Talk:Sturmey-Archer

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General improvements to this article needed
This article is surprisingly limited in scope. I know there are lots of enthusiasts with a wealth of knowledge and i expected that to be represented here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.22.205.228 (talk) 08:56, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

The article about a company could be improved by limiting most of the technical jargon or alphabet soup of the manufacturer's numerous model numbers of its products, past and present. Perhaps a more generic and plain vocabulary narrative would be an improvement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.183.224.2 (talk) 22:45, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

Sunrace improvements to 3-speed hub
The recent additions to the gear hubs section, describing updates and improvements to the 3-speed hub since the Sunrace takeover, contains facts. However, they're unsupported and need reliable citations. I'm in the middle of moving right now, and so don't have ready access to my Sturmey material, but I'm not the only one with the relevant material. I've also made a minor tweak to the description of the no-drive position between Normal and High on the AW — "plagued" was not a NPOV word. Remember, years ago Sturmey-Archer produced a "N.I.G." ("No Intermediate Gear") version of the AW for a particular customer, though at the moment I can't remember who bought them from S-A. —Scheinwerfermann (talk) 17:18, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

I've dismantled an S-RF3 and a "traditional" AW. The S-RF3 has three sets of pawls like early Sturmey hubs (the additional set are in the driver assembly). Having a third set of pawls eliminates the problem of the hub jamming or destroying itself when the planet cage and gear ring are simultaneously engaged by the clutch. The AW, and all similar hubs of its era, avoided this by having a position along the dog clutch's travel where it neither engaged the planet pins nor the gear ring splines. All modern Taiwanese AWs also have no "neutral" position. Rogerzilla (talk) 12:28, 27 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Article says:"'SunRace Sturmey Archer have improved the design and manufacture in many respects; compared to the old AW hub, the current 3-speed equivalent (SRF3) now has an aluminium alloy shell for lighter weight, and reduced spoke breakage due to aluminium being softer allowing the spoke to seat into the flange and disperse the stress at the bend in the spoke over a wider area.'"This is cited to The Art of Wheelbuilding by Schraner, 1999 and The Bicycle Wheel by Brandt, 1893 (!!! Typo?), which is frankly extremely confusing as these sources precede the 2000 sale of the company and any obvious meaning of the term "current". Can this please be fixed? -- 201.37.230.43 (talk) 13:59, 11 August 2009 (UTC)


 * If the article is to say SunRace Sturmey Archer has made improvements, then it has to be backed by a source which says SunRace Sturmey Archer have done so, otherwise it's original research. 94.197.208.110 (talk) 05:36, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Apparent vandalism - perhaps a consensus is required.
I have twice reverted an IP only editor's [register editor snobbishness!] removal of a swathe of links from this page considering that to be vandalism, and warning the editor accordingly. It appears that the editor now considers my removal reversion to be vandalism and has warned me. Oh joy! If this continues I see very little other course of action than to ask for a consensus to be built on the links removed and the reversion of the removal.

What is likely is that some of the links should be removed, but that others add value to the article. What would be best is if a cycling components expert took this in hand. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 23:02, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I would leave these links. There may be valid arguments to remove some of them.  Some of these link to each other, and some may be a little bit redundant, but all present good sources of more detailed information on this topic that I doubt will be included in this article. Mork the delayer (talk) 17:34, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Other bicycle components from SA
While not their most famous products, Sturmey-Archer made other bike bits: a Raleigh I have from about the early '80s has Sturmey Archer rims and even reflectors. Might it be worth mentioning that they went through a stage of making components other than gear hubs? Walkingmelways (talk) 12:31, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Provided you can find citations for them I think you should go right ahead. Photos of the items would be interesting as well. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 13:54, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Sturmey-Archer SW Hubs
The brief story of the Sturmey-Archer SW series medium-flange wide-ratio 3-speed hub provides strong substantiation of the merits of the AW design.

Sturmey-Archer Gears Ltd. designed the type SW Mk. 1 medium-flange wide-ratio 3-speed hub in 1954 and began production in 1956, intending it to replace the AW series of large-flange hubs.

Compared to the AW's 25% reduction in 1st gear, direct-drive 2nd gear, and 33.33% overdrive 3rd gear, the SW offered slightly wider gearing, referred to by Brian Hayes as "super-wide" gearing, with 27.7% reduction for 1st gear, direct-drive 2nd, and taller 38.4% overdrive 3rd gear.

Smaller and lighter than an AW hub, the SW has fewer parts and was thought to be less costly to manufacture than the AW series that had been in continuous production since 1936.

The unique crescent-shaped pawls with springless, centrifigual engagement turned out to have slow shifting and slippage issues even when a gear was fully engaged, especially if the hub had not been continually supplied with fresh 10W oil. Production of the SW series ceased after just two years, 1956-57.

Fortunately, Sturmey-Archer had maintained a reduced rate of AW series production during these years to aid cycle makers in the tranisiton: by 1958 they had resumed previous levels of AW production. After the failure of the SW in the market and the re-commitment to the AW that Sturmey-Archer began to widely license the design, with fully-interchangeable clones eventually being made under laels including J.C. Higgins, Sears, Austro-Daimler, Brampton, SunTour, and others.

Williapm (talk) 23:26, 6 September 2011 (UTC) 3:00 PM, 6 September 2011
 * I have added this material to the article. Keanu (talk) 08:45, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Citations needed
This article needs more citations. Possible sources include the works of Tony Hadland, Frank Berto, and Sheldon Brown/John Allen. Acwilson9 (talk) 06:19, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
 * per WP:V, inline citations are only expected for quotations and controversial claims. Andrew🐉(talk) 17:01, 25 April 2020 (UTC)