Originally Posted by
EvilV
That's the old British SA you're talking about I think. The SRF3 and new AW types don't do that. I think it is a physical impossibility on the current ones, though the early Bromptons might have that problem. The new designs came in about the year 2000 when production and design moved to Taiwan. I've riddin a fair way on my SRF3 and never had any such tendency, however out of adjustment it has been. The worst result has been a kind of grinding sound as it tries to be in two gears at once. Nobody would continue to ride it like that unless they were mad, and even out of adjustment, a slight twitch on the twistgrip solves it temporarily until you can find time to make the required adjustment.
Mine's old enough (1996) to have a British SA, which can have the problem--even with the original SA trigger shifter. With the GripShift, there are intermediate trim click-stops that can put me into the disengaged mode, but it's easy to get out of by twisting a bit more in either direction--whereas there was no such option with the SA trigger shifter! When properly adjusted, the stops on the GripShift with the markings for L M H are spot-on.
Good to know there's been progress and the new hub gears no longer have the problem.