Omiak

I'm considering building up a touring bike with a 5 speed hub. I'm thinking Sturmey Archer because they're the only company I know of that makes a bar end shifter 5 speed IGH.

Anyone have any relevant experience?

dbg

I did a few hundred miles on a shimano nexus 7 one year of our annual Wisconsin trip. Not bad. I also experimented with using a travel-agent adapter on the shifting cable so that shimano STI pulls would shift the nexus IGH (thus allowing bar enders or even brifters). The thread is posted here somewhere (several years ago) and I never mounted it for long term use. I only confirmed it was working as a nexus shifter. The nexus-7 was a little wanting on the gear range (low end not quite low enough for the hills I encountered), but that's just a function of what chainring and rear cog one chooses.

[adding: I eventually abandoned IGH's partly because of their added complexity for changing flats. The shift cable was not the easiest to disconnect and reconnect on the road. I had them on my kids' bikes and others were not so comfortable with the whole process)]

kingsqueak

There is a bar end that shifts the Alfine hubs but I forget the name. Saw it on this forum thpugh so search for it. There are also trigger and grip/twist shifts for them.

fietsbob

Have a 3 speed Brompton + a Schlumpf Mountain drive , thereby 6 different speeds

A Double shift between 3&4..

the 234 of the SA 5 speed is the same gears as the 3 speed , the 1 is .63. the 5 is 1.6..

it is possible to use double chainrings to split up the 5 ratios to be tighter spaced..

It is also possible to extend the range , I did so downward ,a 2.5 reduction gear,

their Speed drive 1s 1.6X overdrive

Sram/Patterson offers a similar 1.6X, 22, 24 and 28t cogs on the various offerings ..

the Metro some liked , here, 28 in overdrive is like a 45t..


Rohloff twist grip shifter is great, the range is good , wide like Mountain bikes .

lots of people adapt to the mix of the long double pull cable shifting
with various solutions , to run drop bars .. and tour around the globe on them..

I have adopted Figure 8 bend Butterfly Bar so I keep using the shift grip...

tcs

Velocio suggested five gears from mid-30s g.i. to mid-80s g.i. for touring. A Sturmey SRF5(W) covers that pretty well.

Long ago I used a SA S5/1 geared bike as my principle ride for several years. I addition to commuting, I did some touring and rode five centuries on that bike and had a lot of fun. Today, my principle all-arounder bike is equipped with a SA XRF8(W) and a Jtek bar end shifter. I like it a lot, too.

Omiak

Yeah this is pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Does anyone know if the sturmey archer hubs include an anti rotation washer for use with vertical dropouts? I'll have to go the chain tensioner route as the LHT deluxe frame I'm going to be using is only available with vertical dropouts.

wahoonc

I routinely tour on a 3 speeds, all of my 3 speeds are the old Sturmey-Archer 3 speeds. I have an old hard tail MTB that I am considering the Alfine 11 on. Don't ride enough to justify the expense of the Rolhoff... haven't won the lottery yet either.

I say figure out what gear range you need and if it works go for it. I tell every one I have a 5 speed... walk, 1, 2, 3 and downhill.

Aaron

martianone

Have a Bikefriday NWT with a Nexus 8 spd hub and j-tek bar end shifter, use it mostly when I travel to an urban area, also for a couple of long weekend trips. The lowest gear ratio is around 29 gear in, upper is 80 something or other; fine for my lightly loaded trips.

Dahon.Steve

I have a bicycle with the Sturmey 5 speed hub. I hardly use it since I'm in love with the Nexus 3 speed. However, these are some of my observations.

1. Learn how to put on the rear wheel -- I know this sounds strange for for some reason, a flat forced me to the LBS because there is a method to putting on the rear wheel for this hub! I never had trouble with 3 or 7 speed but the Sturmey 5 requires a certain procedure or the hub will keep slipping!

2. Find out what gear your most comfortable riding with a load --- I've never rode the bike loaded but whatever gear you do find it easy to ride loaded is important. I ride the bike 95% of the time in 3rd gear at 54 inches. This gives me two high and two low gears. Since you are touring, maybe a low fourth gear that you can ride in all the time might be better. This will give you 3 low gears and one high.

3. You won't save much weight from the Nexus 8 --- The Sturmey 5 speed looks about as big as the Nexus 8 and probably close in weight. I guess this is the main reason you'll find most hub geared bikes in either 3, 7 or 8 speed.

tcs

Aftermarket Sturmeys typically come in a "kit" that includes pretty much everything: hub, cog, spacers, anti-rotation washers, shift cable, housing, some clips and/or guides, and a shifter [usually (but not always) a twist grip]. The Sturmey five speed doesn't have a particular orientation of the shift cable exit, so the anti rotation washers that come with the kit should be fine. Sturmey catalogs an HMW534 "anti-rotation washer for vertical dropout" which has a bit beefier tab but curiously doesn't have any different orientation between the tab and slot than any of their of their other anti-rotation washers.

fietsbob

Sturmey axle end is flattened , their anti rotation washer extends that flatness a little bit..


Rohloff has a lot more torque windup,* so a beefy stops are in their design ..

*compound reduction gears. 1~7 is a run through of 8~ 14 in a second reduction gear.

7 is high of the low range, 8 is low in the high range..