Red kiosk, aka Jim, sent me an exerpt from somewhere on the internet, written by a guy in the UK who has had some experience with the S3X hub. See the comments from my last post to get up to speed.
I found his comments interesting, and largely agree with his assessment of the Way Things Are. However, I have had no hint of the dangers of "neutrals" in the hub while shifting up or down, or in standing on the pedals. As you may remember, I have been wary of the possibility of the hub slipping out of gear and sending me on an endo while standing. This used to cause me some concern, but so far, the thing has been rock-solid. You do have to be ready for the shifts, and anticipate the changes in pedal speed, for sure. You do not want to downshift too early at high RPMs.
I had to loosen the locknuts on both of my hubs in order to adjust the axles to fit my 126mm frame. The silver hub was set up to 130mm and the black one was 120mm. I had to add or subtract spacers in order to fit. This caused the cones to loosen on both, and I had to readjust them as best I could. I will take Roger's advice, and research the SA adjustment specs. He does say one thing that rather confuses me. He says that after adjustment you want "... some play at the rim..." At the rim? I don't know what that means. I'm looking at lash at the pedal, but maybe he's locking the pedal and measuring the # of degrees the wheel moves in slack? Any ideas?
I also agree that you want somewhere between 80-90 gear inches in the top gear. I have something in the mid 80s, and would like a bit more. However, my town has massive hills and the bottom gear doesn't quite cut it, as is, so I'll have to live with it. I may even put a bigger cog on, if I can't get fit enough to climb the last leg home without fear of stroking out. The dragginess of the lower gears I have mentioned and Roger mentions seems to be Not a Problem. I have not noticed any significant drag since I've learned how and when to shift.
This hub rocks. I am having a great time riding it, and don't miss my Paramount fixie one bit. If you can, and you think you'd like the flexibility of 3 gears, get one. You won't be sorry. Like the sage said: "If you have to ask why, you'll never understand."
I have been thinking about putting the second wheelset on the Paramount, or maybe my classic Mercian frame? Blasphemy? Who cares?
Thanks for participating in the discussion. I do appreciate it and hope that we can be of help to anyone interested. Any comments are welcome! Don't be shy! Let us know what you think and what you know.
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That would be me, then. When I say "play at the rim", I'm referring to sideways play. On a SA hub, you never adjust it all out - there should be the very slightest "rocking" possible when the wheel is in the frame.
ReplyDeleteI have my S3X in bits at the moment; when I've cleaned it up I'll post some pictures. It is an exceedingly simple mechanism and no-one should be afraid to dive in (you'll need some small circlip pliers and the SA ball ring spanner: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-Sturmey-Archer-Sturmey-Archer-C-Spanner-for-Hub-Gear-Internals-2805.htm
Ahhh, I see. Not end-play, but a bit of slop that allows a slight tilt in the axle. Thanks for the information!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I didn't see this comment earlier. I have to fix the settings to notify me when someone comments.
Cheers,
Vance
Rogerzilla is right about the 1-2 shift being weak. Mine sheared off after 2 months use. SA says the early shifters can slip out of indexing and cause damage. SA sent me a new internal and shifter, which I appreciate very much, advising me to use the brake when stopping instead of stepping it down through the drive train. So I guess I have to stop skidding, which is why I'm going back to real fixed gear. Did I mention I'm really disappointed?
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess we have different requirements and expectations for our hubs. I never would have expected that the hub could hold up to skidding. That just seems unreasonable, given the rather delicate nature of internal hubs.
ReplyDeleteThese and other hubs, other than the Rohloff, are not even recommended for uses that would put heavy stresses on the pedals, like mountain biking.
As I said before, getting three gears on a fixie is all about compromises.
Vance
It's not like I spend all my time skidding, mind you. But I think a hub billed as fixed gear should be able to hold up to at least the same amount of pressure in the reverse direction as you can apply going forward. Next they'll say you can't stand up on the pedals when you accelerate.
ReplyDeleteI've built my own fixed gear multi-speed hubs out of SRAM 3 and 5 speed hubs, and they didn't break, and I rode them pretty doggone hard. You can read about them in my articles on the FGG.
I just looked at your P5 conversion article. Is it that much better than the S3X? Is this something you'd recommend doing instead?
ReplyDeleteI don't have the need to skid or go without a front brake, so I'm good with the SA hub, so far. But it would be of interest to me and others out there if there was a more robust option that works well. Also, I didn't study it, but it sounds like you might have more gear choice when setting it up. Is that right?
Thanks for your input!
Vance
I am vary interested in these SRAM conversions but excuse me if this is a silly question but what is the FGG and or where can I find these articles
ReplyDeleteGraham Webster's articles are in the fixedgeargallery.com techarticles section. Scroll waaaay down.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that you need a special part that must be fabricated in order to do the conversion. I believe Graham might make them? Or possibly there's a drawing of one so you can get one made? I don't remember...
Vance