If I do end up using it, I will fabriacte my own shifter.

A fabricated shifter may have more problems as you wont' have the indexes. If it pops out of gear you just wiggle the shifter back.

 

[aka_locojoe]

I don't think you ever loose the brake but just the gear. I could be wrong of course. I'm not sure if it's the exact model but I have a SA that I have a hard time adjusting and it would pop out of gear and spin. This is really bad when you are powering down on it for a climb.

 

[greenephantom]

The deal with the "bad" Sturmey coaster hubs is that when the hub is in the "dead spot" between 2nd and 3rd, it will freewheel forward as well as backwards. When adjusted correctly these hubs work okay. To be on the safe side, use a front brake as a back-up. Or just make sure your shifter and cable are spot-on mechanically.
Cheers, Geoff

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

This thread is pretty old but I could use some Sturmey-Archer help. I'm having a hard time figuring out what parts I need to buy to make a RXL-RD3 I bought on ebay work. It only included the hub.

I got the Manual, Specs and Parts list off the website.

I've read Lord Sheldon's pages on the subject and have the full Sutherland's Handbook as well.
Seems you have to buy things individually and that's ok too if I knew exactly what I needed.
I want the Trigger shifter but I'm lost on cables and other bits.
Sorry guys, I try to do my homework before reaching out.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

[rickpaulos]

I think that's the wrong hub parts diagram.
XL-RD3 vs RXL-RD3

The leading R is for Rotary shift. Uses completely different cables, connecting bits, etc. The rotary shifters use special color coded keyed washers to hold the axle at the correct orientation to the frame and shift cable.

3 is for 3 speed.
D is for drum brake
L is for 90 mm version of drum brake (omitted L is a 70mm drum brake ie: RX-RD3).

The indicator rod versions have a hollow axle on the right side. the rotary shifter hubs have solid axle ends. Can't tell from your photo but the model number decodes to Rotary shift.

The Rotary shifters are used on the more-than-3-speed hubs and on some of the 3 speed hubs. They don't stick out like the indicator rod versions so they don't get damaged or rip your ankle open.

Modernbike has the kit listed.
https://www.modernbike.com/sturmey-...ar-hub--drum-brake-kit-3-8-x-135mm-36h-silver
Also check Aarons Bicycle Repair (seattle) web site. They service all igh hubs and have many parts. I've purchased parts from them that just weren't available anywhere else.
They have a exploded view of a RX-RD3 (70mm version drum brake speed with rotary shift). The shift bits would be the same for any Sturmey Archer rotary 3 speed hub.

https://www.rideyourbike.com/sturmeyarcherIGH.shtml