View Single Post
Old 11-30-11, 05:34 PM
  #7  
tcs
Palmer
 
tcs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 8,580

Bikes: Mike Melton custom, 1982 Stumpjumper, Alex Moulton AM, 2010 Dawes Briercliffe, 2017 Dahon Curl i8, 2021 Motobecane Turino 1x12

Mentioned: 37 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1645 Post(s)
Liked 1,785 Times in 1,041 Posts
You can mount the Nexus twist shifter (AFAIK the only current factory shifter for Shimano 3-speed hubs) on a "Hubbub" adaptor.

The late Sheldon Brown shifted his Sturmey Archer 3-speed hubs with a DT friction shifter for years and reported no problems. Now, and this is important, you gotta line up 2nd gear accurately. If you don't get 2nd lined up, your hub can have a short and very unhappy life. The Shimano 3-speed bell crank has an indicator on it for 2nd gear alignment. With a friction shifter, you have to know ~somehow~ when the shifter is in the right position to align 2nd gear. Mr. Brown said on his set-up that it was when the shifter pointed at his navel. (!) Of course the other two gears are found on the shifter at cable slack and cable taut.

Besides friction shifters, another approach with a three-speed is to use a many-speeds indexed shifter (DT, bar end or brifter) and set one of the middle index positions to 2nd gear. This acurate shifter index position can be found when riding by counting clicks, visual observation, looking at the shifter's indicator (were applicable) or feel.

At a cycle swap meet I picked up an old Shimano LH (front) bar end shifter that had a single index click position in the middle of its travel. It's perfect for three-speed hub 2nd gear shift position.

Originally Posted by Old_Hat
any other options or advice much apreciated
Too late for you - sorry! - but if anyone with the same question finds this in the archives...buy a Sturmey three-speed instead. They offer a classic metal trigger (a versatile, rugged and classy bit of kit), a newer trigger, twist grips in long and short versions, a dual paddle (Rapidfire-style), a barcon, a downtube shifter, a thumb shifter - even "stick shifts"! - for their 3-speeds.
tcs is offline