3-Speed Hub Strength

[Mad Scientist]

Just how strong are internal 3-speed hubs? Can they stand up to some hard cranking on steep climbs, and fast sprints and such? Or are they intended more for light-duty, around the block and down to the bar kind of use? I've got an old three speed that I want to use for commuting and such, but I don't want to it to crap out because I was too hard on it.

[tryandgetme]

yeah, the old 3 speeds crap out. light duty only.

[davkatreb]

1-Second mortgage.
2-Rohloff Speedhub.
3-Happy happy joy joy.

[rockyrider]

Rather than the second mortgage there's also the option of selling a kidney (you have 2 after all). That way you have a place to live, a Rohloff Speedhub and happy happy joy joy.

[litterbox]

Sturmey-Archer AW 3-speed hubs have a great history. I used them for commuting and general riding in the 1970s and 80s. Service information is available:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/sa/saaw.pdf

I've serviced many hubs and found the most common problem is the clutch (part K505 in the above PDF) gets damaged (the corners get badly worn which makes the gear jump.) The clutch gets damaged when the cables between the trigger (gear shifter) and the hub's indicator spindle shaft (part K504 and K227) get stretched or repositioned causing the shifter get mis-adjusted. If you pedal very strongly when the clutch is mis-adjusted you will damage it.

When the hub, cables, and trigger are all correctly adjusted the hub is very durable. Shifting is very fast provided during the shift you pedal slightly slower for a fraction of a second. The great advantage for commuting is that you can shift while the bike is standing still or when coasting or back pedaling.

Here's another link with information on these hubs:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/samaintind.htm

Okay, so having praised these hubs I would probably not spec them on a new bicycle project. My reason is that I don't know where to get replacement parts. In particular a hub that was left shifting into "low" for many years may have a weak clutch spring (part K530A) and on very old hubs (pre-1960s) the pawl springs (part K64) may become weak and need to be replaced.

[robcycle]

From what I remember Harris cyclery (http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/sturmey.html)(of Sheldon Brown fame) carries an extensive list of SA parts.

As for three speed hubs, my wet weather commuter has a shimanno 3ccs (or some such) hub, and I love it. Dead reliable for what I do with it, and sometimes its carry 50 lbs on the rack/in my bag in a bit of haste. For the proper circumstances (not racing, not too off road) I'd recomend it.

-Rob.