Folding Bikes - Sturmey's new 325% 8-speed on spotted on Ebay

I've not seen'em in dealers yet, wonder where this one came from?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sturmey-Archer-8-speed-hub-w-disc-mount_W0QQitemZ250380350466QQihZ015QQcategoryZ36144QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

At last.

Biketools Etc. has had them for, I dunno, a couple weeks maybe. Long enough to ship me one. :)

tcs

How's it performing for you, tcs?

How's it performing for you, tcs?

I said I would not be one of the first adopters for their redesigned 8-speed - OK, should have known me better than that!

I intend to put this hub on my tikit. I've really just received the hub andalso just got an ISO349, 36 hole rim (Sun CR18)to match (ach! what a forest of spokes this little wheel will be!) Sturmey doesn't have wheel building info for this hub on their web site and the included instructions didn't have hub dimensions (bad form, Sturmey!) so I'm now measuring out the hub flanges to calculate spoke lengths.

I'm no better than a fair wheel builder myself, so I really should probably just take the hub and rim to a local wheel artisan with a spoke cutter/roller and get a nice job done.

I promise to report back with useable dimensions once I get the wheel built, and offer some ride reports once I get it on the road. I can say one thing now: comparing the new XRK8(W) to the older XRK8 is like the difference in Linda Hamilton in Terminator II versus Terminator I. As beefy as the new hub has become, I suppect it, like Ms. Hamilton, spent considerable time in the gym getting buff!

Best,
tcs

PS - The hub came sealed in a bag, nicely packed in a box with shifter, cable, all fittings and a 25T cog. The included anti-rotation washers can be used with horizontal, slanted or vertical drop-outs.

Make sure and build that wheel 1x. With such a large flange and such a small rim, nothing else will work. You might also want to invest in Sapim spoke nipples with the rounded head to keep spoke angle OK.

tcs - How about the cog? Is it a regular 3 splined cog? The reason I asked was that I wanted to put a SRAM i-motion 9 on my Tikit, but they don't use a 3 splined cog. The gear inches looked good with a 16 tooth cog, but there's no way for that with SRAM's 4-splined cogs.

tcs - How about the cog? Is it a regular 3 splined cog?

Nope. The both the new and old design Sturmey 8s use a unique, large pattern cog that is only available (at this time) in 19, 23 and 25 tooth counts.

Right now I'm thinking 39/25 with the XRK8(W) for the tikit.

tcs

Ps - Ooo - the included 25t is thick, and will require track/SS chain.

I said I would not be one of the first adopters for their redesigned 8-speed - OK, should have known me better than that!

I intend to put this hub on my tikit. I've really just received the hub andalso just got an ISO349, 36 hole rim (Sun CR18)to match (ach! what a forest of spokes this little wheel will be!) Sturmey doesn't have wheel building info for this hub on their web site and the included instructions didn't have hub dimensions (bad form, Sturmey!) so I'm now measuring out the hub flanges to calculate spoke lengths.

I'm no better than a fair wheel builder myself, so I really should probably just take the hub and rim to a local wheel artisan with a spoke cutter/roller and get a nice job done.

I promise to report back with useable dimensions once I get the wheel built, and offer some ride reports once I get it on the road. I can say one thing now: comparing the new XRK8(W) to the older XRK8 is like the difference in Linda Hamilton in Terminator II versus Terminator I. As beefy as the new hub has become, I suppect it, like Ms. Hamilton, spent considerable time in the gym getting buff!

Best,
tcs

PS - The hub came sealed in a bag, nicely packed in a box with shifter, cable, all fittings and a 25T cog. The included anti-rotation washers can be used with horizontal, slanted or vertical drop-outs.

Last I recall, the SA 8 hubs were offered through some of the main distributors in the US ... QBP? I think that they generally maintain a database of hub dimensions of everything they sell. Perhaps your retailer can look it up for you and give you the official specs.

QBP doesn't yet have their hands on the new Sturmey 8 W hubs. Not that hard to measure with a caliper.

tcs - How about the cog? Is it a regular 3 splined cog? The reason I asked was that I wanted to put a SRAM i-motion 9 on my Tikit, but they don't use a 3 splined cog. The gear inches looked good with a 16 tooth cog, but there's no way for that with SRAM's 4-splined cogs.

The i-Motion 9 takes standard 3-spline cogs. The only internal hubs with proprietary cogs are Rohloff and Sturmey 8. The upcoming Sturmey S3X fixed hub looks like it might join that party.

The S3X uses the Shimano freehub spline, as does Brompton's wide range 3sp hub.

The i-Motion 9 takes standard 3-spline cogs. The only internal hubs with proprietary cogs are Rohloff and Sturmey 8. The upcoming Sturmey S3X fixed hub looks like it might join that party.

Nah uh. I got an i-Motion 9. It's a 4-spline cog. I wished it was a 3-spline and could take a 16 tooth cog, but it still works on my Cross Check. It would have been nice on the Tikit though. 29 to 98 gear inches, that would have been nice. 28 to 86 gear inches on the Tikit with a Nexus now, but it doesn't go to nine.

My mistake. Good to know that iMotion 9 only takes proprietary sprockets from 18t to 22t.

Yeah, I wish I had known it too.