Beginner's Guide: Selecting a Vintage Sturmey Archer Hub

 

 One thing I have been asked in the past, and that still occasionally comes up, is what kind of old Sturmey hub a beginner should look for when getting started in vintage bikes. 

The best choice for the beginner: Sturmey AW Three Speed

No surprise here: I suggest a Sturmey AW three speed hub. 

I suggest these hubs because they usually work reasonably well, the cog can be swapped on them fairly easily, replacement parts are generally around still, and many local bike shops can still help you with them if you get into too much trouble. They certainly are not perfect, but they are a good entry point for the beginner. 

 The beginner also will probably never totally "grow out" of these hubs because of they are so adaptable and can be used on so many different bicycles. I've been fixing old bicycles for around 27-28 years now, and I still ride a Sturmey AW of some sort or another more than any other hub.

If I had to suggest a starting date for the hub, I suggest a 1953 hub or later because that is around that time, the hubs go from a threaded driver to a splined driver, which allows the beginner to more easily put a larger cog onto the hub. A 20 or 22 tooth cog is a good idea in many cases.

 

If you have an older AW from between 1936 and 1953, you're still in luck. You can swap the threaded driver to a splined driver and have a relatively easy cog swap. You also can get a shop to unthread your 18-tooth cog and thread-on a larger cog if you need one. 

AW hubs from the 1930s through the 1960s are of generally very good quality. During the 1960s the hubs experienced cost-cutting measures and gradually began to lose some quality. The 1970s-80s era hubs aren't quite as nice internally as the earlier hubs, but are still generally good and reliable hubs.

 

Four Speeds and Five Speeds: FW and S5 Hubs

There is a certain temptation for beginners to jump immediately to hubs with a "higher cachet" in the vintage bike community, or hubs that have "more gears". The FW and S5 hubs are certainly good hubs, but the AW is a better starting point when you are first getting into old bikes.

The FW four speed offers an extra climbing gear ("bottom gear") compared to the AW three speed. However, the four speed has a somewhat lower top gear, which means the rider may over-rev a bit more going down faster hills. The bigger issue for the beginner with the FW is that it requires a shifter that can accommodate the extra gear. Shifting into bottom gear while riding can also be tricky for the beginner, and when shifting out of bottom gear, there is the problem of high cable tension and stress on the shifter. Finally, parts on these hubs can be harder to find than the AW. In sum, these are great hubs, but some of the quirks make them a bit less user-friendly than the AW.

The Sturmey S5 hub is also a good hub, but a bit more complicated than the AW. The S5 uses a two-sided shifter arrangement, which the beginner may find a bit more confusing than the AW. These hubs also are becoming harder to find, and the parts are also getting to be harder to find when you need them. They offer a wonderful range of gearing, and they make a great "second stop" after the user is comfortable with riding and working on the AW three speed. Some riders customize their bikes by upgrading the AW to an S5 after they have been in the hobby for awhile.   

Dynohubs and Drum Brakes Can Add Complications

Sturmey made a number of different variations of the AW and FW line of hubs, including hubs that combined the gear mechanism with hub drum brakes and hub dynamos. It may be tempting to think of these hubs as nothing more than the AW/FW with a brake or dynamo attached, but internally the parts vary in some places from the plainer AW and FW models. This is because getting everything into the hub shell with the additional complication of a brake or dynamo required some parts changes. 

These make fun hubs to tinker with, but I suggest sticking to a plain AW first, and then perhaps the plain FW as a "next step". After you have fiddled enough with the AW and FW to be comfortable, then move onto the hubs with brakes and dynamos.

 

Multispeed Coasters: S3C Tricoaster and TCW Series

While Sturmey had a "winner" with the old school AW hub, the old coaster three speeds are somewhat more problematic. These hubs require some parts that are becoming harder to find, and there are some inherent weakness in the designs that cause problems later on (e.g., weak clips, oil-grease migration issues, etc.). 

These hubs are not awful necessarily, but they can be a headache when they develop problems. Many bike shops also will not touch these because they're kind of more obscure than the common AW for an unfamiliar mechanic.  

 

My suggestion is that if you need a three speed coaster brake hub, go with something like a new model SRC3 hub. The parts are more readily available and many of the problems that would come up on the old hubs have been sorted out in the new hubs. If you get in over your head as a beginner, a shop is also more likely to work on the SRC3 than the old SC3 or TCW series hubs. 

On the other hand, if you are an experienced Sturmey Archer hobbyist, the old coaster hubs can offer an interesting challenge and they are original on some classic bikes sold in the US market (Americans loved coaster brakes). But if you are a beginner, you may find the old coaster three speeds frustrating.

 

 Older and More Obscure Hubs

There is probably some temptation to try to get as old and obscure a bike as can be found. For rarity reasons, old and obscure bikes tend to get more attention from collectors when those machines turn up. This brings into play very old Sturmey Model X hubs, Model K hubs, Tricoaster Model S hubs, etc. While these are interesting old hubs, I suggest the beginner avoid them. The parts are difficult to find, repairs can be difficult, and your local shop probably won't touch them. If you want to own an old hub just to have around for the fun of it, by all means grab one of these old hubs. But I suggest leaving the riding and repair of these old hubs for a time when you have gained more experience.