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Servicing
English Three Speeds

by Sheldon "Epicyclic" Brown

Brakes | Club | Hubs (front) | Raleigh | Roadsters | Sports | Sturmey-Archer | Tyres/Tires | Wrenches

Armstrong | B.S.A. | C.W.S. | Dawes | Derby | Dunelt | Elswick | Fleetwing | Gazelle Glider | Hercules | Huffy | Humber | New Hudson | Norman | Phillips | Robin Hood | Royal Scot | Rudge | Sun | Sunbeam | Three Spires | TI | Triumph

The Golden Age of 3 Speeds

rom the 1930's through the 1960's, English-made 3-speed bicycles were, in some respects, the ultimate in human powered transportation. The bicycle provided unprecedented individual mobility to the British working class. They spawned a vibrantly active club culture that has never been equalled.

The bicycle industry, centered in the enormous Raleigh factory in Nottingham, was one of the most important in the country. The workers who built these bicycles rode the same kind of bicycles to work.

Roadster, Sports or Club?

nglish 3 speeds are loosely grouped into three classes:  

oadsters were the old-fashioned style of bicycle popular in the countryside. They usually had 635 mm (28 x 1 1/2) wheels with westwood rims, long cranks and long wheel bases, and very shallow frame angles (68 degrees or less.) Roadsters used "roller-lever" brakes operated by rods, instead of cables. The typical roadster would also be equipped with a "gear case", a chainguard that completely enclosed the chain.

My 1954 Superbe Roadster

Roadsters were built for durability above all else, and were intended to be able to cope with dirt roads, cobblestones and unpaved footpaths, with a bare minimum of maintenance. No serious attempt was made to save weight in their design or construction. They are often pictured as the mounts of policemen and rural letter carriers.

Roadsters have never been truly popular in the United States, but they are not truly rare, either. Most roadsters that were imported to the U.S. do not have the gear case, because U.S. customs regulations placed a higher duty on bicycles weighing more than 40 lbs.

 

ports or "light roadster" bicycles were the basic transportation of the urban working class. They feature 590 mm (26 x 1 3/8) wheels with Endrick or Raleigh-pattern rims, full steel fenders (or "mudguards" to the British) "North Road" upright handlebars, and cable-operated brakes. Sports bicycles had rather more nimble frame geometry, typically with 72 degree frame angles. These bicycles were faster and lighter than roadsters. The vast majority of English bicycles that made it to the United States fall into this category.

Raleigh Pattern rim	North Road Handlebar

In some parts of the U.S. this type of bicycle was known among people who didn't know any better as an "English Racer", althogh they are a far cry from a racing design. Please don't call these bikes "English Racers!" while they are very nice bicycles, they have no connection whatever with racing; it is foolish and ignorant to refer to them this way.

Some of the more deluxe models, such as the Raleigh Superbe, would be fitted out with extra bult-in accessories, such as locking front forks, Dynohub generators built into the wheel hubs, deluxe leather saddles with springs, etc.

In addition to its role as a utility transport vehicle, the sports bicycle was also extensively used for touring and cycle-camping, on both sides of the Atlantic.

lub bicycles were the elite, high-performance machines of their time and place. They were named for the fact that they were the style of bicycle popular with members of the many active cycling clubs. The poorer, less performance-oriented club members would ride sports bicycles, but the more hard-core "clubmen" would have true club machines.

A club bicycle will typically have Reynolds 531 frame tubing, a narrow, unsprung leather saddle, reversed North Road handlebars (or drop bars), steel "rat trap" pedals with toe clips and 597 mm (26 x 1 1/4) or 630 mm (27 x 1 1/4) wheels. Even fairly high-end models will use steel rims, which, at the time, were widely believed to be superior to aluminum. The steel Dunlop Special Lightweight rims used on the better club bicycles could give the aluminum rims of the day a run for their money.

Club biycles would be likely to have a more exotic Sturmey-Archer hub, perhaps a medium- or close-ratio model, 3 or 4 speed. A very few even were equipped with the rare ASC 3-speed fixed-gear hub.

Many club bicycles were single-speed machines, usually with a reversible hub: single-speed freewheel on one side, fixed-gear on the other. Starting in the late '50's, derailers began to be used on this type of bicycle as well.

Although primarily intended for fast group rides with clubmates, club bicycles were also commonly used for serious touring, and also for time-trialing.

Servicing English 3-speeds

any younger mechanics are unfamiliar with some of the idiosyncrasies of English-made 3-speed bikes. Nevertheless, there are an awful lot of them still on the road, because they were built to last, and they still come in for repair. An all-around bike mechanic should be up to speed on these bikes.

These bikes are actually very easy to work on, but you do need to know a few of their quirks.

Wrenches

he French term for "adjustable wrench" is "clé anglaise" or "English wrench". There is good reason for this, because older British machinery used a different set of standards, called "Whitworth" for wrench sizes and screw threads. Some of these sizes are close enough to Metric or S.A.E. sizes that you will be able to use your normal wrenches, but you will probably need to use an adjustable wrench as well.

Raleigh VS British Standard

Identification

efore you start to work on an English 3-speed (or a low-end English 10-speed), you should figure out who made it. By 1962, Raleigh or its parent company, Tube Investments (TI-bought Raleigh in 1960) had gobbled up most of the smaller English manufacturers. In their enormous Nottingham factory, they built bikes under many names. The reason it is important to know whether a bike was built by Raleigh or not is that the Raleigh bikes were built to Raleigh dimensions, and other English bikes were built to British Standard dimensions.

Humber 1932		BSA , New Hudson, Sunbeam 1957
Rudge-Whitworth 1943		Phillips 1960
Triumph 1954		Hercules 1960
Norman 1960	Sun 1960
Three Spires 1954	Carlton 1960
Moulton 1967

The major areas of concern are headsets and bottom brackets. Raleigh used its own unique 26 threads-per-inch parts, which are not interchangeable with anything else. Non-Raleigh British bikes use B.S.C. parts, which are readily available. This is particularly a problem if you need to replace a fork on a Raleigh-built bike, because you will also have to replace the headset if you cannot locate a 26 TPI fork. Fortunately, the press-fit dimensions on the head tube of the frame are the same for both.

If you are not satisfied with cottered cranks, and want to upgrade a Nottingham Raleigh frame to cotterless cranks, you will have to re-use the old cups unless you are prepared to spring for a Phil Wood or Mavic bottom bracket. The inner diameter of Raleigh cups is a bit smaller than standard. Bottom bracket axles that are drilled and tapped to use bolts to hold on the cranks will not usually fit. BB axles that use nuts will usually work. Because of the wider BB shells used on Raleighs, you will need a 5** series axle.

Alternatively, it is possible to re-thread Raleigh bottom brackets to standard British (24 TPI) threading.

Raleigh front hubs

ost front wheels can be installed without regard for which side is left and which side is right. This is not the case with Raleigh 3-speeds. Raleigh front hubs usually don't have cone locknuts. Instead, they have one cone with wrench flats, the adjustable cone. The other cone is round, with no place for a wrench. The non-adjustable cone is supposed to screw down all the way on the axle until it runs out of threads (there is a raised shoulder on the axle for this purpose). All adjustments are to be made with the adjustable cone. The fixed cone must go on the bicycle's right, the adjustable cone must go on the bicycle's left. On the left side, the axle nut will keep the left cone from loosening up. If the wheel is accidentally reversed, so that the adjustable cone is on the right, it can tighten itself up and ruin the hub.

Raleighs also used an unusual wheel retention feature. The axle slot in the front fork end is keyhole shaped. Older hubs came with special axle nuts and washers. The axle nut had a shoulder which fitted through the axle washer and into the round part of the axle slot. Later hubs have a shoulder on the cone which fits into the round part of the axle slot, and it is necessary to spread the fork blades a bit to get the wheel in or out. This is the more common arrangement.

How to tell the Raleighs from the others

he easiest way to identify Raleigh-built bikes is by looking at the rear dropouts. Almost all Raleigh-threaded bikes have the rear fender eyelets located directly behind the axle, instead of above it. (This doesn't apply to roadsters, which don't generally have dropouts nor fender eyelets.

Most Raleighs use a seatpost diameter of 1" (25.4 mm) while other British 3-speed bikes usually use 1 1/16" (27.0 mm)

I have a separate page on Raleigh 3-speeds with more identification information.

Sturmey-Archer Internal-gear Hubs

lmost all English 3-speeds have Sturmey-Archer rear hubs. Sturmey-Archer is a division of Raleigh. They made many different models since 1903, and were still in business until October, 2000. The company was sold to a group of money manipulators who shut it down in hope of making a quick profit by selling off the assets.

Most Sturmey-Archer hubs have two or three-letter model codes, which are usually stamped onto the hub shell. Conveniently, they also usually have the month and the last two digits of the year of manufacture stamped onto the shell. This is the easiest way to date a 3-speed bicycle, if it has its original rear wheel.

Jane Thomas has kindly posted excerpts from the 1956 Sturmey-Archer service manual at:

http://www.toehead.plus.com/stmain.htm

Sturmey-Archer Models:

This page formerly contained a table listing some different Sturmey-Archer hub models. This table has been expanded and is available as part of this site's new

Sturmey Archer Hub Page.

The Sturmey-Archer AW 3-speed hub

any mechanics are scared of 3-speed hubs, and think of them as being impossibly complicated. The most common model, the Sturmey-Archer model AW, is quite easy to overhaul with the aid of Sutherland's. Other models, especially those with coaster brakes, can be tricky or impossible to repair, due to parts un-availability.

Even if you are too chicken to try taking a 3-speed hub apart, that shouldn't stop you from working on 3-speed bikes. The AW hub is the most reliable gear shifting mechanism ever made, and rarely needs anything more than a bit of medium weight oil every so often. 95 percent of shifting problems on 3-speeds are related to the control cable or the handlebar trigger unit.

When you remove and re-install a 3-speed rear wheel, pay particular attention to the axle washers. The axles are flatted, and there are special anti-rotation washers keyed to the flats on the axles. These washers have tabs that must face into the drop-outs to help keep the axle from twisting under load. The axle nuts are easy to strip because of the interrupted threads on the flatted axle, so you should lubricate them with medium-to heavy oil or grease. They do have to be tightened quite securely.

3-speed cable adjustment

here is a little chain coming out of the right end of the rear axle, to which the end of the control cable attaches. This chain (called an "indicator spindle" by cognoscenti) screws into an internal part of the hub by rather delicate threads. When you install an indicator spindle, screw it in finger tight, then back it off 1/2 turn. It should not be bottomed out on its internal threads, so that it can swing freely to face the cable. This adjustment must be checked every time the cable is re-attached.

The fine adjustment of the cable tension is accomplished by how far the end fitting of the cable screws onto the end of the indicator spindle chain. The official manuals tell you to adjust it by visual examination of the end of the indicator spindle shaft, but this doesn't always work, especially if the indicator spindle is not original equipment. For best results, adjust the cable by tension. When the trigger is in high gear position, the cable should be totally slack. Shift down to middle gear, while watching the indicator chain-it should clearly move as you make the shift. Then shift to low gear; again, you should see more chain coming out of the end of the axle. Sometimes the internal parts line up in such a way as to prevent downshifting. If you have trouble getting the hub to downshift, turn the pedals slightly forwards. Once you are sure you are in low gear, take hold of the indicator spindle chain and try to pull more of it out of the axle. If the adjustment is correct, you should be able to get just a tiny bit more movement from the chain. If it is completely taut, the cable is too tight. Make sure to tighten the knurled locknut on the indicator spindle so that the adjustment will stay as you have set it.

Double check the adjustment in all gears. In low gear, you should be able to see that the sprocket moves faster than the wheel, and the hub should not make a ticking sound while being pedaled forward. In middle gear, the sprocket should move at the same speed as the wheel, and you may hear a slow ticking as you pedal. In high gear, the wheel should turn faster than the sprocket. The same slow ticking may be audible in high gear.

If you hold the trigger halfway between middle and high gear, the hub should disengage so that you can spin the pedals forward without going anywhere. If it freewheels forward in high gear, the cable is to tight or has too much friction to release properly. If it freewheels forward in middle gear, the cable is too loose.

3-speed cone adjustment

one adjustments must only be made on the left side of the hub. A properly adjusted 3-speed wheel will have slight play at the rim. If the cone adjustment is too tight, the pedals will tend to turn forward as the wheel turns. (This same symptom may result if the chain is too tight.)

Gearing

he Sturmey-Archer AW hub provides a direct drive middle gear, a high gear that is 4/3 of the middle gear, and a low gear that is 3/4 of the middle gear.

By modern standards, the typical 3-speed is geared rather high. Most have 46/18 gearing, which gives gain ratios of 3.83, 5.11 and 6.81 (50, 66, and 89 inches; 4.00, 5.28 and 7.12 meters.) If you cycle in a hilly area, you can make things a lot easier for yourself by customizing the gearing. 20 - 24 tooth sprockets are readily available, as well as smaller sizes for speed demons. It is also possible to modify Shimano cassette sprockets with a Dremel grinder if you need something bigger. This is not particularly difficult to do.

Virtually all 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 speed internal gear hubs use the same 3 splined sprckets, so customizing the gearing is quite easy.

Oil lubrication

odern bikes use grease for lubrication. This is good, because grease lasts a long time, but it is bad because grease can usually only be renewed by dis-assembling the parts involved. Older 3-speeds were intended for oil lubrication. A bike meant for oil lubrication will have an oil hole in the front hub, covered by a spring clip around the middle of the hub barrel. The bottom bracket will also often have an oil cap. Bikes so equipped should be oiled regularly with a moderately heavy oil, such as Phil Wood, or automotive motor oil. Don't use too much, or you will make a mess, and don't use thin oils or sprays because they don't last long enough.

3-speed hubs always need oil lubrication. The sound of the ticking pawls is a good indicator of the state of lubrication of the hub. If the pawls have a loud, bright tick, the hub may be dry or may have been oiled with too light an oil. A very dull, quiet tick may indicate a hub that has become gunked up with old, dried-up oil. In extreme cases, a hub that has sat unused for a long period of time may get its freewheel pawls stuck, so that it freewheels forward, particularly in low gear. This can often be corrected by lubricating with a fairly light oil and letting it work in.

A drop or two of oil on the moving parts of the 3-speed trigger should also be part of regular maintenance.

Brakes

ost English 3-speeds use brake calipers that are adjusted differently than conventional sidepulls. They usually have a slot for a flat-head screwdriver on the end of the center-bolt. This is used differently depending on the brand.

Raleigh Brakes

lder Raleigh brakes are identified by the special cables they require. These cables do not use anchor bolts. Instead, they have soldered lugs at both ends. Replacement cables came with the adjusting barrels. To replace them, you would remove the nut that held the old adjusting barrel fitting to the caliper, and switch over the whole assembly. When available, the cables came in three varieties: "front", "gent's rear" and "lady's rear". The "lady's rear" was longer and had the adjusting barrel facing the other way. Good luck finding replacements today.

Every time you service a "lady's" three speed, drip some oil down the rear brake cable housing at the caliper adjusting barrel and squeeze the brake lever a few times to work it in. Since the lower loop of housing is open upward to the elements, it can fill up with water and rust solid if not kept well oiled.

The center bolts on "Raleigh-type" brakes are not adjustable. The spring block has a shoulder that is made to be just the right length so that the caliper arms can move freely. The spring block has a plain, un-threaded hole, so tightening it with the screwdriver end is the same as tightening the nut that holds the caliper to the bike.

"Phillips-type" brakes

hillips-type" brakes use a conventional cable anchor bolt and a regular single-ended cable. Unlike the "Raleigh-type" calipers, the center bolt is adjustable. Much like Shimano side-pulls, turning the center bolt (with a screwdriver) adjusts the free play of the caliper arms. Unlike Shimano side-pulls, there is no separate locknut, so the same nut that holds the caliper to the bike acts as a locknut.

Both "Raleigh-type" and "Phillips-type" brakes usually have a fiber washer between the two caliper arms on the center bolt. This should get a drop of oil from time to time.

Tires ("Tyres")

t is also important to remember that although 3-speeds usually take "26 inch" tires and tubes, they are not interchangeable with mountain-bike size 26 inch rubber. The vast majority use the English 26 X 1 3/8 size. This has a different bead-seat diameter (I.S.O.590 mm), and will only take tires marked 26 X 1 3/8. This size is also sometimes designated "E.A.3". Occasionally, you may run into a "high performance" English 3-speed that takes 26 X 1 1/4 (E.A.1-597 mm bead seat)tires.

Older Schwinn 3-speeds used a 597 mm tire marked "26 X 1 3/8", also referred to as S-6. Schwinn 26 X 1 3/8 (S-6)tires are NOT interchangeable with English 26 X 1 3/8 (E.A.3).

Surprisingly, the Schwinn 26 X 1 3/8 (S-6) has a 597 mm bead-seat diameter, and IS interchangeable with English 26 X 1 1/4 (E.A.1)!

"28 X 1 1/2" (635 mm)tires used on some rod-brake 3-speed roadsters are a distinct size of their own, and should not be confused with 700C (622 mm) tires which are sometimes also referred to as 28 inch.

Brands

   Raleigh, Rudge & Humber

These were the flagship brands of Raleigh Industries, and are of equal quality. 26" wheel models would normally come with Raleigh-pattern rims and Brooks leather saddles. Having separate lines allowed Raleigh to offer exclusive territories to local dealers without writing off other dealers in the same area. The frames on these bikes were generally identical, but each had special distinctive cosmetic features, particularly in the fork construction, and the pattern of the cutouts in the chainwheel:

• Raleigh models featured the "dimpled fork", a fork with a tubular crown and chrome-plated buttons on the ends of the crown. The Raleigh logo depicts Sir Walter Raleigh laying his cape down on the mud so that Queen Elizabeth won't soil her shoes. Other Raleigh logos represent a heron, for reasons that are unclear.

• Rudge models have a sloping fork crown with a removeable chrome cap. The Rudge logo is a human hand, and the chainwheels are cut out in this pattern (you can see this in my article on Cottered Cranks.)

  Rudge had some connection with Whitworth, and some of them say "Rudge-Whitworth". See my glossary entry on "Whitworth."

• Humber models often feature a truly bizarre fork design, where upper part of the each fork "blade" consists of two small diameter tubes, one in front of the other, joining halfway down the "blade".

  Humber chainwheels have cutouts representing 5 little people running around in a circle, with their feet outward, and their heads joining at the middle.

  Humber was also an automobile manufacturer, but I believe the bicycle division was spun off early in the century. The Humber is a major English river.

   Armstrong

A generally low-end Raleigh model.

   B.S.A.

B.S.A. (Birmingham Small Arms) was an important independent manufacturer until the bicycle division was sold to Raleigh in 1957. Originally an armaments company, their logo represents 3 military rifles stacked in a tripod.

B.S.A. was the originator of the threadings and frame dimensions that later became B.S.C. and more recently ISO.

B.S.A. was also a notable motorcycle manufacturer.

   British Cycle Corporation

A conglomerate, owner of Phillips, Hercules, Norman and Sun. A division of TI, the B.C.C. brands were merged with Raleigh in 1960 when TI bought Raleigh.

   C.W.S.-Silver Dawn

An independent maker. "C.W.S." stands for "Cycle Wholesalers Service"

   Dawes

An independent manufacturer, still in business.

   Derby

A large multinational, now based in Kent, Washington, Derby bought Raleigh Industries from TI in 1987. Derby also owns Raleigh USA (a separate company from Raleigh Industries), Kalkhoff, Nishiki, Univega, Haro, Cycle Pro and Diamondback.

   Dunelt

Dunelt was a second rank brand. Many Dunelts feature a fork similar to the Raleigh dimpled fork, only with a flattened top.

   Elswick/Hopper

An independent manufacturer. See My Elswick Page

   Fleetwing

A house brand of Boston's Jordan Marsh department store chain.

   Gazelle

A Raleigh brand introduced in 1938. This became the primary name of Raleigh's subsidiary in the Netherlands

   Glider

A house brand of Eaton's department stores in Canada.

   Hercules

A division of B.C.C. until merged with Raleigh as part of the TI takeover in 1960, Hercules was a major competitor of Raleigh, with a strong sporting image. They sponsored popular racers, most partiuclarly Ken Joy and Eileen Sheridan. Hercules made their own 3-speed hubs, which were pretty-much identical to the older Sturmey-Archer AW. Hercules hubs continued to use threaded drivers long after Stumrmey-Archer abandoned them.

Raleigh-built "AMF-Hercules" models are fairly common. They were distributed by AMF (American Machine & Foundry.)

   Huffy

Although primarily known for low-end department store bikes, Huffy sold Raleigh-built bikes under their own name in the 1960s. Huffy was also the first U.S. importer of Moulton bicycles.

   New Hudson

A division of B.S.A., until absorbed by Raleigh in 1957

   Norman

A division of B.C.C. until merged with Raleigh as part of the TI takeover in 1960. Normans featured decorative chainrings where the spokes were in the form of Norman warriors.

   Phillips

A division of B.C.C., Phillips, based in Birmingham, was the second-largest British bike maker until merged with Raleigh as part of the TI takeover in 1960. Raleigh-made Phillips models are near the bottom of the quality range.

Birmingham Phillipses often featured a chainwheel with the word "Phillips" prominently featured in the cutouts.

   Robin Hood

A mid-level Raleigh brand, successor to Gazelle. Read about My Old Robin Hood.

   Royal Scot

A house brand, I believe of a major New York City bike shop.

   Sun

A division of B.C.C. until merged with Raleigh as part of the TI takeover in 1960.

   Sunbeam

A division of B.S.A., until absorbed by Raleigh in 1957

   Three Spires

Taken over by Raleigh in 1954.

   Tube Investments (TI)

This large conglomerate, parent company to British Cycle Corporation, bought Raleigh Industries in 1960 and merged Raleigh with the B.C.C. brands Phillips, Hercules, Norman and Sun.

   Triumph

Triumph was a second rank brand. Raleigh bought the bicycle rights to the name from the Triumph motorcycle company in 1954. There's no connection to Triumph automobiles.

These Are Real Bikes!

on't sneer at old 3-speeds. They are serious bikes, built for serious use. They are meant for utilitarian cyclists, and they are still extremely appropriate for riders who don't usually go more than a few miles at a time. They are particularly at home in stop-and-go traffic, because they can be shifted even while stopped. Their English heritage: full fenders, oil lubrication, and totally enclosed gear system makes them relatively impervious to wet conditions. They may be heavy, but that is not because they were built to be cheap, but because they were built to endure extremely rough usage and neglect. Properly cared for, they will outlast us all.