I recently found a Sturmey FW at Cirque (Thanks so much to Charlie Young) and am awaiting the servicing of this fine hub. I was interested in how it might be combined with other fifties shifting systems for my 1953 Carlton, so that I might experiment with early gearing. I've been fascinated with a two speed freewheel for the Sturmey hub, but don't know much about them. Would someone please post, either on or off list how the cogs may be mounted to the 3 pin cogged hubshell of a Sturmey Archer hub? And what combinations, brand, etc. that worked for this period setup? And finally, would anyone have one of these freewheels for sale?
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA
Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/
Good catch, Wes! I hadn't thought of that.
Wes Gadd wrote: A Sturmey Archer FW with a 16/18 combo (as is usually supplied with the Benelux comversion ) works as a nice half step setup, giving 8 discreet and well spaced gears. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Wes's comment piqued my interest, so I checked the old Sturmey manual. Wes nailed it for the more common "FW" or wide-geared S/A 4-speed, since 18/16 ~ 1.12, or 12% step-up. The FW has increase from 3 (normal, with 1:1 ratio) to top of 26.6%, and step-downs of -21.1% and -33.3%.
Of course, for the Club Rider with the rare "FM" medium range model, one might prefer something like a 17/16 or the rare 15/14, since the FM gears were 12.5% up, and -14.3% and -33%. So even there, the Cyclo would give a useful additional bottom gear, but just be replicative above that.
harvey sachs
mcLean va usa