My apologies. I mistook the conversation, and thought your, 'that might be the trouble' remark, referred to the extra balls that someone else mentioned. Sorry.

As for what is normal about the 8 speed, I have no idea. Just reading here, it seems a tad more temperamental than the three speed one that I have. Actually, I have tried amateur mechanic mods on mine, but only in so far as I replaced the SA103 grease with light engine oil. That is not so far out though since the hubs used to be oiled and not greased and I made the judgement that the change to grease was made because the new company (and the old one, for it was they who first made the move to grease) knew modern people don't have oil cans and wouldn't be bothered to look after the hubs like people used to do. Not being a modern person in that regard, I just drip a few drops of oil in about every six weeks.

Regards