I've read many of these posts while doing searches and just registered officially with the site. I'm a casual rider (as in when I get my butt off the sofa) with a mid-80s 3-speed beach cruiser with a Hunter label. Previous posts identified this as a Florida company (not the California Hunter) who imported frames, and this fits sionce I bought it (for a whopping $25) from a guy who used it in grad school in Gainesville FL (I'm in St PEte.) It has the Shimano bell crank three speed hub with the shifter on the LEFT side. (okay, who thought that was a good idea?) Since the thing was shifting hard, I repeated the old mistake of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' since I do tinker with bikes from time to time...completely messed up the shifter/cable assembly, discovering too late that it has the infamous piano-wire sold cable, not braided wire. Other than completely replacing the hub with a RH version, or leaving it as a de-facto one speed, does anyone know of suppliers of this obsolete cable/shifter assembly?

I may just go searching for a good old US old English Sturmey Archer 3-speed (why argue with success) and dump this thing, which weighs a ton. In my old days in Chicago, 20 years and 30 pounds ago, I rode all over town at some fairly fast speeds in an old SA 3-speed and never felt the need for more gears. At age 63 I may not liver long enough to fully understand derailleurs, altohugh I've watch a professional bike mechanic acquaintance do adjustments a few times. So I'm sticking with internal gears! Do you guys have any group for these 3,5,7,8,-gear huib bikes?

Welcome to the forum. There is an IGH group here and on Yahoo groups.

Several bikes had the left handed bell crank, including the '80s Schwinn Collegiate, so I'd think you should be able to find a cable that works.

Which Shimano hub is that? From what I have observed the lright side shift Shimano hubs were free wheel, the left side shift were coaster brake. Pictures would help.

Aaron

You can probably fix your hub just by getting a new cable (try ebay). On the other hand, sounds like an opportunity to pick up a real classic (I vote English).

But browse around our forum, we have several threads going that you'll enjoy. "For the love of English Three Speeds" for example.

New guys, such as yourself, often find and resurrect threads that died years ago... which sometimes makes sense, but usually does not. So if you have a new and specific question, it's probably a good idea to post it in a new thread, or put it into an active discussion where appropriate.

Thanks for all your replies. Once I reralized I needed to specify "Shimano Positron" (not Nexus!) I found at least two sources on eBay with old stock and ordered the assembly. So in a few days I should have it back in working order.
It is a coaster brake LH hub as Aaron mentioned. This didn't keep my from adding a set of inexpensive handbrakes form Niagara Bike Works (and fenders) since I was accustomed to hand brakes for years. So I've created some kind of hybrid beach cruiser-commuter-English wannabee vehicle. (Changed the handlebars to "moustache type from the wide cruiser style.) Next step, as RHM suggested, is to just go out and get an old Raleigh and play with that!