Sparkles2

I have a new bike with a Sturmey-Archer 8 speed internal gear hub. It works fine. But it makes a continuous SLIGHT scraping sound (like metal on metal). This is the only bike I have with this hub, so I have no basis for deciding if this sound is normal. My other bikes, with derailers, are totally silent while riding.
(I am not in the mood to take it apart to see if it has grease in it.) And by the way, the bike is a Downtube folder (8H), not that this would make any difference.

If anyone else here has an SA 8 speed hub, what is your experience?

tatfiend 

All gear hubs except the Shimano Alfine 8 speed and the late model Nexus 8 speed hubs make a ticking sound in most gears while being ridden. Normally a lower frequency than the ticking from a derailleur freehub that you hear when coasting and the gear hub ticking rate will be at a different frequency depending on the gear selected. This is due to the multiple freewheel type clutches employed in the designs. These allow the internals to rotate at different speeds than the outer hub shell, giving the multiple gear ratios.

The Shimano 8 speeds are silent due to using a different design for the internal clutches, a roller clutch design.

Here is a Yahoo group whose members are all gear hub enthusiasts, including some with the SA 8 speed. Lots of SA experience available for almost all ages of their hubs as well as other makes.

https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geared_hub_bikes/

K6-III

The Sturmey 8 on my Downtube Mini makes a soft buzzing noise that gets louder with each higher gear and is silent in 1st. I'd think its normal.

khearn

I've also got the SA-8 on my Downtube 8H, and I've been noticing a noise that sounds like a front derailleur that needs trimming, except, of course, the bike doesn't have a front derailleur. I haven't noticed it it is different in different gears. I'll check that next time I ride it.