Alternative Sturmey Archer shifters?

[kukamunga]

Hi. I would like to utilise a Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed hub in a possible bike build up for my son when he gets a bit older. I was wondering if there is any alternative to the SA shifter? Something common that I am likely to find in my 'junk' collection?

I'm hoping that there might be some type of indexed Shimano or other shifter that pulls the same amount of cable per gear as a SA, whether it be twistgrip, ezi-fire, rapidfire, thumbie, down tube, bar end, STI, accushift, 5/6/7/8/9/10 speed......

Any ideas ?

And do old Shimano 3 speed hub shifters pull the same amount of cable per gear as a SA?

Cheers

[531db]

Hi. I would like to utilise a Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed hub in a possible bike build up for my son when he gets a bit older. I was wondering if there is any alternative to the SA shifter? Something common that I am likely to find in my 'junk' collection?

I'm hoping that there might be some type of indexed Shimano or other shifter that pulls the same amount of cable per gear as a SA, whether it be twistgrip, ezi-fire, rapidfire, thumbie, down tube, bar end, STI, accushift, 5/6/7/8/9/10 speed......

Any ideas ?

And do old Shimano 3 speed hub shifters pull the same amount of cable per gear as a SA?


Cheers

OK, with a SA AW, you only need a '2 click shifter as in top (high) gear the actual cable is slack, ie you only need two indexed positions for 'normal' and 'low' gears.
I've seen people use Shimano/Suntour 6/7 speed indexed shifters on SA gears, I'm just not sure if they go 1 or 2 or more 'clicks' between the SA gears.

531db.

[eucryphia]

Be careful with older Sturmey Archer AW 3 speeds.

He shouldn't stand up on the pedals in top gear, it may slip and he'll go over the handlebars, very scary.

There was a huge war over this on the old usenet... rec.cycling ?

Some agreed with Sturmey Archer and blamed it on the RHS cone adustment, some blamed a design fault.

[Kid_Carbine]

Sturmey Archer released the AW hub back in about 1936. It replaced the near identical K hub which had been in production since the 20's. The Aw was still available well into the 70's & for all I know, may still be in production.

If there was a 'design fault' I think it would have become pretty evident by now.
I'm not a great fan of Sturmey Archer hub gears but I've overhauled enough of them to know that as long as it is in sound mechanical condition & is correctly adjusted in alll respects, there is no problem & yes, I still use two of them.
I toured around the local area many times with my [then] under 2 year old son in the baby seat on the back of my ABC equiped [3 sped with drum brake] Speedwell & many is the time I stood on the pedals in any of the three gears.
Make sire it's serviceable & correctly adjusted & you will have no problem with it at all.

[mikeg]

I agree with KC if correctly adjusted then you should be fine.

I had only a SA 3-speed 60's build AW in my teens, I would stand, then sit each gear going up through the gears due to the gear spacing.

In the SA models of the AW there was a neutral position, IIRC, between 2nd and 3rd. I think the SRAM/Sachs equivalent eliminated this.

Mine had a dual cog (16 and 18 tooth) on the hub, so I added a rear derailer which gave me one additional higher over the 3 on the 18 tooth cog.

Edit: Sun Race purchased Sturmey Archer a few years ago.

[kukamunga]

The fifty-four year old AW hub on this bike seems to work fine...

I have a few other older SA/ Shimano/ SunTour 3 speed hub equipped bikes around, but I assume Sturmey Archer were the best of these hubs?