Well, all it takes to convert the S3X into a "standard" 3-speed hub is to spin on a single-speed freewheel (or a White Industries Dos Eno 2-speed). The hub is splined for standard Sturmey Archer cogs, but also threaded (BSC) to accept a freewheel.
While this is totally conjecture on my part, my gut tells me that the lack of pawls in the S3X--and the fact that it is made for fixed gear riding--makes it more durable. The White Industries Eno freewheel I put on should be extremely reliable, and it can be rebuilt fairly easily if anything does break (S-A hubs are much harder to get into and repair). So far, it's working like a dream. Shifting is easier than in fixed gear mode, because the bike coasts. Gearing for my current setup (46x16) is: 77-58-46 Go down to a 44T chainring, and you'll get 73-55-44 I'll keep everyone apprised of any news about the setup. As I said, so far, so good. --Eric campyonly...@me.com www.campyonly.com www.wheelsnorth.org Blog: http://campyonlyguy.blogspot.com Twitter: @campyonlyguy On May 13, 2013, at 8:26 PM, charlie <cl_v...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Explain this again......you used a three speed SA fixed gear hub with a > freewheel and it shifts similar to a regular three speed internal hub but > presumably it should be more reliable due to less internal stuff going on? I > have SimpleOne and while I have a double/double set up or a DD if you will, > I would enjoy shifting on the fly. School me yo..... > > On Monday, May 13, 2013 11:11:28 AM UTC-7, Eric Norris wrote: > As you may know, I selected my original production Quickbeam to ride my 30th > Davis Double Century this past weekend. I've always enjoyed riding the QB, > which aside from a very brief period with a Sturmey-Archer 8-speed hub has > always been a fixed gear. > > For the DC this year, I changed up the QB a bit, spinning a one-speed White > Industries freewheel onto the Sturney-Archer S3X three-speed-fixed-gear hub > that was already on the bike. To deal with the larger cog size (standard > single-speed freewheels don't come smaller than 16T), I also put a 44T > chainring on the stock SR crankset. > > First thought about this setup: It works great. Shifting was flawless, and > the hub is absolutely silent while pedaling. By comparison, the 8-speed hub > made clicking noise while pedaling, while coasting … all the time. It was a > bit annoying. The S3X also locks up the internals in the top gear (1:1 > drive), making it very efficient. I'm hoping that, since there are no pawls > inside the hub, it should be even more reliable than a standard 3-speed hub. > (The middle and low gears, by the way, are 75% and 60% of the top gear. On > Saturday's ride, the climbing never got steeper than about 10%, and even then > just for short pitches. I dropped into the middle gear a few times, but I did > more than 90% of the ride in a 44x16 gear.) > > Second thought is how nice it was to have 700x28 tires. There are about 4 > miles of hard-packed gravel road on the DC route this year, which gave me no > trouble at all. I can imagine some of the go-fast guys out there next week > for the official ride struggling with 700x20 tires. > > I'm planning to change out the crankset to one with a 46T ring this week, > which will address a minor issue of being spun out at fast cruising speeds > with the 44x16. I'll report back on that. > > In the meantime, I'm thoroughly enjoying the QB in its latest incarnation. > With fenders, a Schmidt hub, great lighting, and now gears and coasting, this > is a great randonneuring machine. > > --Eric Norris > campyo...@me.com > www.campyonly.com > campyonlyguy.blogspot.com > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
