The Sturmey Archer AW 3-speed hub is actually pretty simple. I hear the new hubs are far more complicated. The exploded view makes it seem complicated, but that's the nature of exploded view diagrams. In my day (do I sound old yet?), I overhauled quite a few AW hubs. The AW is the one they made and sold in large volume from the 50's (or earlier) through the 70's. Very reliable. Just add oil.

Oh, and "my day" was 1978 through 1984. I'm very glad to be back in this. Did you see the story the New York Times did about me?

http://maplewood.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-tom-reingold/