Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 15:26:04 -0400 From: "kohl57@starpower.net" <kohl57@starpower.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Sturmey Archer
Original Message: ----------------- From: Mark Stonich mark@bikesmithdesign.com Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 11:06:04 -0500 To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Sturmey Archer
At 09:14 PM 8/2/2005, Bianca Pratorius wrote:
>I for one am not a snob about hub gearing. I would love to own a five speed hub gearing based bike,
Garth, 4 and 5 speed Sturmey hubs are always on Ebay, and usually can be gotten fairly cheaply. Try one, you might get hooked.
Definately. Although I must say the most reliable "sexy" SA hub gear is the AM (three-speed medium ratio). The four speeds (FM, FC) are swell and the FC sublime but I must say that lowest gear is often a ***** to get shifted down to. And stay in place. One of the many things a dad would tell his son was "never stand in the saddle with a SA hub"... worth heeding with the lowest gear on an FC. Someone told me they fixed all this around 1958 but no one was buying such things by then.
I am not too sure about five-speed hubs... they were all wide-ratio and kinda boring if you're looking for something "club bike" and sporty. They also needed dual shifters, the kind that look they belong on a Stingray or a Chopper. You'd lose all respect from the club lads showing up with that.
I rode my '48 RRA with an FC hub this am... 16 miles. I won't annoy Chuck or others to relate the results of a spirited little three-way 4-mile roadrace on the way home. But there's a very contented blue Raleigh sitting at home...
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
Dunno about all that, but S5 Sturmey hubs are quite simple to set up with two triggers, and in my opinion, look cool as hell when set up that way. Mine drew lots of positive and surprised comments, especially as I drafted buses at 20-30 mph on the way home from class.... We still have two bikes set up this way at my house (his-n-hers). I commuted my way through the University of Wisconsin on that S5-equipped ($7.50 at St. Vincent De Paul) painted-with-grey-house-paint-with-a-brush B-grade 23" Raleigh. With a 42 on the front, and I forget exactly what size on the rear, I had 5 useable gears between about 50 and 100 inches, roughly, IIRC. At one point, Mike Appel stripped and repainted it with Imron for me, including the OEM chainguard, using nothing but the leftover paint at the end of a day (we called it "Team Grey..."). S5 hubs are cool. Greg Parker Ann Arbor, Michigan