Sturmey Archer Three Speed Shifters - Another Variation of the "Upside Down" Shifter

The evolution of Sturmey Archer post-war shifters is well-documented. If you have not already, take a look at Martin Hanczyc's well-written summary on post-war shifters. Available HERE.

Mr. Hancyzc calls the non-window, "upside down" style shifter the "GC3B". The above shifters are examples.

But you may have noticed something - those shifters are not exactly the same. One has brown accents on it, with a slightly different font. Let's take a closer look and see that there are, in fact, several variations of GC3B.

The typical GC3B is shown below - black and red accents, and a fairly fine font for the lettering.

 

Now, let's take a look at the "variant" - a shifter with brown accents and a slightly bolder font.

 Notice on this brown variant how the patent lettering is bolder at the top, and how the "England" is also bolder at the bottom. The numbers are also a little bolder along the side. The "3 Speed" to the right also is larger than on the multi-color version. The contours on the shifter lever are also a little different - the lever is slightly larger and flatter than on the multi-color version.

One thing you cannot see, is that the brown shifter takes the screw-in cable end, while the multi-color  shifter above takes the later, slip-in type cable end. The brown shifter is a slightly earlier shifter than the multi-color.

What to make of this? It turns out that there are several versions of the GC3B "upside down" shifter of the late 1950s. There is the common, multi-color version with thinner writing and a shorter lever, but there is also the "brown" version with the longer lever and bolder writing on the face. Functionally, these shifters are similar, though the brown version has the screw-in type cable end and the multi-color uses the slip-in cable end. 

We have seen yet another variation of Sturmey Archer shifters from after WWII, during the 1950s. An additional thank you to Mr. Hanczyc for taking the time to put together his excellent summary on the shifters. Check out the link at the start of this article for more information on these wonderful bike parts.

Winding Down the Riding Season

 We're into the last week or so of the core riding season. Typically for me, the season "ends" when the clocks change during the first weekend in November. I may get a couple more rides in on warm weekend days, but my nightly rides after work finish up the last week in October or the first week in November. The clocks change early this year - November 2nd to 3rd. 

The start of this week was dry but cool. We're supposed to have some warmer weather (perhaps record warmth) later this week. 

 

I took out my 1964 Schwinn Traveler to start the week. I've been enjoying this bike more ever since I fiddled with the handlebar and saddle fit a little. It's a good, solid rider.

Pictures from a Warm Autumn Week...

 No complaints about the weather this week - very warm and very dry. I don't recall it ever being this dry in October. I've been riding every evening that I have some free time. This week, I've been out on the 1964 Schwinn Traveler and the 1970 Raleigh DL-1. The only downside of this weather is that the roads have become very dusty (see final photo with the DL-1 - that's a road dust cloud ahead).