A Sturmey-Archer advert from the 50s. I’m seriously contemplating fitting a early 50s SA hub to my Royal Enfield Pacemaker…
by vintagethrowaway19
A Sturmey-Archer advert from the 50s. I’m seriously contemplating fitting a early 50s SA hub to my Royal Enfield Pacemaker…
by vintagethrowaway19
4 Comments
Have you ever ridden an old three speed bike in anger?
I’ve got an early 70’s Raleigh Superbe and a ladies ‘53 Raleigh Sports with good old Sturmey Archer hubs that I go out on ‘picnic’ rides with my girlfriend in the summer. They’re great fun, until you come to any kind of half decent hill.
I’ve swapped out the 18 tooth sprockets for 22 teeth versions, and that’s helped climbing ability no end. I wasn’t too bothered about top speed as they’re just for slow cruising and relatively short rides (20miles or less), but they’re still good for 15mph+ on the flat if you’re that way inclined.
They’re really reliable hubs, very easy to set up and strip down if you need to. Chances are you’ll never really have to do anything apart from adding a few drops of thin oil into the filler cap every so often to keep it running smoothly. Way more reliable than derailleur systems of similar vintage IMO.
I just sold a Dutch bike that had a sram 3sp hub. It was really nice. For on the road it was the perfect amount of gears. I only sold because the bike was too big for me
They made alloy-shelled AW hubs in the 50’s, which is what I’d recommend looking for. I have one and it’s a pretty sweet piece of gear.
Got a 1939 Raleigh Safety Dawn with original AW hub and front Dyno. Both still work perfectly.
Most my bikes actually run SA AWs, just swap the 18 tooth cog for a 20 or 22 and they pedal better. Modern Shimano cogs fit. Easy to do when you change tires/tubes.