STURMEY ARCHER 5 SPEED

[rjenman]

http://img339.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=s5s41.jpg










Brief summary

BA 5 speed, 90mm drum brake rear hub (steel)
BF 90mm drum brake front hub (steel)
mongoose bmx bottom bracket welded in with single piece crank
52T chainring cut out of a 3 piece crank set (screw you cotter pins)
triumph motorbike cables used for brakes (really, really, really, really, really recommend doing this as it brings out the potential of the drum brakes 10fold)
seat from some random exersise bike found on side of road
horn from ebay
rims 27" although rear rim is slightly wider than front. no idea where i found the fat 27 but its fatter.
tires 27 x 1 3/8 (Rather than 27 x 1 1/4) gumwall - also from ebay
sturmey archer logo was a printout mockup with a laser printer that i was going to use as a stencil but realised that the colour as it was was brilliant, so i just stickered it on.
malven star frame, original paint and star on the front.

soon to come - stick shifter - as the shifter is really unreliable and does not work at all with a bit of water in between the rubber grip and the plastic.

 

[Bettleguise]

I'd like to try the motorcycle cable on my drum brake. That said, I think the levers you have are the worst choice for your brakes. You should put on mtb levers or the old cruiser type with the long arm. Makes a big difference.

 

[jan]

great looking bike.

 

[UncleKudzu]

very nice! how do you like 5-speed hub? why the BMX bottom bracket?

 

[rjenman]

I'd like to try the motorcycle cable on my drum brake. That said, I think the levers you have are the worst choice for your brakes. You should put on mtb levers or the old cruiser type with the long arm. Makes a big difference.

what is mtb? thanks for advice... may end up trying that

 

[rjenman]

very nice! how do you like 5-speed hub? why the BMX bottom bracket?

to be honest i do love it because i don't mind working on it, but it's taken a while to figure out.

the hubs as a whole are really cruisey, the weight makes for momentum which is actually quite enjoyable if you're willing to give up the force it takes to pedal such a heavy bike (it is extremely heavy) but on the road its really smooth. i'm imagining that light bikes bounce around a lot more.

i've had trouble with calibrating the hub. at this stage i have to physically reach down and pull the gear cable once i've clicked it into first in order to get enough force for it to stay in first.
2, 3, 4 are reliable and good - really good.

gear 5 i have to kick the toogle chain into place. i believe this is because i used old ...... cable and cable surround and there's not enough spring force in the hub to pull it through the hub when the cable is slack - but that's not really bothering me as kicking the side of teh rear hub with my right foot isn't that hard.

on a whole they're brilliant, keeping in mind i intentionally didn't make this bike comfort wise in terms of "not getting your exercise" - its a bit hardcore to say the least....

 

[rjenman]

why the BMX bottom bracket?

1. because i stuffed up my cotterpin based cranks and had no replacement and needed to use the bike in order to commute.

2. the fact that converting the bottom bracket altogether means i could use single peice crank. (was a s was a bonus - i used to make room for cotter pins as part of "old school cool" on my bike but decided to be less pretentious)

3. didn't have any other cheap or free option - so i got a bit brutal on one of the old bmx's i had laying around. well worth the trouble in the end - because all the single peice cranks i have require a much bigger bottom bracket.

1 + 2 + 3 = mongoose bmx bracket yewwwww (surely made a few skatepark kids cry from the sound of the grinder at 9am on that one)