In a message dated 4/29/02 10:48:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time, magpie@messengers.org writes:
<< on the other side of this coin, i have to pipe up in defense of those of us who ride major miles, on nasty pavement, and dont break axles.
im a bike messenger. i do 15000 miles a year on my work bike. my rear hub? 1950s era alloy-body sturmey-archer AW. in 4 years on this bike, rotating through 4 of these hubs (due to toasted rims or torn hub flanges, never due to problems with the internals, mind you), with dropouts that may well be misaligned now, but weren't post-build (its a custom bike) ive had exactly *zero* axles break. in fact, i cant remember the last time i broke an axle on *any* of my bikes. im 6'1", 175 lbs, and i ride the work bike with loads of up to 200 lbs (beyond my body weight). all of this in downtown san francisco, with some of the nastiest pavement ive encountered outside of eastern europe.
trust me, my axles are subjected to worse stuff than yours :)
>>
Does the sturmey hub have any overhang like the 126.5mm Campy set up? Another
part of the earlier thread is that solid, nutted axles are under tension, not
compression. It's almost impossible to bend an axle under tension,
particularly if there is no overhang as on a track hub, or I suspect, your
Sturmey. Your many miles shows you have chosen your equipment well.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA