Originally Posted by Sheldon Brown
I know Harris has sold them in the past. But when a friend tried to buy one a few months ago he was told they were out. Have they gotten more in stock?
Originally Posted by Sheldon Brown
48/24 would not be nearly a low enough gear to cause damage to the hub, especially one of the old ones like you have. (Later English-made models were not as good steel as the older ones.)
I read someplace that there was Cyanide used somewhere in the process to create these harder yet tougher steels.
It's not just the SA internals that were better back then. This morning I overhauled the BB and front hub of a well worn 1960 Rudge. Both were out of adjustment, grease all dried up and dirty. Neither the cones, BB spindle or cups showed any pitting at all, just a nicely polished ball track. A welcome surprise compared to parts from only a few years later. Especially front cones, which I rarely find to be good.