The Coldest Days of the Year

 Not much bike riding action this time of year in western New England. It's cold, there's snow around, and then there's the corrosive road salts that just stay on the road for weeks on end. 

So my activities are: fixing up bike parts indoors to prepare for the season, skiing, skating, and jogging. Even when you can't ride, you have to stay active. I even have a 10-speed Raleigh Grand Prix on a trainer in my basement for when I want to practice riding, even if it's stationary. 

1930s Sturmey Archer Hub Set, Shifter, Pulley

 It has been awhile since I last posted anything here, but I'm still active. The bikes are put away for now, until better weather and the road salt are gone. 

Winter is at least an opportunity to fix parts and small items. I recently acquired a really interesting 1930s hub set: a 1937 Sturmey Archer Model K hub, black-out Sturmey quadrant shifter, black-out pulley, and a Sturmey "Mark II" Dynohub.

So I've set about restoring them to working condition. The Model K apparently had water in the bearings and perhaps in the center of the hub for some time, which meant the need to replace the cones, bearings, and clean the innards. Unfortunately, I do not have an unused set of Model K bearings, so I used AW bearings. Thankfully they work. 

One interesting feature of the late-model K is that the non-drive side has two dust covers between which a grease-laden felt washer is used to hold the oil in the hub. With the switch to the AW-style bearings with metal dust caps and grease seals, the felt-related items are removed and stored. The old cones are also set aside because they differ from the AW, and are at least worth keeping as an example of 1930s-era Sturmey Model K technology. More instructions on the Model K are found HERE, in this nice article by Jim Gill.

 

The Mark II Dynohub is also quite interesting. According to Tony Hadland's The Hub of the Universe, the Mark II was a short-lived upgrade to the original, large Dynohub of the 1930s. The Mark II was only briefly made before the Dynohub was upgraded yet again in the late 1930s. This Mark II does not have any year inscribed on the shell, and only has a "Mark II" on it. The side of the hub is rather nicely decorated, though some of the text has faded.

Of course the hubset would not be complete with a proper shifter and pulley. I disassembled and restored this "black out" quadrant shifter that is a perfect match for the Model K. I also cleaned and oil the old black pulley to go with it. I do not have the cable, but custom making a quadrant shifter cable is not difficult using brass tubing and an old Bell Systems crimper to set the ends.

 Winter weather may not be pleasant for riding, but at least it gives a chance to clean and repair old Sturmey artifacts like these.