BENDIX... color striped hubs
 

can some body please explain the differences in their... yellow, red and blue stripes including the various number of stripes they may have .. thank you in advance .. you may also email me if you wish .. thanks again, ron ..

The number of indented stripes indicates how many speeds in the hub. If the color has any significance, I'm not aware of it.

Yellow Band and Blue Band hubs have some internal differences, but function pretty much the same. Detailed repair and service instructions are contained in the old "Glenn's Complete Bicycle Manual". The best place to find one of these is either your public library or by doing a search at this link: http://www.abebooks.com/ I should not cost very much.

Doc

im pretty sure my 2spd kickback has 3 stripes.

The colors on the kickback hubs were for the size of the difference in the gearing. I had a blue one back in the day. Won my first race on it against one speed bmx bikes. On the long straight on the last lap I kicked it into second and forced my way around Bartlet who was trying to run me into the curb.

GENTLEMEN... we do thank you ever so much for all your assistance, story and comments :) .. the site you provide shecky tells it all, eh .. we are canadian and as such have also have a couple of those sachs/torpedo hub bikes .. they were much more common here than the bendix models .. unfortunately it didnt mention anything about the gearing of those hubs... grrrrrrrrrrr .. oh well such is life i guess .. if anyone knows something about those hubs, they could post it here, huh .. and THANKS AGAIN fellas!

ps:are there many 2speed kick-back balloon tire bikes around as we are interested in same

http://www.trfindley.com/pgbndxhbs.html has a bunch of info on the Bendix 2-Speed Kickback Hubs and how to overhaul them and gearing. I prefer the Sachs Torpedo my self, but a Blue band looks awesome on a 60's Stingray!

There were 3 types of Automatic Hubs, identified by band color: Red, Yellow, and Blue bands. The Red Band was made 1962-1964. The Yellow and Blue Bands were made 1965-1969.

The red and yellow band hubs have a low gear: 1 sprocket turn for .67 hub turn to go up hills easier. High gear is 1:1. The hubs would go on bikes with 26" and 24" wheels. They were also used on bikes with 20" wheels and 52-teeth sprockets. The red and yellow hubs have some different parts in them that won't interchange. Check the diagram for the different brake parts of each hub.

The blue band has 1:1 low gear, and high is overdrive: 1 sprocket turn for 1.5 hub turn. These are used on bikes with 20" wheels and 36-teeth sprockets to go further on flat roads.