Sturmey Archer kickback woes

[hatrabbit]

Here's my story, maybe it will save some other poor soul a lot of heartache.

I had a wheel built using a brand new Sturmey S2C kickback hub. The hub rode smooth and great in the high gear, but it when shifting into low it would get into a kind of a halfway state, pedaling in low gear but jumping in and out of high gear momentarily every 1 - 2 revolutions. Riding it became a chore. Guys on the forums said they had similar problems which disappeared over time, so I put a hundred miles on it. That didn't help. So I tried different cone adjustments, including too loose... maybe improved a little but still had the problem. All this while waiting for a response from SA.

A couple of days ago I reached the guy at Sturmey Archer US. He said they did have a production problem with some hubs and he's sending me a sew set of innards. I wish I knew this before, now I'm wondering if I damaged the shell trying to "wear it in". Hopefully in a couple of days I'll have a new outlook on riding my old bike.

 

[gcrank1]

New parts!....Wahoo!, sounds like you got it made in the shade. I know how a guy can fret 'whats next', but this will probably turn out OK.
Just remember the old saying,'It aint a problem until its a problem'.

 

[CCR]

generally speaking, loose cones will wear on the ball bearings, too tight will wear on the hub surfaces too. as long as it was greased up and wasn't flopping like a fish i wouldnt worry

 

[Bendix]

yes, i'm sure it will be fine....

as for me- i went through the oem and a replacement guts kit on my redline kb-2 before i stopped getting replies to my emails from s.a. and rebuilt the wheel with a shimano single speed coaster brake.

others have had better luck... :|

 

[hatrabbit]

Actually the "woes" were the part about the hub originally having the problem... not being able to reach the manufacturer, scouring the forums, trying to adjust the issues away. I had that wheel off the bike a million times.
I was happy as heck when I finally reached Sturmey and found out out there's a known flaw and that they were sending the parts to correct it. They arrived yesterday afternoon, today it should be all good.