Bicycle Mechanics - Nexus 3 Speed Hub - Does a Lever Shifter exist?

My googleing has been somewhat ineffective: I"m trying to find somewhere to find a Lever shifter to replace the Grip / Revo shifters for my Nexus 3 speed.

(I just don't like grip / revo shifters - I'm always bumping them into the wrong gear. I don't understand why they are so popular).

Please ask the folks on the yahoo hub gear group,if they don`t know,or can`t help.....................

Inside the box answer: no. The Rev-o-twist is the only shifter Shimano currently offers for their three speeds. :(

Outside the box answer: The only thing you gotta do ~and this is important~ you gotta line up 2nd gear accurately. If you don't get 2nd lined up, your hub can have a short and very unhappy life.

The Shimano 3-speed bell crank has an indicator on it for 2nd gear alignment. Of course the other two gears are found on the shifter at cable slack and cable taut.

You can use a many-speeds indexed shifter (dual paddle, thumb, DT, bar end or brifter) and set one of the middle index positions to 2nd gear. This acurate shifter index position can be found when riding by counting clicks, visual observation, looking at the shifter's indicator (were applicable) or feel.

At a cycle swap meet I picked up an old Shimano LH (front) bar end shifter that had a single index click position in the middle of its travel. It's perfect for three-speed hub 2nd gear shift position.

A more expensive solution would be to swap to a Sturmey-Archer 3-spd hub. Sturmey offers a plethora of shifter types/designs.

My googleing has been somewhat ineffective: I"m trying to find somewhere to find a Lever shifter to replace the Grip / Revo shifters for my Nexus 3 speed.

(I just don't like grip / revo shifters - I'm always bumping them into the wrong gear. I don't understand why they are so popular).
I used to have a rental bike fleet with Shimano 3 speed hubs and trigger shifters. I don't know if such an animal is still made, but these bikes were 2006 models, so it's not like it was in the long distant past. I can't find a link to them right now.

Hmm thanks for the tips. It is rather annoying. the Shimano Website suggests that they only have the Twist / Grip shifters. which I find really annoying.

I'm always bumping it into 1st accidentally. I've heard that you might be able to get them in Germany/ netherlands but seems odd that they don't exist on the website. Will have to do some further research

One different solution is to use a regular length grip on both sides, moving the shifter further inbound. This is also assuming a coaster brake, as a hand brake may en up too far away.

No, I don't know where to get one of these (http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/SL/EV-SL-3S91J-Jp3017_v1_m56577569830729559.pdf) or even if they're non-mythological.

You could just get a friction lever shifter , then learn how to feel the shift point
has been reached .
I did this with a sturmey AW3 hub equipped bike, like 50 years ago. :50:
I was 13.

you just learn where the gear changes are , the 2 0uter ones are easy.

High is slack , low is taught, the other one is somewhere in between.

I used to use a sturmey archer 3 speed hub (old AW) with a 3-speed front gripshift shifter and I was able to easily line up 2nd gear, but the extra cable pull seemed to cause excess friction in 1st gear.

Knowing Shimano, you would likely have less of an issue as their things are a little more 'polished' than old SA. Old SA stuff was built more like farm equipment than modern bicycle components.

Well, Misters Sturmey and Archer did create their epicyclic hub in 1909,
HRH Victoria RIP not long before.

Shimano copied them, somewhat , later..

what Shimano is good at these days is un touched by human hands, fully automated Manufacturing.

You can still get every part of an AW3..

internals on Shimano stuff remains elusive.

Well, Misters Sturmey and Archer did create their epicyclic hub in 1909,
HRH Victoria RIP not long before.

Shimano copied them, somewhat , later..

what Shimano is good at these days is un touched by human hands, fully automated Manufacturing.

You can still get every part of an AW3..

internals on Shimano stuff remains elusive.

Don't get me wrong - I in no way wanted to bash SA or any of their products. If the international economy was different in the 1960s and 70s then I bet as many bikes today would come equipped with SA parts as with Shimano. I loved the two AW hubs I have had - one was on a 1963 Raleigh Superbe (stolen!) and another was a 1970s model on my winter bike, and that one met an untimely demise filled with frozen water and salt. Then the rest of the bike was Stolen! after it was converted to a single speed.

You could simply move the grip shifter further up the handlebar and get a standard length grip.

Odd that it should be a problem for you and not for me at all, even when standing up to climb hills or using trails. Maybe there's a tensioning screw inside the thing somewhere which lets you increase the friction on the shifter.

Well, Misters Sturmey and Archer did create their epicyclic hub in 1909,
HRH Victoria RIP not long before.

Shimano copied them, somewhat , later..

what Shimano is good at these days is un touched by human hands, fully automated Manufacturing.

You can still get every part of an AW3..

internals on Shimano stuff remains elusive.I think it was 1903.

OK, I get founded in 1902 here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmey-Archer
the AW3 dates from 1936, according to that source.

I think there were various epicyclic drives in use since the 1880s. Sturmey Archer just invented a good one.

Well I'm not bumping it quite all the time. I just don't like the twist action. - Its a new bicycle, I was riding an old Raleigh Chiltern that had a S-A 3 Speed with the usual little thumb shifter.

I like the old Sturmey Archer hubs too. they are great (except for when it accidentally slips into 'neutral') - oops.

technically use I could say swap my old S-A hub for the Shimano - but thats a lot of effort for a different shifter. (I dont' really know how to build a wheel either)

its not a pedal brake. its standard caliper brakes so I think pushing it up further would be problematic

Sturmey Archer just invented a good one.

Actually, William Reilly invented a good one (The S-A X (http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/images/photos/pic-18.5.jpg) hub, manufactured for over 50 years and in some ways superior to the 3-spd hubs we have today) and was swindled out of it by patent lawyer James Archer acting under the direction of Frank Bowden, the bigwig @ Raleigh.

Reilly on his deathbed a half century later placed a curse on Sturmey-Archer. This curse manifests itself occasionally in their hub designs: the SW, the TCW, the StAr series 5-speeds, the original 8-speed...

No, I don't know where to get one of these (http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/SL/EV-SL-3S91J-Jp3017_v1_m56577569830729559.pdf) or even if they're non-mythological.

Unfortunately Shimano seems to have discontinued all shifters other than the twist shifters for all their 3 and 7 speed hubs, at least in world markets. There seem to be a number of items that Shimano offers only to the Japanese market though I do not know whether they still include the above shifter.

Why not find some websites from Germany or Holland and try to order the shifter?

Just came across this thread while wondering if a sturmey archer shifter works with a Nexus hub.. and it does. No mods necessary.. I knew it COULD work, but was wondering if I'd have to change the length of throw for 1st and 3rd.

Pic attached of this duck taped in for testing.. For this I even used the Nexus cable, but when I install it will go with a replacement cable. Looks like a standard brake cable will be fine.. there's a ball expected at the shifter end, and the coupling at the nexus hub is just the end of the wire.

Note that this is for a 5 gear (rare) Sturmery Archer wheel. They had normal 1,2,3 controlled by the normal side of the hub and ah "High Low" on the other side. I bought this as it's part of a motorized bike build, and I"m using the High / Low for the choke ;-)

K

PS. 1st and 3rd are reversed but I can live with that!