Bicycle Mechanics - SA 3 speed shifter not holding 1st gear.

My wife's 73 Breeze isn't staying in 1st gear. It will stay in 1st when you hold it there firmly with your thumb, but the shifter does not seem to "grab" that position at all.

Before I started messing with adjustments, I wanted to ask whether this sounds like a cable length adjustment issue or a wear issue in the shifter.

Thanks.

I would suspect it's simply out of adjustment. Maybe the cable stretched a bit, or the fulcrum clip slipped a little. In any case, it's trivial to adjust. The chain at the end of the shift cable is attached to a rod that threads into the hub. With the shifter in "Normal" (2nd) gear, adjust the cable tension so the end of the rod is flush with the axle end as viewed through the window in the axle nut:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/images/s3c5.gif

If the tension adjuster bottoms out before you reach the proper tension, this suggests that the fulcrum clip has slid. Unscrew the adjuster so the cable is quite slack, then loosen the fulcrum clip and slide it back toward the front of the bike -- just until the cable is no longer completely slack. Tighten it back down and re-tension the cable as described above.

Don't forget to feed the hub a few drops of oil while you're there!

It may be wear on the shifter, if John's suggestion doesn't help. I have an SA trigger which seems to have worn to the point where it won't hold first gear anymore, regardless of adjustment. I've just ordered a replacement, that's all you can do if it genuinely is the trigger.

I've just ordered a replacement...

Still in production after well more than half a century (http://www.sturmey-archer.com/products/shifters/cid/3/id/12).

Still in production after well more than half a century (http://www.sturmey-archer.com/products/shifters/cid/3/id/12).

Of course, they make them in Asia now. But by most accounts, the quality control there is better than it's been in decades.

This happened to a friend of mine and it turned out he was whole click off. What he thought was 1st was just overtravel, and he had 2nd gear set to the first gear click, and third set to the 2nd gear click.

Still in production after well more than half a century (http://www.sturmey-archer.com/products/shifters/cid/3/id/12).


Ironically, I ordered an NOS one off eBay....

The indexing for IGHs is in the shifter, not the hub. So if it doesn't hold the gear when properly adjusted it's almost certainly a worn shifter. I had an almost identical issue with a Sachs Torpedo (aka SRAM T3). See this thread... http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/759602-Sachs-(SRAM)-3-speed-hub-shifter-springs-from-1st-to-3rd

Replacement was quick and easy.