Sturmey Archer SW Three Speed Hub Question

Earl Bollinger said:

Do you think it is worth the effort for me to build up a wheel for
this hub and use it? Or put it back on the shelf and leave it there
for posterity? Then look for a regular AW hub someplace to use
instead?

Quoted message said:

I have found a 40 hole Sturmey Archer SW Hub with a 57 date code. I
was considering using it on my Eastman Roadster bicycle to convert
it to a three speed. But after looking it up on Sheldon's website, I
find that the SW's weren't all that great, good, or nice to have.

Quoted message said:

The one I have appears to have been used very little if at all, I
think it sat in the on the shelf at the LBS for 40 years or so.

The SW hub has springless silent (non clicking) pawls that were its
downfall in that they freewheeled forward occasionally, especially if
heavier than SA oil (motor oil) was used. Oil viscosity allowed these
hubs to fail forward. Other than that, they had slightly different
ratios than the AW.

Jobst Brandt

In message <[email hidden]>, Earl Bollinger
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Do you think it is worth the effort for me to build up a wheel for this hub
and use it? Or put it back on the shelf and leave it there for posterity?
Then look for a regular AW hub someplace to use instead?
I have found a 40 hole Sturmey Archer SW Hub with a 57 date code. I was
considering using it on my Eastman Roadster bicycle to convert it to a three
speed. But after looking it up on Sheldon's website, I find that the SW's
weren't all that great, good, or nice to have.
The one I have appears to have been used very little if at all, I think it
sat in the on the shelf at the LBS for 40 years or so.
.Thanks

This site should give you an idea of the sort of fun the SW holds in
store:

http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~bdhayes/sa/sw.htm

If you can't find an AW or two at your local bike graveyard, there are
plenty on eBay.

--

Martyn Aldis, Syntagma, e-mail [email hidden]
==============================================================================

"Earl Bollinger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Do you think it is worth the effort for me to build up a wheel for this
hub and use it? Or put it back on the shelf and leave it there for
posterity? Then look for a regular AW hub someplace to use instead?
I have found a 40 hole Sturmey Archer SW Hub with a 57 date code. I was
considering using it on my Eastman Roadster bicycle to convert it to a
three speed. But after looking it up on Sheldon's website, I find that the
SW's weren't all that great, good, or nice to have.
The one I have appears to have been used very little if at all, I think it
sat in the on the shelf at the LBS for 40 years or so.
.Thanks

Thanks, it's back to the shelf for this sucker.
Maybe I'll get ambitious one day and disassemble it to see if it needs work
or not.

Quoted message said:

"Earl Bollinger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Do you think it is worth the effort for me to build up a wheel for this
hub and use it? Or put it back on the shelf and leave it there for
posterity? Then look for a regular AW hub someplace to use instead?
I have found a 40 hole Sturmey Archer SW Hub with a 57 date code. I was
considering using it on my Eastman Roadster bicycle to convert it to a
three speed. But after looking it up on Sheldon's website, I find that the
SW's weren't all that great, good, or nice to have.
The one I have appears to have been used very little if at all, I think it
sat in the on the shelf at the LBS for 40 years or so.

Earl Bollinger said:

Thanks, it's back to the shelf for this sucker.
Maybe I'll get ambitious one day and disassemble it to see if it needs work
or not.

Do definitely take it apart[1]. It's a great object lesson
on the law of unintended consequences.

In the middle '50s, England was still a relatively poor
country after the war. Bicycles were among their few shining
export industries. So naturally, Parliament slapped an
export tax on bicycles, targeted to the Raleigh Sports and
incremented by export carton size (Don't laugh too loudly;
current US import duty rates on bikes vary by wheel diameter
and tire width)

Raleigh made several changes to the '56 Sports to get a
smaller lighter cartoned '57 Sports: smaller and thinner
section rims, the clever two-piece axle nut (drops a
half-inch off the carton size!) and the SW hub.

Where AW gearboxes have 4 planet gears, SW have 3 with a
3-sided clutch. Mostly, the pawls of an AW pivot on a steel
through-pin with a return spring. SW pawls are 1/5 or 1/6
the size and are crescents rocking in a half-circle seat.
With just the right clean lubricant it could work. In the
real world, pawl engagement is not 100% dependable. Not
junk, just not as dependable as an AW.

Since AW gearboxes are dirt cheap and readily available, I
wouldn't invest the time to put an SW in a wheel. As bike
mechanics say, AW Always Works; SW Seldom Works'.
[1] as most SA hubs, remove left side cone, spacer, locknut.
then tap the notch on the right side ballrace n spin our the
rest as a unit.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971