Teuchter

I've now acquired a few hubs, three in bikes and one extra loose one from ebay. I can now have the luxury of working on two hubs side by side, using one I haven't messed with as a reference. I've even ordered a Sturmey Archer C-spanner for ease of opening them up - I found the usual hammer and punch method was fine for hubs still in a wheel but when trying to open the loose hub I have, it just turned the entire hub before loosening the ball ring. I didn't want to grip the shell too tightly in the vice, even with wood padding for fear of damaging it!

Something tells me that getting involved in servicing these internal hubs is going to be a very slippery slope! Having now ridden a bike with a fully working one again (for the first time since I had a Raleigh Grifter as a kid), I'm beginning to appreciate them once set up properly.

Pete.

noglider 

I've been doing errands on a Raleigh Twenty recently. The AW hub is a marvel. Most of them provide decades of faithful service without disassembly. And most of them don't even get the prescribed drop of oil every month.

Sixty Fiver

When people ask me about overhauling AW hubs my primary advice is that the first thing one should do is lubricate it, set the shifter position correctly and ride it as 99% of the time this is all it will need to get it running smoothly.

Lots of folks want to tear them apart and end up doing this and end up with a hub that no longer works properly...it comes down to a case of, if it isn't broken don't mess with it.

Now... if it was an SW hub it would be a different matter.

Most of the hubs we run into haven't seen extreme mileage or hard use and have been used on recreational bikes... the '74 hub on my 1954 Raleigh has seen some hard use and believe it was used for touring and yet, it purrs along as well as a later model AW hub can.

The original 1954 hub is still laced into it's original wheel and will be getting built into a new wheel set for the bike and the old wheel and hub will get the internals from another AW with an extended axle so I can do a 9 speed conversion and have a touring worthy AW.

The cable stop on this bike sits on the top tube and uses a pulley at the seat tube to re-direct the cable down the seat stay to the rear wheel... there is actually a braze on for the pulley to set it's position.

wahoonc

I have both high and low mileage AW hubs, most of mine date from the early 70's.

The one with the most miles on it is undated, but the bike it came off of appears to be from around 1971 or so. I finally got around to pulling the hub down just to see what kind of condition it was in internally. I cleaned the varnish off the insides, replaced the pawl springs, reassembled it and fully expect to get another 28,000 miles out of it!

I have bikes with other IGH hubs on it, but it is hard to beat an the AW for sheer durability and parts availability if the need arises.

Aaron

Teuchter

That is a lovely looking bike!

I have always been guilty of being too quick to open something up if I don't think it's working correctly!

Cheap and readily availably spares is one of the attractions of these for me, especially here in the UK. There are loads of old AW hubs on ebay all of the time and as there doesn't seem to be quite the same interest in 3 speed bikes here that there seems to be in the US, the bikes can be found pretty cheaply. That's also why I'm on this predominantly American forum for advice on servicing them - I'll get far more response than on one of the UK bike forums.

To give you an idea, I got my wife's Triumph for £20 while the Raleigh Sports and Raleigh Twenty that I picked up at the weekend were sold as a pair for £60. The Raleighs look like they've never seen a drop of moisture (unbelievable for Scotland!) and the Sports in particular looks virtually unused. I almost feel guilty planning to press it into service as a bad weather bike!

Pete.

noglider 

Pete, they'll do great as bad weather bikes, especially if you let them dry out. Do you have a place where they could do that?

Sixty Fiver

Pete - That is my beater / rain bike... it is a 1954 Raleigh Sports with a 700c conversion. It is actually pretty light, rides beautifully, and will be a nice bike for weekend tours as well as general running about, commuting, etc.

For a while I was bereft of a three speed bike as I sold my roadster and I shipped the Twenty off to my fiancee she would have a spare for company and for when I am with her as we live some distance apart. I love that Twenty as it is comfortable, nimble, and perfect for urban assaults and with some gearing modifications handles the climbs in Portland quite nicely.

Anyways... my life is not complete without a 3 speed in the stable and as the local "three speed guy" it seemed wrong that I did not have a good example to show folks.

The hub on the bike is a '74 and will be the subject of a workshop I am doing here on 3 speed hubs as it is the first AW I have had to tear down in a very long time... it is not as crisp as I would like it to be (am guessing new pawl springs are in order here) and don't think many would notice if they had not ridden better AW hubs.

The models from the late 40's and early 50's were as good as SA ever made and the quality control was very high... the hub on my 1948 Rudge was the smoothest and best shifting AW I have ever run and the '54 hub is also beautiful.

As far as riding in the rain goes... I give my steel frames a wipe down with light oil to protect them and have winter bikes you would not know had seen numerous Canadian winters.

noglider 

All this talk of three speeds has brought mine out on the roads this week. I've been riding my Twenty nearly every day. Today, I rode a few miles on my Hercules, which is pretty much identical to a Raleigh Sports, and it's made by Raleigh. The hub says 1966. I plan to take nice pictures of it soon.

Teuchter

Sorry for drifting this thread further off topic!

My bikes live in a 10x8 metal shed that's dry in summer but suffers from condensation in winter - next time I'll build a wooden one! For most of December and January this winter the inside roof of the shed was thick with ice which soaked everything when it finally thawed! I worry less about my bikes than I do about my power tools though. One of these days I'll get a house with a nice big garage again, where I can fit my motorbike in as well!

Do you find with the 700c wheels that you still have adequate clearance for your mudguards (sorry, fenders)? One of the reasons I ditched my old 80s road bike for winter use was this problem - couldn't stop the things from rubbing on my thick Marathon Plus tyres.

I'd guess that Canadian winters must be even worse than Scottish ones! My bikes suffer over winter here from all of the salt and grit that's constantly spread on the roads to help prevent ice. The wet weather with constant overnight freezing and daytime thawing combined with heavy traffic cracks and holes the tarmac so you get lots of muck from this mixed with the salt. After a winter ride of any distance, everything ends up covered in this grey / black clinging wet salty dirt that eats away unprotected metal and never washes completely out of your bike gear. I ride 100 miles a week through this all year round. I'll give your oil coating idea a try though. Just a pity I can't apply it to the rims... need to go for hub brakes for that!

Pete.