K type Sturmey hubs were introduced in 1922 - up until 1932 they had sequential serial number - a few late ones appear to have a KK prefix rather than a single K. In 1932 they started identifying all their hubs with a single digit for the year. This continued until 1940. Hub production completely ceased by the end of 1942 but there are hubs with no number which are thought to date from 1941-2. Post war they were numbered with the digits for month and the last two digits of the year.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
> From: sam lingo <frameteam2003@yahoo.com>
> Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:50:00 -0800 (PST)
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]SA hub date--letters
>
>
>
> n the '30s they used a single digit for the year, but they had a
> Y1.94K problem so they had to go do two digits.
>
> Pre WW2 Sturmey-Archer hubs are quite uncommon on this side of the
> Atlantic.
>
> Sheldon "All Generalizations Are False" Brown
> And just to muddy up the waters--I have a K hub that only has the letter A
> ---and K hubs came out in 1932.Prior to this the tri-coaster hub was offered
> on several american bikes of the teens,even built in the USA for a short time
> during WW1.Still as Sheldon points out---quite uncommon.
> sam lingo,pleasanton tx
>
>
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