Originally Posted by
randya
I finally gave up on that stupid Sturmey 8 speed hub and replaced it with one of the SA SRF3 wheels from Terra Trike. I was able to reuse the 8 speed cabling, with solved the problem of the too-short gear cable that came with the three speed wheel, and I only had to remove one spacer from the left side of the axle to get it to fit the dropouts. The chainline has actually improved. I'm currently running 42-18 gearing but am considering dropping the rear sprocket to a 17T.
It works great! The SRF3 is almost an exact copy of the AW hub. No more skipping....
Conclusion - from my own experience and others, I'd stay away from Sturmey hubs with more than three speeds.
I don't see any 3-speed wheels for sale at terratrike.com, where did you get it? After hearing all the horror stories about broken SA8 hubs I also picked up a spare SRF3 wheel from
utahtrikes.com for $49.99 when they were on sale last year.
However, my XRF8 hub works rather well once I added a chain tug nut/tensioner and found the right cable tension adjustment (not the yellow mark specified in the manual). I hope it lasts forever, but if I thought I needed so many gears I would not hesitate to replace a broken one with the newer XRF8(W).
Although I will say that I think my shifter cable is due for replacement (lots of rust and fraying).