Sturmey Me

It's been a long time a waitin'. I came home and a package was waiting for me. It came early! I wasn't expecting to see the Sturmey Archer internal gear hub until next week! I'm so excited that I used the nice camera for these pics!

Here it is! I knew it was supposed to weigh 2.4lbs, but it seems heavier than that. No surprise that it has some weight to it (much heavier than a regular hub), but I guess I was just hoping it'd feel lighter.

Recall I was looking for black originally, but I opted for the silver one since they're out of black and I don't have time to wait for new inventory.



That star shaped thing on the left side in the picture above is the mounting bracket I need to get my disk brake back. It slaps right on there. This means I can do my power slides like in the ALC video again.


This hub goes with my new Shimano 8-gear 11-34T Mega Range cassette. No generic Sunrise one this time. This is the real deal.



Together is better. Let's see how the pair looks like. Yummy! Looks even shinier and more beautiful in person. I feel like such a gearhead. It's like jewelry for men.


Another big concern of mine is that I bought this and it doesn't fit. So I removed the rear wheel and slapped this puppy on to see if it would work. Crossing fingers....

I got it in there. Looks even nicer on the trike. I need to remember to move the chain to the 3rd or 4th gear/cog before removing the wheel. It provides so much more clearance to wiggle the wheel out than when it's on the highest gear.

Tight squeeze. I had to slightly bend the fork outwards by less than a millimeter to get it to fit. I hope it's designed this way and I won't encounter any issues later.


Next step is to wait for the rim and off to the LBS (local bike shop)! Not quite local, but I've chosen City Cycles as my trike working headquarters.

Above is the new gear chart that this new Stage 2 IGH conversion will put out. I'm losing a bit on the top end as well as bottom end. Benefits? Nicer looking, better quality black rim and (hopefully) better/smoother/more reliable shifting. And of course the benefit of getting my rear brake back! Worth it I think. I speak more on it after the installation is complete mid month.