Originally Posted by grolby
I'm considering switching one of the old ten-speeds I have lying in the shed at my parent's house to a three-speed S-A AW set-up this winter. It should be cheap, relatively simple and give me a nice winter project. The number-one concern before starting this project, however, is whether the hub will fit! So!
1. What is the O.L.D. spacing on the Sturmey-Archer AW. The hub I am using is actually a Sears Three-Speed (Hub Model 503.21), but to the best of my knowledge, this hub is an exact copy of the S-A AW, with some minor cosmetic differences on the hub shell. The hub is also stamped with a 66. It is currently installed on my rapidly-disintegrating Sears Austrian 3-speed (the beater I am looking to replace).
2. If the spacing on the hub isn't 120mm (the spacing on my old ten-speed frames), how easy will it be to make it fit? I am willing to entertain the notion of cold-setting, but would prefer to avoid it if possible. An axle replacement is also something I would consider, but again would prefer to avoid. However, if either of these are what stands in my way, I'll definitely do it - I'm excited to try this out.
Most Sturmey-Archer hub installations are around 114 mm spacing.
The axles generally came in either short (5 3/4") or long (6 1/4") sizes. The longer size will generally work on a 120 mm frame, just add enough spacer washers to fill up the space.
Beyond 120, with typical 6 mm thick dropouts, it gets pretty dodgy.
If you don't already have them, you should pick up a pair of the HMW494 axle washers designed to fit the wider dropout slots.
See:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/sturmey.html#19
Sheldon "Epicyclic" Brown
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