At 13:34 7/10/2001 +0000, jackieosullivan@att.net wrote:
>Garth wonders about weight issues. Many years ago, I
>acquired (and cannot find anywhere, although I suspect
>it will someday resurface) a Sturmey-Archer hub with an
>aluminum body. I remember it being dated late 50's or
>early 60's. It was a beautiful piece, and markedly
>lighter (or at least it seemed so) than its steel-
>shelled siblings.
These were called "Light alloy" shells, and the really cool unit was the "Sturmey 4-speed Medium Range alloy hub." That would have been a model FM with alloy shell (12.5% increase, 14.3% and 33.3% decrease). there was also an "FC close ratio" with 9.1% increas, 10% and 25% decrease.
>Also, didn't SA make a 5-speed for a brief moment in
>time or am I delusional?
Yes. Two triggers, one on each side.
>A shop I used to work at--Marblehead Cycle--had a brisk
>business in SA rebuilding. I remember learning how to
>enter that daunting universe of planetary gears--so
>elegant. The old money in Marblehead road classic
>Raleighs, and--unless the hubs got gooped up with 3-in-
>one oil, the only service they ever really needed was
>new pawl springs, and very occasionally pawls.
>
>Another flash-from-the-past: who else out there went to
>Schwinn School? Three days of taking stuff apart and
>putting it back together. I had a leg up because I had
>already done coaster brakes and internally geared hubs
>(did not endear me to the boys ;-)
>
>Jackie "I want my aluminum SA hub!" O'Sullivan
#### You'll pry my ASC light alloy 3-speed fixed gear (10% and 25% decrease from top = direct) out of my cold dead hands... I ride on that unit. In winter. And I regularly strip it to keep it alive.
harvey sachs (can't say where I live this time :-)
harvey