Are we ever going to have a 3 speed fixed hub on the market?
 

Has anyone heard anymore news? I've seen the same web blogs over and over again. I saw the photos. I don't think it actually exists, or even functions.

Perhaps we should all start a negative PR campaign against the folks promising this wonderful re-creation. I mean if they aren't going to tell us why it is not on the market, one can only speculate that the actual hub is garbage. Or is the idea too cost prohibitive to produce?

Perhaps it would be cheaper in the long run to find an original 3 speed fixed hub owner and have a machine shop produce a replica. Surely there is a lonely old machinist waiting for the challenge of a lifetime.

This is getting old. I want my goddamn three speed fixed.

i want the indoor velodrome in philadelphia.
i wonder if the same guys were responsible for both projects...

The 2009 catalog has it.

I've been talking with friends who work at shops and the word is that Sturmey Archer is coming out with a three speed fixed hub in the next few months. I know it's hearsay, but it seems very real and I'm very psyched.

Are you serious? This hub is in the pipeline and likely already manufactured and just awaiting distribution. Now that it's super-close and obviously going to happen, you're complaining about waiting a few more weeks for a hub that hasn't been manufactured for many decades?

Yeah I'm complaining because with that hub I could keep with with the carbon clad roadies and be a self proclaimed bad ass. You damn right I'm complaining :)

You just missed one on ebay...
Vintage Sturmey Archer. Starting bid was at $349.00 though:
http://cgi.ebay.com/STURMEY-ARCHER-V...1%7C240%3A1318

They've already made functioning prototypes, put it in the catalog, and generated a lot of interest in it. The hard work's done, they're morons if they don't release it now.

That's the 1950 "Made in England" model, not the 2009 "Made in Taiwan" model.

jesus christ those things are ridiculous. how much do they weigh? are they loud?

ed:
http://sunrace-sturmeyarcher.blogspo...r-3-speed.html

hm.

i see this being huge in the never-going-to-be-a-pro-but-i-spend-like-one cycling market. you know, the guys who say fixed gears are stupid "unless you ride one to train" (because they read about lance training fixed on chris charmichael's blog)... they've always been meaning to build up a fixed gear "training" bike (mind you-- they don't race), but deep inside were too soft.
this gives them a huge out-- the ability to say they ride fixed ("like lance, not those loser kids with the jeans") without having to ride a single gear ratio up climbs.

or maybe i'm missing something... who would benefit from this type of hub? i always figured those who ride fixed do so because they enjoy the idea of being responsible for every ounce of velocity behind their bicycle (want speed? spin faster. want to climb better? ride more hills.)
something's confusing about this. if you want a geared bicycle, wouldn't you then switch to your road bike?

Come on, people! There's already been several threads about the release of this hub.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=494480

I could definitely see myself building a bike with one of these someday. Variable gears would come in handy for things like rides with regular roadies, or rides where you'd want a lower gear for hilly areas but a higher gear for speed on the flats... basically all the reasons a geared bike is cool. I'd like to be equipped for those situations, but I also really like the feel of a fixed drivetrain. Since you normally can't have both, this hub is kind of a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too type solution.

Which really begs the question. Are you riding fixed just to be a hipster then? Because if you need more than one gear, why the hell aren't you riding a road bike. Which was made for that specific purpose?

Besides the novelty factor, I can't really tell why you would need a 3 speed fixed hub.

I don't like you spooki, but +1 to this.

Heh. I'm pretty sure the only thing hipsterish about me is the fact that I ride a fixed gear.

But still, doesn't the fact that plenty of people have and enjoy both fixed gears and regular road bikes kind of contradict your argument? They're just two different kinds of riding, and if I can take things I like about both and combine them into one bike, am I "selling out" in some way or merely exploring another way to enjoy cycling?

Since you seem to want me to justify my reason for thinking the S3X is cool, here goes: I started out commuting to class on a janky Wal-Mart MTB but discovered that I really enjoyed riding. My biggest love was going fast on pavement, so I decided that when I got a proper bike I would get a road bike. Furthermore, I pretty much never shifted on my old bike, I just threw it in top gear and left it there, so I figured why not try a ss/fg so I'd have fewer extraneous parts to worry about and/or maintain. So I decided to get a fixed gear road bike, which... see signature.

Now that I'm doing a lot of riding, I've started to see now how multiple gears would be useful in some situations, especially now that I'm getting ready to start trying to hang with my university's cycling club who frequently ride faster than I'm able to pull off right now on the fixed gear. Still, I do love the feel of the fixed drivetrain, the fact that it gives me a backup option in case something goes wrong with the brakes and the fact that it makes me keep pedaling at all times (I ride a lot for exercise), so if there were a product that would let me retain that while giving me a couple more gearing options for performance, wouldn't that be a pretty cool thing?

With all due respect I think you are confusing two concepts, FG and SS. FG and gears are *not* mutually exclusive. It just so happens that right now most FG is also SS, but thats just an accident of history. So no, if you like FG and you want gears, a road bike is not the answer.

If I'm riding hills with gears, I think I'd like to be to coast down the descents.

For me the ultimate would be a hub which would allow me to switch between freewheel and fixed on the fly so that I could ride fixed on flats and uphill and freewheel down steep descents. The closest to such a device so far is the "Fixed and Free" hub from SRAM but its not very practical, you have to insert a screwdriver and rotate it to change.

Perhaps I ride a fixed gear on some rides because of different reasons than you, but here's some reasons why I like it and do it:
-I like the connected feel with the drivetrain. It feels like I am part of the machine, not just driving it.
-I like being able to regulate my speed with my legs.
-My fixed gear has dramatically improved my pedal stroke.
-It's fun not being able to coast some times.

A multiple-geared fixed hub will still offer me all of these.

Your argument is like telling someone with a multi-geared hub w/ coaster brake that they should either be riding a SS w/ coaster brake or a fully geared bike.

Additionally, most of us do ride road bikes. They just happen to have a single gear w/ or w/o coasting ability and many of them have track ends.

I'm assuming that you ride a road bike with a ss/fixed drivetrain because otherwise it would be a track bike. If it's a track bike, I'd have to assume that you ride it exclusively on the track, as it was made for that specific purpose.

Nice try, but unfortunately I ride a road bike conversion. The whole point of riding fixed, is so that you have one gear, if you're adding them back in - what the flip is the point? That's sort of what i'm getting at. Secretly you guys want to ride geared bikes, I know it.

I've been lurking bikeforums for a while, and haven't ever posted.

So my first contribution will be this: Single speed bicycles and fixed gear bicycles are not the same. Get that into your head.

i just think it is fun being directly connected to the drivetrain. that doesnt mean i dont occasionally want an different gear for a hill.

also the idea of being "responsible for velocity" is odd. road bike riders have to pedal to move as well.

i like to spin my back wheel backwards, it is fun.

bingo.

I don't understand why some people like to ride bikes with 20 inch wheels back and forth in empty pools.
I don't understand why some people like to dress up in spandex twice a week and ride bikes that cost more than my net worth.
I don't even totally get why someone would want to put on a full face helmet and bomb down the side of a mountain on a 50 pound bike.

Thankfully, I can see that these folks are having fun on their bikes so I don't let it bother me. I sure wouldn't presume to know "the point" of any particular aspect of cycling, either.