SA S2C

[petehouk]

Has anyone ridden the new Sturmey Archer S2C? I am thinking about putting one in a wheel...I want to know what to expect before I go to the time and effort. (It's a LOT of time and effort for me to build a wheel....)

For one thing, I am worried about how much drag there is in it. The Bendix red band kickback that I have is really kind of a dog, especially when it's in the low gear. The low gear on that hub is not the direct drive gear, opposite of the S2C.

Thanks

 

[petehouk]

Nobody has tried one of these yet? These things are made for cruisers! They look like coaster brake hubs but they have two gears! How cool is that! No cables!

 

[scrumblero]

I got one on my Racer.. I love it! its a fixie killer... :mrgreen:

 

[anon]

OK. So I've been riding it for a couple of days now.

I have quite a bit of stuff shipped in from the US and elsewhere. And by far, this hub took the most time getting stuck in customs. Then it was laced to the wheel wrong, so I had to have it relaced again. I just hope that it hasn't somehow be stealthily opened up and examined by curious hands.

First impression: pretty heavy. Shipping weight according USPS was 2.3 kilograms. That's almost 5 pounds! But the hub itself is almost half that, but well over two pounds. No wonder the shipping cost was exorbitant.

Anyhoo, now I have it on this baby.

First few miles of riding felt funny. I don't know how the gearing is properly called so I'm going to use the term 'heavy' and 'light' from the way it feels on your legs.

For those not familiar, it's a kick-shift hub with two speeds, no cable, and a coaster brake built-in. You shift the gear by back-pedalling just a tiny click. You brake by back-pedalling the whole way.

Set-up: I have it on a 49T chainwheel and the Sturmey Archer-supplied 17T sprocket.

The light gear feels easy (I don't know which gear is direct drive). Feels similar to, say, 38T chainwheel. It runs smooth with no noise. The heavy gear feels, well, heavy - like I'm pedalling a 70T front. These are just impressions because the supposed ratio is reported at 1:1.38.

There are speed bumbs in the roads where I live. So every time you brake for bumps, you can't help but back pedal and change gear. I guess this work when you're in heavy gear already and have to work up speed again by going to the light gear.

The shift action works without fail. It only takes a tiny bit of back pedalling. In the beginning I was really winding it back to hear/feel a click, but now that I'm used to it, the action is very slight - no discernable sound. (More...)

 

[anon]

What I really love about it is that it's a real fixie-killer . It's a cheat! You can go up against a single-speed and peel easily out of the dock and then kick it up a notch and, like nitrous,just explode away. It's great!

And when you kick back down, it's easy to ride, to just cruise along effortlessly. I like.

Only one thing that bothers me is when you're in heavy gear,there's this clicking sound, similar to freewheeling but with lower frequency. I'm guessing this is the non-direct drive gear but I could be wrong because to me it's more logical to add a gear that makes it lighter to ride, rather than heavier. I'm used to whisper-quiet ride so the noise kinda bothers me, but not much. I hope to hear from others about this. So please comment if you have this hub.

What really doesn't bother me now is the overpacked grease. I guess I gave it a good run on my first ride that the morning after I noticed grease coming out of the coaster-arm side dust cap. Like I posted in another topic:

I now know (thanks scrumblero) this is normal. There's less grease now - just a thin ring of it around the dust cap. I guess it's just working it self out.

The brake is good for a coaster brake. It definitely needs breaking in. It howled at first but I haven't noticed lately now.

That's all I can think of for now and will add to this if there's more to report. To sum: The S2C is fun. It makes biking more fun. I'm glad Sturmey Archer made it. I'm glad I got it. A friend who has tried my bike is getting one.

I think it's the kind of thing that will get more people into leisure cycling. Thumbs up to whoever at Sturmey Archer who pushed for this hub.

 

[scrumblero]

you may need to back the cones off a bit to get rid of the clicking, mine was too tight from the factory. it probably would have broken in, but I loosened it about a quarter turn and it stopped. the brakes get better after a bit of use, still isn't Bendix good, but its as good as any other sturmey brake I've had.

 

[scrumblero]

OH ya!. your bike is awesome!! :shock:

 

[anon]

Thanks scrumblero. I may run it a bit more before tweaking it.

Fun!

 

[hubgearfreak]

now there's a steed that properly befits a gentleman :mrgreen:

if i wasn't too tall for it, i'd be jelous, are they 635 ertro tyres?

there's a review been done of this hub here, the chap even dismantles it. worth translating if you neeed to fiddle with it

http://www.scheunenfun.de/

 

[anon]

now there's a steed that properly befits a gentleman :mrgreen:

if i wasn't too tall for it, i'd be jelous, are they 635 ertro tyres?

there's a review been done of this hub here, the chap even dismantles it. worth translating if you neeed to fiddle with it

http://www.scheunenfun.de/

thanks for the link, hubgearfreak . i will google translate later on. surprised not too many parts inside from the pics there.

the rubbers are 700cx35, so i guess they are 622 iso/etrto? they're embossed 37-622 (28X1.40 -700-35c) HS 392. i don't know what the lattermost HS392 means.

 

[petehouk]

you may need to back the cones off a bit to get rid of the clicking, mine was too tight from the factory. it probably would have broken in, but I loosened it about a quarter turn and it stopped. the brakes get better after a bit of use, still isn't Bendix good, but its as good as any other sturmey brake I've had.

I probably have 30 miles on my B2C now. I do not like how the brake works. It is not smooth and it makes a lot of noise when I brake. It coasts fine, so I don't think that it needs to be adjusted. But, MAN, it makes a lot of noise when I engage the brake. Can I expect that to get better? Or is there something that I need to adjust?

If it doesn't get better soon I am considering rebuilding with a Bendix...

 

[Bendix]

i posted a while back about how impressed i was with the torker kb2 (it has that hub).

i bought one for myself and am not impressed after more than the initial parking lot test ride. shifting to the higher gear became erratic after only a few miles.

want to finish strong on a hill by shifting to 2nd? good luck with that....

resuming pedaling after coasting down a hill in 2nd? hope you don't hyperextend a knee or rack yourself when it skips out of gear....

will i still be in 2nd after crossing railroad tracks? maybe, maybe not......quien sabe?

on the plus side i like the gear ratios, and the guts are very easy to replace!

again on the negative side the new internals only lasted about 20 miles before exhibiting the same behavior, with the addition of a honk when completing a stop.....

while your results may vary, i've come to the conclusion that either there is a bad batch of these floating around or the hub is so weak one hurried upshift will kill it.

the bike has been hanging in the shop ceiling for a over month now. frankly, i'd nearly forgotten about it. one of these days i'll just rebuild it with a single speed hub... :roll:

 

[scrumblero]

mine still rides great! its the bike I ride the most... maybe its the grease I put in it?? :?

 

[Bendix]

mine still rides great! its the bike I ride the most... maybe its the grease I put in it?? :?

y'know, it does sort of remind me of an old rapidfire shifter with sticky pawls, maybe i'll experiment with different lube.... :wink:

i'm glad you've had good luck- there's a lot to potentially like about it....

 

[scrumblero]

it was totally unintentional.. I just didnt' want that black grease everywhere so cleaned it out and put some clear-ish disk brake grease in it... :roll:

 

[petehouk]

it was totally unintentional.. I just didnt' want that black grease everywhere so cleaned it out and put some clear-ish disk brake grease in it... :roll:

What's the brand name on the grease you used...maybe I'll give that a try.

 

[scrumblero]

Coast Uniplex.