Bravin Neff

That's how I am too, and its what makes me afraid of the IGH hubs. I can putz around pulling my kids in the Burly trailer, and that's one thing. But when I'm out riding for me, I'm pretty much always trying to push myself. Hard.

noglider 

Your hub is on the way, and I'm optimistic for you, since this model has closer spacing than other IGHs.

Bravin Neff

Well the bad news I expected came. My previous thoughts that "a Shimano Alfine 11 for $252, yeah right" were confirmed with the following email:

"Hello,

Unfortunately our warehouse is unable to fulfill this order. We apologize for any inconvenience. You will receive a refund from Amazon once we cancel the order.

Thank You."

Moving along, I couldn't find a Sturmey Archer XRK5 anywhere, so I contacted them. They told me the new 244% c50 version is coming right after the first of the year, and sent me a nice sales brochure. For those who haven't followed, there were some announcements elsewhere here on the forum regarding this unit, apparently as a replacement to the current 5 speed. But until I received this correspondence, I thought it was primarily vaporware.

Total range is 244% (down from 256%), gear steps are equal at 25% each, every version (save one) has a 135mm OLD dimension, and the gear selector is now an inboard rotary style, similar to Shimano 7/8/11 units. And most importantly (to me!), judging by the photos of the shifters, the direction of shift is consistent with normal derailleur shifters. I think I'm going to have to wait for this one.

fietsbob

There are other places to buy Bike parts than Amazon, After all ...

Bravin Neff

I don't follow.

Dan Burkhart 

United Bicycle Supply still shows 5 speeds in stock, but I imagine once they're gone, they're gone.
I am looking forward to trying out one of the new hubs. I don't think the slightly reduced range is a big deal. It only amounts to half a gear, and it's still wider than the old style which I am still using. The equal steps will be nice.
Let's just hope they have built durability and serviceability into it.

Bravin Neff

They have the freewheel and drum brake versions, but just like everyone else on planet earth no disc brake versions. I'm guessing its not popular? Anyhoo, one unfortunate things about the new C50 hub is that its a full 2.0 kg, unlike the current thing thats 1.3-1.4 kg. That's quite a difference in weight.

fietsbob

British seller .. Internal Hub Gear / Brake products from SJS Cycles

Bravin Neff

Contemplating going to the dark side of backwards-shifter IGH's, i.e.: Shimano Alfine/Nexus 7 or 8. What do you guys think about shifting in that direction? Did you end up adjusting to it?

noglider 

Yes, though it is still annoying. Even though I own several bikes, I am also a member of Citibike, NYC's big bike share program. The bikes have Shimano 3-speed hubs with backwards twist shifts. I visualize a motorcyclist twisting the throttle back to gain speed when I want to shift from 2nd gear to 3rd. That got me in the habit. It is the only twist shift bike I ride, so I don't have to switch back and forth. If I had to, it might get annoying.

If you're wondering, I never use 1st gear on the Citibike. The gears are set extremely low. It was a wise choice, to gain audience. The bike weighs 50 pounds. A 90-pound 4'10" woman can start it up in first gear, and I'm glad about that. But 3rd gear is too low for me in most cases, so I can't go very fast on it. But that's OK. It's a bike share.

noglider 

Nice page! They have the Sturmey Archer 8-speed disc-brake-ready model for £120, which is $190. Plus you pay shipping. Looks like a good deal, and it's SA instead of Shimano. Gear steps are 14% except for the two steps at the ends. Not bad. You'll need a tiny chainring, though, because it's designed for small-wheel bikes.

[h=1]Sturmey Archer X-RK8(W) 8Spd Aluminium Hub with Attachment to Accept Disc Brake - 36 Hole[/h]

Bravin Neff

I find that unit interesting, but I'm scared off by the fact direct drive is #1 and Dan Burkhart's comments that it sounds like a nest of hornets. Did you have a bad experience with Shimano, or do you consider S-A overall a better product than the stuff Shimano puts out?

Matariki

Hmm. Sounds like I may be building up yet another IGH wheel.

noglider 

Bravin, I don't have much experience with either company's recent offerings. I'm sentimental about Sturmey Archer, and I could give you some technical reasons why I like them better, but they are very nit-picky and inconsequential. 1st gear being direct drive is why you need a tiny chainring, but I don't see that as a big problem. It just might look odd.

I don't remember seeing Dan's negative comments. I'll take a look. Meanwhile, I think @rhm has been fairly happy with his. Maybe he'll chime in.

My experience:

I just removed a Sturmey Archer S3X from one bike of mine and passed it on to another BF member. No problems with the hub at all.

I've used a ton of AW 3-speed hubs. They are rock solid.

I've used an old S5-2 5-speed hub, which was also solid.

I've taken short rides with bikes with Shimano 7-speed hubs. They worked well.

Citibike bikes have the Shimano 3-speed hub, and it's fine.

Really, you should do fine with either brand, but if I could get a S-A hub at little or no extra cost, that is what I would do. If there were a compelling reason to prefer a Shimano, I wouldn't regret it, either. Just don't get a SRAM hub, because I hear support in North America isn't so great.

Airburst

SA offer pretty much every internal part as a spare, so if anything does go wrong with it you'll be able to get it going again, which is an advantage you don't get with Shimano.

The direct drive thing isn't an issue, as you can get the largest (25t) rear sprocket for the hub and then just use whatever size chainring you need to get the desired gear ratio in first. I'm using a 32- or 36-tooth one at the moment, but I'm considering going for an even smaller one. Technically the smallest chainring you're meant to be able to use with the hub is a 30-tooth, as that's the smallest chainring any SA crankset has, but if you aren't one of those riders who just stands up and cranks to pull away in a high gear, I reckon it'd survive a 26-tooth chainring like the one I've got lying around. I used to be a pretty strong rider, but due to circumstances beyond my control I've lost a fair bit of that now, so I'm considering switching to the 26-tooth one.

The noise might be more of a deal-breaker, depending on how you ride - recently I've had to use lower gearing than I used to (and than I needed when I specced out the bike), and even beforehand I was a spinner not a masher, so I now spend most of my time using the first 4 gears, which aren't the loud ones. First's silent, because the whole mechanism's locked out, and second, third and fourth only use one gear stage each and so only have one set of pawls running. Fifth, sixth and seventh use two gear stages, and have two sets of pawls running as a result, so they tend to be louder. Top gear has all three running, so it's the loudest. If I switch to the 26-tooth chainring to lower all the gears, noise might become more of an issue, as I'll end up using higher gears on the hub more, but I can't be sure.

Bravin Neff

In case anyone is interested in the forthcoming Sturmey Archer 5 speed hubs. As I mentioned earlier, I contacted their North American office seeking a dealer with the XRK5 hub. The reply was that the below hub is coming early 2015 and will be replacing the current model(s). Here is the sales info they sent me:

Coal Buster

The problem I had with the 5-speed was that when I priced them out it was only about $20 cheaper than the 8-speed. I know it's a different animal than the eight but still. I'd rather have the extra three speeds.

noglider 

What are the tradeoffs? Off the top of my head:

- 8-speed has smaller steps
- 8-speed has wider range
- 5-speed is likely to be more reliable and durable

If the difference is $20, I would definitely get the 8-speed.

Those forthcoming 5-speed models look great. I suspect I would set it up with 3rd gear as a 60-inch gear, so I would have 38, 48, 60, 75, and 94 inch gears.

Sturmey Archer seems to get bike-geekier every year. I love it.

Bravin Neff

Exactly how I would too.

noglider 

I forgot: the 5-speed might weigh less than the 8-speed, so that is one reason to prefer it.

Coal Buster

The 8-speed seemed like a no brainer at the time with the price differential as mentioned but the extra weight and noise of the 8-speed should be considered. The noise doesn't bother me so much because, considering my age, I'm half deaf. All in all, I'm happy I chose the 8-speed because it fits the bike I put it on: a Raleigh Twenty. The Twenty has a high geek factor to begin with. The SA-8 certainly adds to it.

Gresp15C

And bike geeks seem to get SturmeyArch-er.

noglider 

Let's see the rest of that bike!

fietsbob

Saw the ad in Bicycle Times..
having all 4 gear changes 75% smaller than the 1 above is nice + the drum/disc brake option & the rotary shift for your occasional tumble . to not damage the pull chain,

the 16t Min cog + 135 width makes it probably a 26" wheel or 700 MTB/Hybrid best use..

Vs Pull chain shift which still allows the driver to be smaller .. using the 12t, 9 spline or 13t 3 spline cogs on smaller wheel bikes


their 8 speed uses another unique cog ... 20 t minimum also a rotary shift..

Coal Buster

Here you go!