Opinions on Sturmey Archer and other gear hubs

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two spot

two spot

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I'm thinking of adding more gears to my Felt MP. I have sort of narrowed my choices for hubs between a 7 speed Shimano Nexus w/coaster brake and an 8 speed Sturmey Archer with drum brake. Can anyone share any opinions on either of these hubs? I have heard the Sturmey Archer has bigger gear "jumps" between 1-2 and 7-8. How about reliability and ease of shifting-- stuff like that? would love to hear some thoughts. Of course if anyone thinks I should go with a different hub all together I would be interested in hearing that too. My only experience with internal gears so far has been with Shimano 3 speeds.

Thanks.

Regards,

Two Spot
 
I used the Shimano 7 speed on a Western Flyer recently. After lacing the wheel, the installation was easy. The shift cable on mine was pre-adjusted! I just hooked it into the hub and it shifts all 7 perfectly. I changed the front sprocket to a 40 tooth which seemed to be the best ratio for all gears with the weight of this bike. There seems to be no large jumps in ratios when shifting thru the 7. Very smooth. No experience with the Sturney 8.
Good luck!
 
Thanks for the response Mitch. I am still trying to decide what to do. Finding places to purchase internal gear hubs seems to be a bit difficult. I have been looking over Sheldon Brown dot com to try to get some ides on what would be the best setup for my use. Still hoping someone has something to share on the Sturmey Archer X-RD8.

Regards,
 
+1 on the noise of the SA 8 speed! I currently run regularly a Nexus 7 speed, Nexus 8 speed and the Sturmey Archer 8 speed and by far my favorite is the Nexus 8 speed. It is quiet, shifts very nicely and the gears are spread evenly. I don't think you can go wrong with a Nexus 7 or Nexus 8 IMHO. I would steer away from the Sturmey Archer 8 speed.
 
The Sturmey is good for the price, but had a lot of caveats. I own one. It is noisy, probably could use more grease in it. The gear ratios are nice, actually, works better than you'd think it would. However, just the hub is around 5 pounds, and you have to use a tiny chainring (or small wheel). Look into the Sram 9-speed as a possibility. Of course, if you're going for the retro drum brake thing, you'll find a way to make it work :)

Sent from my Galaxy Tab using Tapatalk
 
Thanks guys. I really appreciate the advice. Just minutes after I posted I was looking at the 8 speed Nexus on Amazon. It also weighs 5 pounds but it has the gear ratios that I think would be good for a heavy bike like the MP. So I am going to take your recommendations and go for the Nexus 8 coaster brake. I do want to stick with retro braking maybe a front drum too. I don't want to do v brakes because I want to put painted rims on and a disk brake just seems wildly inappropriate for this bike's old school styling.

What do you all think of the Sturmey Archer XL-FD front drum hub?

The plan is to remove the stock wheels entirely from the MP. I have a set of 2.5" wide superfat rims from Cycles US. The superfats are wider than the stock felt rims but they can still fit a regular 2.125 tire. I will paint the hubs and the rims to match the matte OD green of the MP and then lace em up with black spokes. The wheels and three speed transmission from the Felt will then go on My Schwinn with a suicide shift-- that's what I'm thinking right now anyways.

Here's a couple shots. So far the mods are basic. I converted the MP saddle cylinder bag to a semi hard case added a stem riser to improve the comfort a bit. An Electra cylinder bag with custom MP badge rides on the bars up front. Military medic and ammo bags finish out the front and rear racks.

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Regards,
 
Maybe one day I'll put an electric motor on it but for now it will stay human powered so thanks for the tip on the X-FD. Actually the Amazon reviews say that the X-FD is the same diameter as the stock Felt Hub. I just pulled the trigger on the 8 speed nexus coaster brake. :D

Regards,
 
I used a Nexus 7 hub for Flex-Liner 7 and love it. I was able to easily use and old school muscle bike 5 speed shifter for it and the only mod I had to make to the shifter was to break off the rear detent stop to give it move cable travel.

aIMG_8153.jpg
 

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