I bought the S3X wheel set with Alex Sub rims that was on sale in December. I didn't want a whole wheel set, as I run a hub generator on my front wheel, and I'm not interested in setting up my main commuting bike without lights.

I waited a while before finally installing the rear wheel on my bike, and then when I finally did, I ran into some problems.

I didn't realize that the wheel comes with an 1/8th inch cog, so I initially tried to set it up with a regular eight speed chain, which was already on the bike. When I realized that the cog wasn't going to work with the rest of my drive train, I thought about trying to swap the cog from my old fixed wheel. But I realized that cog wasn't going to fit, as the S3X is set up to only accept Sturmey Archer cogs.

So I went out to the bike shop and bought a new chain and front chain ring (I stepped up from 42x15 to 52x16). The bolts in my old chain ring were stuck, and I stripped the bolt heads while trying to get them out. So I had to take the frame to the shop so they could drill out the old bolts (which they did for free, I love that shop!).

I got the chain and chain ring on the bike and bolted the wheel on. Then I installed the bar end shifter, with some difficulty, having never installed a bar end shifter before. I had some trouble running the cable housing to the hub, as I was installing the new wheel on a fixed gear frame, which didn't have braze ons for a rear derailer. The wheel set came with a couple of clamps that were apparently designed to work as after market braze ons for bikes that lack them. I set the clamp on my chainstay and ran the cable and housing through it. I fiddled with the cable and the hub to adjust it as the instructions indicated that I should.

I hopped on the bike for a test run. I shifted through the gears one time, and then the hub got stuck in the highest gear. I went back inside, readjusted the shifting and tried it again. Again, I failed to make it through an entire shifting cycle. This time the hub shifted to some point between gears, so that the drive train was completely disengaged from the wheel, and the pedals were spinning freely. That was a little unexpected and scary, considering that I was riding what was supposed to be a fixed gear!

I went back inside and had another look at the cable. I realized that the clamp that was supposed to hold the cable housing in place was slipping. No matter how much I tightened it down I could never shift through all of the gears before it started to slip. I got frustrated and gave up.

A few days later I asked a friend with a welding torch for help. I figured I could cut a derailer cable braze on from a junk bike and have him weld it on my fixie. But before we put my bike under the torch, I stopped by the bike shop and asked for a piece of rubber. They had an old spacer sitting around which they gave to me to try. I tried again to install the clamp, this time over the rubber spacer and the cable. That did the trick. The spacer stayed in place and now the S3X hub is shifting like a charm. I haven't taken it for a real ride yet. But at least I know my S3X finally works, after only two years of waiting!