Greetings Richard,
Saw your intro on the Classic Rendezvous list. I and several of my friends and coworkers are Sturmey (God save the Queen) Archer nuts.
I think there is little problem with the 4 speed FW hub for reliability. Most were brought in the 50-60's so any hubs ridden a significant distance might need very hard to find replacment parts. The aren't as tough to mistreatment as the AW hub (nothing is).
As a side not many of my SA friend are into long distance Randonnuer Brevets events and ride fixed and free SA hubs on the rides. The rides are 200-300-400-600 km long and the first finisher last year rode a 7 speed internal. He now plans to ride a restored 1965 Moulton with FW 4 speed this year on the event for comfort and challange ( I can't enjoy 125 miles in rolly poly terrain with a for speed myself). After riding the whole series on long distance brevets we all plan to Rendezvous in Boston for the 1200km/750 mile Boston-Montreal-Boston(B-M-B) 90 hour bike event.
While few people have the time fitness and stamina (I among them but I have done similar events successfully in the past) or interest in the longish events, cycling and tinkering with them has been a lifelong passion. Perhaps our band of merry cyclo's or others from the CR list and yourself can get together this summer pre or post B-M-B. An CR's members convenient to Montreal in August?
For those that care we import classic (all very well equipped classic internally hub equipped roadster bikes 3-5 speed) as well as Moulton Speed, Speed New Series and All Purpose (APB) with internal hubs from Britain. My personal favorite is the wide geared 33-100 gear inches Moulton APB with Sturmey Archer Sprinter 7 Hub and Drum brake. I'm trying to rig an old style (new manufacture) full chain case on it to keep it tidy. I'll let you know how it goes.
Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) is in 2003, time to get ready.
Cheers,
Gilberts Anderson The Bicycle Outfitter 519 W. North St. Raleigh, NC 27603 919/828-8999 800/321-5511 cyclestore@aol.com
In a message dated 1/14/01 2:29:08 PM, cyqlist@juno.com writes:
<< Best regards,
Richard Buck
Watertown, Massachusetts >>