3 speed fixed hub ??

Mapman
Mapman Posts: 254
edited June 2010 in Workshop
I realise this appears to be a contradiction in terms . But is it possible to get a 3 speed hub that will work as "fixed " ??

Comments

  • litttlestwoo
    litttlestwoo Posts: 63
    I'm sure that most things can be fettled, although if I remeber correctly the sturmey archer 3 and 5 speed internal gear hubs needed the sprocket stationary to change gear (ie. no pedalling), I may well be wrong on this though. Have you looked at the early campag rod change gears, these used a hub that slid in horizontal dropouts to take up chain slack (pre parallelogram derallier). I suppose you could weld up a freewheel mechanism and mount the hub in horizontal droupouts and take up chain slack as above for what would probably need to be very close ratios. You would need a brake set on the bike though, because if you used the pedals to slow you down you would simply unscrew the freewheel. My opinion thogh is that as soon as you start thinking about different ratios on a fixed, probably time to ride gears, after all this was why the freewheel and evetually multi ratio's came about.
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    Sturmey Archer sell a hub that is 3 speed fixed. Charlie's shop by the seaside sells them, as do other bike shops, cheap aren't they :lol:
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • Ollieda
    Ollieda Posts: 1,010
    fixed just means that there's no freewheel so you can't "coast" i.e. if the wheel moves the pedals will too. Riding fixed with one gear is just accepted as the norm hence this is reffered to as "fixed".

    It's most likely youll find one that has internal gearing in the hub, using a traditional sprocket/rear mech set up could work although you might have problems with finding a rear mech that would be indexed correctly and people generally try to keep the chain as straight as possible with a fixed hub, hence the use of internally geared hubs with just one sprocket.

    As redvee's link shows they can be pricey!!! You could always try going down the scrappers yard to see it there are any old skool bikes with a internally geared rear hub. They used to be common place but now mostly look like relics
  • lae
    lae Posts: 555
    If you don't want to shell out 250 quid for a new S3X, you can find an old Sturmey-Archer unit on ebay or something, and with a bit of fettling, turn it into a fixed hub, minus one gear (i.e. 3-speed becomes 2 speed fixed, 4 speed becomes 3 speed fixed).

    like so:
    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/awfixed.html

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