I'm told (and have noticed myself) that Sturmey-Archer AW hubs will sometimes pop into "neutral" between first and second gear, possibly making you sick if you're standing on the pedals up the time. I recall a previous post from someone who mentioned ending up in the emergency room when that happened as he was sprinting up a hill in third gear.
Personally, I will never sprint uphill in third gear, or in second gear for that matter. The only time I can see myself standing on the pedals at all would be in first gear. Is that safe? I've never heard of the popping-into-neutral problem from first. Has anyone else heard of it or experienced it? Is there some mechanical reason why it CAN'T happen?
JV

Check out Sheldon Brown's Sturmey-Archer stuff.
I've heard of the third gear issue, but I didn't know about first.
It's possible that it is misadjusted or something, because the hub should freewheel halfway between second and third.......just consult Sheldon's pages, I guess.

I'm sure that someone around here is an S-A pro.

Agreed. But unless I am mistaken about 'neutral' (do we mean freewheeling?)

"If you hold the trigger halfway between middle and high gear, the hub should disengage so that you can spin the pedals forward without going anywhere. If it freewheels forward in high gear, the cable is to tight or has too much friction to release properly. If it freewheels forward in middle gear, the cable is too loose."

- Sheldon Brown's S-A page

Neutral is between second and third. There's no problem standing on the pedals while in first.

The new hubs have no neutral.

I believe the first AW hubs with the re-designed no-slip driver were produced in the mid-70s, for Columbia, according to the S/A website. Not sure what year this drivetrain became actual practice.

P.S.: Just thought I'd stress this for any newbies who may be reading this thread: call it "neutral" if you wish - but this aspect of the hub design is NOT for intentional use by any means. Rather a design flaw which was curiously not rectified until the near demise of the three-speed design as a popular bicycle of choice in the 80's.

-Kurt

By new hubs I mean the redesigned, Taiwan-made hubs. They're always in gear. I think it's a huge improvement, but I don't know if they'll last forever like the old hubs.

AFAIK all Nottingham built AW's have the neutral. There was some upgrade? done in the mid to late 80's? IIRC it had something to do with the pawls.

As far as durability...the later models have a helluva hole to fill.

Aaron

Nope. 1984, AW N.I.G. ("No In-between Gear") for Columbia USA:

External photo:
https://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/detail.php?id=135

Parts diagram sketch:
https://www.sturmey-archerheritage.co...s/view-135.gif

The re-designed driver is quite similar to that on the current AW's.


If you look at the parts blowup for the new models (and the '84 Columbia hub above), you will see that the issue lay in the shape of the driver.

-Kurt

First, some trigger manufacturers confused the issue by erroneously referring to second gear as "neutral" -- they were labeled "H N L" instead of "3 2 1."

Second, true neutral was indeed between 2nd and 3rd. I used it to good advantage on my coaster 3-speed with Huret friction downtube shift lever. At a red light, neutral permitted me to align the pedals properly for a smooth, fast getaway, just as one would do with a freewheeling bike, but awkward with a coaster brake.

I thought that the "N" on some 3 speed triggers meant "Normal" ie direct drive so that you had high normal and low.

+1