Sturmey-Archer has manufactured many 4- and 5-speed hub models over the years, and three 7-speed models. Another article on this site covers topics common to many Sturmey-Archer hubs. Please read that article to learn about

• Date and model identification
• Cable replacement
• Cable adjustment
• Cone Adjustment
• Anti-rotation washers
• Axle length
• Lubrication

There are also articles on this site more generally about

• Internal-gear hubs
• Disassembly of Sturmey-Archer hubs
• Special alignment and adjustment (Dynohubs, hub brakes, shifter parts)
• Use and maintenance of Sturmey-Archer hubs
• Parts and names (older Sturmey-Archer hubs)
• Sturmey-Archer corporate history and hub models

Sturmey-Archer 4-, 5- and 7-speed hubs all are of a similar basic design using compound planetary gearing. They have two or three sun gears, and only one of them is locked to the axle at any time. The planet gears are stepped gears, with different numbers of teeth at each end (two sets for 5-speeds, three sets for 7-speeds). The large end of the planet gears engages the small sun gear, and the small end of the planet gears (middle section on the 7-speeds) engages another, larger sun gear and the gear ring. The 7-speed has a third, larger sun gear and smaller section of the planet gears. Depending on which sun gear is locked to the axle, these hubs are, effectively 3-speeds with a choice of a wider or narrower range.

These hubs, or at least most of them, have a "neutral" position when shifting the sun gears, because engaging two of them at a time would cause the hub to lock up. A sluggish or misadjusted shifter cable can allow the hub to freewheel or lurch forward. (This issue might be avoided by using a different pawl and ratchet to lock the sun gear to the axle for the low gears and the high gears, at the cost of additional complication).

These hubs work best if the second-highest gear is the level-ground gear, around 70 gear inches (5.2 gain ratio, 55 meters development) The top gear is used for downhill and downwind riding. With a 7-speed. you might want to set the gear range a bit higher, as the steps between gears are smaller. If the terrain is all up and down, you might want to set the gear range lower. There is more detailed information on sprockets and on setting the gear range on another page.

Sturmey-Archer's current (2010) 5-speed hubs have a wide range, as follows:

The steps between the three middle gears of current hubs are the same as for Sturmey-Archer three-speed hubs.

The outer steps are narrower than the inner ones. That is desirable so that the top gear is not too high above the fourth gear.

The table below includes links to technical information about these hubs, from the Sturmey-Archer Web site's listing of hubs, the Sturmey-Archer 2010 catalog, and a Web search. Technical information is available for most current Sturmey-Archer 5-speed hubs.

The 1991-2009 hubs overcame a known problem with earlier Sturmey-Archer hubs, that the internal clutch could "walk" out of high gear position into the intermediate (neutral) gear during a hard sprint -- see comments by Jobst Brandt. Later versions of these hubs, called the Summit series, included a patented "ball locking" mechanism for the sun gears. Model codes for hubs using the ball locking mechanism followed the pattern X-RD5, where R indicates rear, D a drum brake and 5 the number of gears. About this mechanism, please see comments on the 7-speed hubs, below. Whether the ball locking mechanism was as unreliable in the 5-speed hubs, I [John Allen] don't know.

These hubs are no longer sold and can be tricky or impossible to repair, due to parts un-availability. But who knows, you might have a couple of these lying around so you can cannibalize and keep one going.

The first of these hubs were the "5-Star" (5-Speed Sturmey-Archer) hubs, introduced in 1991. The 5-Star hubs had cantilevered planet gear axles, that is, the axles were only supported at one end, a Bad Idea. They were shifted by dual pullchains: the one on the right for high, middle and low, and the one on the left for a wider and narrower range.

"Sprinter" hubs, introduced in 1993, had single-cable control and a sturdier planet cage. Some continued to be made, or sold out of remaining inventory, until SunRace/Sturmey Archer rolled out a new wide-range series of 5-speed hubs in 2009.

The FW four-speed hub had the same ratios as the series of five-speeds described above, only omitting the top gear. In 1967, Sturmey-Archer began making the S5 hub, which offered all 5 gears and was an easy upgrade from the FW.

This site now hosts Sutherland's Handbook of Coaster Brake and Internal Gear Hubs, with excellent rebuilding information on the hubs in this series. Boldfaced items in the table below are on this site. Other information is mostly from the Sturmey-Archer Heritage site and Tony Hadland's Web site.

In 1945, Sturmey-Archer introduced the FW four-speed hub. It used the wide-range sun-gear setting only to provide a lower "super low" gear. The shift from normal "low" to "super low" ("2" to "1") required a very strong pull on the gear cable to overcome the spring that controlled the sun gears. This hub used a two-part indicator spindle whose adjustment is described here.

The right side of this hub was identical to that of the AW hub, and it would fit into an AW shell. The planet cage and axle assemblies were different.

Generator and drum-brake versions followed in 1946 and 1949. They used a narrower planet cage, to make room for the generator or brake.

Many cyclists converted the FW four-speed into a five-speed by adding a separate shifter for the sun gears. This was a hot ticket for a club-riding bicycle, back around 1950.

Sturmey-Archer also made other four-speed hubs with narrower ratios, to appeal to club cyclists and racers, but they are outside the scope of this article. You may read about them on Tony Hadland's site and the Sturmey-Archer Heritage site, and in John Allen's documentation of gear ratios.

In 1967, Sturmey-Archer introduced the S5, a 5-speed hub that worked like the converted FW hubs. Most of the internal parts were the same as for the FW, and the right side including the gear ring remained the same as for the AW. The S5 used two cables:

• The normal one on the right side worked as a normal 3-speed.
• The second cable on the left side shifted the sun pinions.

The original 5-speed hubs used a bellcrank to push a rod inward to accomplish the sun-pinion shift.

Best type of Sturmey-Archer bellcrank, with 2 7/16" stock pushrod

The S5 was sold with three different types of bellcrank, reminiscent of the story of the Three Little Pigs. One type of bellcrank was made partly of plastic and failed quickly. A second type used a flimsy steel stamping, and bent easily. Only the sturdy, forged type with internal threads is reliable, but it is rare. I've had some success modifying Shimano bellcranks to fit. I did this by re-threading them to fit the Sturmey-Archer axle. Taps for this purpose are not readily available, so I made a tap out of an old axle.

The bellcrank had to face forward to connect with the cable, and so it could not be tightened to secure the axle in the dropout. A separate axle nut was needed. The bellcrank works best with a 6 1/4" axle. Grinding a recess in the side of the axle to secure the Shimano bellcrank's grub screw and drilling out that bellcrank to fit over the threads also might work. A bellcrank could be fabricated from the flared axle nut used with a Sturmey-Archer indicator spindle. A SRAM clickbox that uses a pushrod also might work.

5 3/4" and 6" axles also were sold, but they are not long enough when used with the good bellcrank if there is any spacing washer under the left-side locknut. The 6" axle is longer only on the right side. A pushrod for the good bellcrank can be made from a ten-penny nail by cutting it to 2 15/16" long (or 2 11/16" for the shorter axles) and grinding down its head to fit inside the bellcrank.

The weak point of the 2-cable 5-speed hubs was always the shift control units. The S5 hub offered an excellent selection of gears for urban cycling, but it required a taut cable to prevent the primary sun gear from disengaging from the axle in first gear. Sturmey-Archer went through a number of top-tube mounted shift levers, which were never very satisfactory mechanically. The left-side cable needed to be very carefully adjusted, and the actual mechanics of the click stops in the two-lever controls were too weak, so they were quite unreliable, even though there was no real problem with the hubs.

Also, unsophisticated cyclists had trouble mastering the shift sequence of the two separate levers. It could also be confusing that the S5 must be pedaled forward at more than first-gear speed when shifting from second to first.

Later 2-cable versions reversed the spring loading on the sun gears, and used a conventional indicator spindle/chain to shift the sun pinions. The first of these, the S5/1, would not reliably stay in gear. The last version of the S5 hub, the S5/2 II, was also sold as the S5 Alloy and with a drum brake as the AT5. It was reliable, and it would shift into all gears without pedaling forward, but the problem with the shifters remained.

Sturmey-Archer eventually made a large and very complicated single-trigger control that would operate the two cables, but it was also very temperamental and required a lot of force to operate. The best control arrangement for a 2-cable 5-speed hub is a standard 3-speed trigger for the right cable, and a friction-type derailer shift lever for the left cable. The use of the friction shifter on the left gets around the problem of critical adjustment of the left cable, since you just pull it until it stops.

[I use a trigger on the left, in the 2nd and 3rd gear positions. Its latching in the 2nd gear position holds the cable taut. The cable does need adjusting occasionally. I have used the original S5, and the S5/2 II, each for years, and had no problems with them except when the cable is misadjusted -- John Allen.]

Newer 5-speeds (described earlier in this article) use a single cable, and rather different internals.

In 1997, Sturmey-Archer introduced three models of "Sprinter 7" 7-speed hubs -- brakeless, or with a drum brake or coaster brake. These were the first production Sturmey-Archer hubs with rotary shifting. They are relatively rare. Information below is from the Sturmey-Archer Heritage site and Tony Hadland's Web site.

These were also produced in the "Summit" series, with a ball locking mechanism for the sun gears, under different model numbers, in 1999 and 2000. This hub did not remain in production after Sturmey-Archer's move to Taiwan.

These hubs were installed on some Moulton bicycles, and may have been reliable enough with the low-torque conditions of a small-wheel bicycle, but a cyclust who used them for heavier service in a hilly city reports:

The Web sites linked below are very helpful for older hubs not covered on this site. The Sturmey-Archer Heritage Web site has a wealth of historical and technical information. Tony Hadland's Web site includes an exploded drawing and parts list for nearly every Sturmey-Archer hub ever made up through the 1980s, as well as rebuilding information for many older hubs. The service manuals include general information (such as how to replace pawls) not covered in the rebuilding information for individual hubs.