Suntour AW Clone
 

I started going through some spare wheels to raid an old AW for good parts when I noticed through the rust one hub was actually a Suntour clone, as described in this thread:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...untour+sturmey

While the shell is in a terrible rusty state, the internals are almost new, particularly the pawls which I want to use as the ones on my Raleigh Superbe are starting to wear. The only difference is there is a groove across the underside of them. In terms of fitment, this is not an issue, but was wondering if anyone knew if these are interchangeable.
I was thinking perhaps the idea of the groove was to allow oil to flow and reduce friction caused by surface tension. Or am I completely out of whack here?

I don't know, but I'd take it as evidence that Suntour actually made the hub in question. Some people argue Sturmey Archer made them for Suntour.

I'm pretty sure you will find all parts interchangeable with the orginal. My own approach would be to substitute the whole Suntour unit for the Sturmey Archer one; prejudice tells me that the Suntour parts may have been made to higher tolerances and will work better together than with Sturmey Archer ones. But what do I know.

SA made them/labled them for Sun Tour. I have brand new one sitting in a box around here someplace. Roger

Does the box say "Made in England" on it?

I have one of those SunTour AW clones sitting in a box here. I've been thinking about fitting it to one of my bikes at some point. I'm pretty sure it was made in Japan under license from SA as the shell on mine has "Japan" stamped on the shell.