Hub Gears

Brixton Cycles are experienced in repairs to all makes of hub gears (although some spares to older model Sturmey Archers are now very rare). We can also advise on fitting hub gears and brakes to existing bikes.A hub gear makes a lot of sense on a town bike, there are less exposed parts to get grubby, the chain lasts longer (a chain guard can be fitted as well) and being able to change gear whist stationary is a bonus.

Epicyclic gears

(the method by which hub gears get their ratios) have been used on bicycles for over a hundred years, either fitted in the frame (bottom bracket) or in the more commonly used hub. It was only in the 1950’s that derailleur gears became popular and that was only with racing cyclists, every day cyclists and tourists usually relied on a three speed hub (or four gear if you were flash). With the popularity of mountain bikes in the 80’s suddenly all bikes readily available had to have massive gear ranges with most ratios unsuitable for every day riding unless you rode over a mountain every day. Derailleurs were the only way to obtain such a wide range and hub gears fell out of favour with the public and the trade.

A modern 27-gear bicycle is a fantastic thing gears shift effortlessly and every thing is smooth and efficient: whilst everything is kept clean, lube and not to worn. Most of the ratios will be outside of the normal riders day to day requirements, A top gear for 30 mph and a low gear less than walking pace. A well made hub gear will be nearly as efficient as a derailleur system and will get smoother the more it is used and it’s available ratios will be more in line with what a normal person will use.

The a quite a few on the market now since the interest in city cycling has increased, you can get hubs with 2,3,4,7,8,9,and 14 ratios fitted with coaster brakes, hub brakes or discs with freewheel or fixed wheel, they can retro fitted to many types of bike quite easily or there are more and more off the peg bikes available. The initial outlay will be more than for a derailleur system but over time it will work out a lot cheaper to run. A good chain and gear sprocket will cost around £15,a similar good quality 9-speed chain and sprockets is nearer £60.

These are the one’s we like, fit to customers bikes and have used ourselves for years...

Sturmey Archer

Sturmey Archer hubs have been used on bicycles since 1902 and a three speed hub you can buy today is roughly the same as the ones they have produced since the 1930's,such is their brilliance of design and rugged simplicity.Now based in Taiwan as part of the Sun Race group they have gone from strength to strength making the most of their heritage (even as far as using the old logos) and also developing new products. Check the Sturmey Archer website for full details of all hubs and some wonderful archive material.

Of all their products these are our favourites and the one's we keep in stock as well as all the spares for rebuild and service...

AW

The venerable three speed same as on your Grandad's bike, the same hub that keeps most of the thirdworld moving, almost unchanged since 1932. Steel shell requires some effort to build a good wheel but once it's in it's will run for ever, spares are easy to come by, any of the millions of old hubs out there can provide donor parts, I've take almost new internals out of rusty shopping bikes in the past.

Three ratios:

- a 1:1 gear - (what you would get  if you had a single speed)

- a reduction in gearing of 25% ( your middle gear times 0.75)

- and an increase of gear of 33.3% (your middle gear times 1.33)

what this means in the real world is gear inches of about 45 60 and 80 which can easily be shifted up or down by fitting a new (inexpensive) rear sprocket.

Axle lengths available are 175mm 163mm and 148mm.

S-RF3

Basically an alloy shelled AW, a bit pricier, but lighter and will build a much stronger wheel. Internals and ratios are identical to the AW.

This is the hub that we would recommend for every day use in London.

S3X

Now this is something special. Ever with their fingers on the pulse of fashion Sturmey have brought back something from their 1950's catalogue, a three speed fixed hub.There was a time when all time trialists would be riding multi speed fixed hubs until Mr Campagnolo came along with a working derailleur system and the hubs fell from favour. But now with the growing interest in fixed wheel riding the three speed fixed is back and better than before.

It's not cheap but considering old AWC's sell for big money second hand (if you can find one) it could be a bargain.

The ratios are closer than the AW being: Direct drive, -25% and -37.5% giving gear inches of 52, 63 and 84 for example.This is probably not close enough for the racers out there but will work great as a touring gear set giving a flat gear and one for each up and downhill.

If that whole fixed wheel thing is not you bag then the sprocket carrier will accept a normal single speed freewheel changing the hub into a close ratio three speed freewheeling hub: genius.

They have also provided it with a very nice old school thumbshifter which can be used as a downtube shifter if required. And it comes in many anodised colours.

Shimano Alfine

Designed as an off-road cousin to their basic Nexus hub the Alfine has better sealing, more efficiency, stronger clutching and the ability to use disc brakes. It also has eight ratios which give a much wider range and closer gaps between them than the three speed hubs. An excellent choice for hilly routes or carrying lots of luggage. The better sealing means that service intervals are longer than the Nexus which was always let down by water and muck getting in and ruining the bearings. The Nexus is cheaper but this is worth it in the long run.

The ratios obtained are

1. 0.527:1

2. 0.624:1

3. 0.748:1

4. 0.851:1

5. 1:1

6. 1.223:1

7. 1.419:1

8. 1.615:1

With a 26" wheel 34T chainring and 16T sprocket this gives gear inches of 30-90", more than enough for most uses.

As it was designed for mountain bikes the axle length means it will only fit a 135mm rear end and Shimano make a rather nice chain tensioner to fit it to bikes with vertical dropouts.

Rohloff Speedhub

German company Rohloff have achieved the Holy Grail of hub gears- a hub with a range of gears that matches that of a 27 speed derailleur system.

The 14 ratios of the Speedhub match the 14 actual ratios of a 27 gear almost exactly, except the steps between the gears are all identical with no big jumps at the high end that running small rear sprockets give.

Built with strength and lightness in mind rather than being built down to cost the Rohloff is expensive but  it will outlast an exposed derailleur system many times over. With such a bombproof wide ratio gear set it has become the choice of many world travellers and works superbly on touring bikes as well as mountain bikes that get ridden in all conditions.

Available with disc brake fittings in silver black or red for, with a bolt on axle or quick release for vertical dropouts. 135mm OLD only.

How it compares to a "27 speed" drivetrain.