I've been having several conversations with the slightly eccentric guy who runs my nearest LBS about getting him to build me a steel custom hub-gear based tourer/cyclocross (commutercross?) bike for my commute.
Currently on a 24-speed Kona Dew which with the odd bit of hillage I get on my commute I use about 5 speeds on.
So I reckon a 5-speed hub would suit me perfectly, giving me a slightly bigger range but still plenty of 'options' for speed and cadence when riding.
However he's not so keen on the 5-speeds, and is a HUGE fan of the classic 3-speed Sturmey Archers. He reckons with the lower weight, significantly simpler mechanics I'll get just as good performance and better reliability (and less weight), I'd just have to think of it more like a tweakable single speed and ride like that. But I'm not so sure I'd like it.
He plans to knock up a 3-speed machine some time soon anyway and let me have a go on that, but until then - anyone got any thoughts on the SA 5-speed hubs, or any reasonably available alternatives to hunt down, and how they rate them against the classic 3-speeds?
Currently on a 24-speed Kona Dew which with the odd bit of hillage I get on my commute I use about 5 speeds on.
So I reckon a 5-speed hub would suit me perfectly, giving me a slightly bigger range but still plenty of 'options' for speed and cadence when riding.
However he's not so keen on the 5-speeds, and is a HUGE fan of the classic 3-speed Sturmey Archers. He reckons with the lower weight, significantly simpler mechanics I'll get just as good performance and better reliability (and less weight), I'd just have to think of it more like a tweakable single speed and ride like that. But I'm not so sure I'd like it.
He plans to knock up a 3-speed machine some time soon anyway and let me have a go on that, but until then - anyone got any thoughts on the SA 5-speed hubs, or any reasonably available alternatives to hunt down, and how they rate them against the classic 3-speeds?