Anyone here familiar with the 2 speed kickback hubs? Thinking of upgrading (and staying stealthy). There's a Sturmey Archer model on Amazon that has mixed but overall good reviews. Not sure why most models seem to come without the coaster brake.

Anyone have one, use one, got rid of one, overall thoughts?

Thanks.

i don't think the sturmey archer's work like the older bendix. have to go back and re-research it for sure, but i think the sturmey's are like an auto 2 speed that shifts up once you're going so fast, and the older bendix' are a kick back you shift back and forth bettween regardless of speed. i'd like to pick up a bendix for a k.i.s.s. type cruiser, but i can never catch a cheap enough deal.

IIRC Bendix even made a 3 speed kick back. Weren't there stripes on the hubs indicating that as well as a "high geared" and "Low geared" model. For some reason I have this memory that the yellow striped hub was the most desirable in our group.

Or it could be my rusty memory.

Edit: Wow, happy day. Looks like my memory is OK

Bendix made 3 different 2 speed kick back hubs. Red which was low gear plus a one to one high gear. Reds had a New Departure style brake with internal discs making the braking happen. Yellow had the same gears as Reds but used a standard 2 shoe coaster brake. Blues used a standard coaster brake but the gears were one to one in low and overdrive in high. Blues were designed fo 20 inch wheeled bikes. More than you ever wanted to know. I have Red Band in a Huffy Good Vibrations Cruiser. Decent riding bike. Roger

in my experience buying and selling 450 vintage Schwinns, the red stripe ones suck, they growl I dont like how they feel. On the other hand the yellows ones I have experienced, shift smooth, arent noisy, why that is I am not so versed in those hubs to know that.

SRAM has the Automatix, which is the auto shifting hub; Sturmey Archer has the 2sp in a few different flavors: freewheel, freewheel w/ disk brake, coaster brake, and even steel hub coaster and freewheel version. Unsure why anyone would choose the steel over the aluminum hub since the price differential is ridiculously close. The Sturmey Archer version is a kickback hub, not an automatic.

I've built up a Raleigh R20 using the hub and liked it well enough, but sold that bike. The current lockup bike at the work end of my bike-bus-bike commute is a Schwinn Super LeTour with a 2SC hub (coaster brake):



I don't at all mind it for my relatively flattish 3mi commute. Nice having an extra gear when wanted.

I'd like to do the yellow band Schwinn model, just not sure about buying something like that on-line, condition could be anything and they run $100+.

Any thoughts or experience with these new ones from Amazon? It appears this is a very niche market.

This one comes with the whole wheel ready to go.
Amazon.com : 2 Speed Kickback Rear 26" Beach Cruiser Wheel - Quando KT-2 Kickback Hub (Black) : Sports & Outdoors


This Sturmey Archer one doesn't have a very good rating but I like that it uses the standard rear cog, where I can play with different ratios to find one that fits my riding style.
https://www.amazon.com/Sturmey-Archer...d+kickback+hub

I have no experience with the KT unit. Sturmey usually makes good stuff, but I'd find some more reviews. That Amazon review is pretty comprehensive, and written by a guy who know bikes.

Question. Have you ridden a kickback hub? If no, just FYI. When they are perfectly adjusted and maintained, and operating perfectly, they can still be a pain in the butt. Every time you apply the brakes they shift gears, whether you want to or not. That can be frustrating when you are chugging along at a good pace in high gear and tap the brake for a millisecond because you thought that dog was going to run in front of you but he didn't. When you start pedaling again you find yourself uselessly spinning like mad in low gear. Gotta kickback again to get back to high gear. The same inconvenience (but worse) occurs when you are climbing a hill or fighting a head wind and "Oops" you are in high gear. Gotta shift again which means stopping pedaling which means loss of momentum up the hill or into the wind. After a while you train yourself to "Double brake" but even that can range from inconvenient to a hassle.

Oh, and if you are like me, when coasting you mindlessly move your feet back and forth in the pedal's free space between accelerating and braking, guess what, you just shifted many times and you now have no clue what gear you are in. Pedal to find out, correct if necessary.

Good points Squid and no I have not. I'm using this bike (SS 3G Isla Vista) way above what it's intended for (17-22 mph and 100+ mile rides) so just looking at options. I like the simplicity of SS with no cables, but obviously running out of gear and looking at what options might be out there. The 2 speed kickback looked interesting, at least in theory.

The more I look at it, the SA gets really bad reviews (albeit older posts) pretty consistently and customer service seems terrible. The SRAM Automatix is getting much better reviews but not sure how I feel about an automatic. Shift point is low, though appears to be adjustable.

Love the bike so before I look for another bike just seeing what options there are.

Solid points and yea, those situations might drive me crazy. TBD. Thanks for your input.

I fitted an SRAM automatix to my daily commuter bike, running 44T chainring & 18T cog, 23x700c tyres giving low gear 1:1=64", high gear 1:1.37=88". I adjusted the spring so that it changes beyond a comfortable cadence in low gear. This allows good use of low gear on hills, and you're not left with too low a cadence after it changes into high gear. High gear allows a good speed on the flat.
I needed spoke washers when I built it into a wheel.
It has proven completely reliable and not required maintenance. Riding in driving rain has not resulted in water ingress even though it doesn't have proper seals.
When riding at a speed close to the change point and you go over a bump in the road, it will change up early, momentarily easing off force on the pedals will allow it to change back down again. While under load in high as speed decreases it won't change down until you reduce force on the pedals. This can be useful when attacking hills. When you've stopped, it will always be ready in low gear.
I've recently bought an aluminium body disk brake version from Germany via ebay (these have been hard to find) and intend to build it up for a future bike.

The Fichtel & Sachs 2 speed kickback coaster brake hub is supposed to be a great one. I just wish I could find one with 36 spoke holes.

Have Had one one in a fat bike cruiser the Bike shop was selling .. I rode for A lunch run but didn't Buy.

My SA B2C has been flawless. In fact, I am building another wheel with the S2C.

I had a blue Schwinn Racer with 26" wheels and the Bendix red stripe 2 speed hub. IIRC it was $52.50, a few $$ cheaper than the Sturmey-Archer 3 speed with caliper brakes. The Schwinn store man recommended the 2 over the 3 - a wise suggestion for me, a boy of about 10.

My old Moulton Stowaway has a Sachs Torpedo Duomatic hub. It’s never been tampered with, and at 60 years old, still works flawlessly.

The SA 2spd with coaster brake drove me nutz. Whenever I tapped the brake the gear would change, sometimes leaving me in the wrong gear.
If the bike was equipped with hand brake(s) I might has enjoyed it more and kept it.

I know this is an old thread , but I was wondering if I understood this correctly. Sturmey made a Kickback 2 speed with a freewheel? I don't quite understand how that would work, wouldn't you just freewheel when pedaling backwards?

That term Freewheel is better translated for Americans as Free-wheeling. When you pedal backwards, its just like a "10 speed" or a Sturmey Archer 3 speed on a Schwinn where you only have handbrakes, no coaster brake at all.

The coaster SA 2 speed works just like a Bendix coaster

Thank you for your reply. Perhaps I did not write my question clearly. I understand what Freewheel means, but what I do not understand is, how can the new Sturmey kickback 2 speed with a freewheel work? Most kickbacks engage when you pedal backwards slightly, won't a kickback with a freewheel just continue to pedal backwards(freewheel) without changing gears? Thanks again for your reply.

I’ve got a 2spd SA (seemed like the last non coaster brake one on the internet when I got out of eBay).
How it works-
- if you stop pedaling you freewheel with no shifting. Gear doesn’t change.
- if you back pedal a quarter stroke or so you’ll hear it shift. The sound switches between silent and a ratchet sound. Silent is the headwind gear. Ratchet is tailwind.
- if you’re back pedaling - rolling or standing- you’re shifting between gears about every quarter rotation.

im not letting my go since it seems like you can only get coaster brake version