Sturmey-Archer

Sturmey-Archer are a manufacturing company originally from Nottingham, England. They primarily produce bicycle hub gears but have also produced motorcycle hubs.

The company was founded in 1902 by Henry Sturmey and James Archer under the guidance of Frank Bowden, the primary owner of the Raleigh Bicycle Company. [ [www.sturmey-archerheritage.com Sturmey Archer Heritage website] ] In 2000, the assets and trademarks of Sturmey-Archer were sold to SunRace Sturmey-Archer Inc. and operations were moved to Taiwan, with European operations in Amsterdam.

Products

Gear hubs

Sturmey-Archer's most widely-known product is the AW 3-speed gear hub, introduced in 1936 and still in production as of 2008. In 1939 a 4-speed model FW was released. This led to the development of a series of 5-speed models, and by 1994, 7-speed hubs were introduced. Production was low, and in the mid-2000s these were discontinued. The XRF8, XRD8, XRR8, and XRK8 8-speed hubs entered series production in 2007. [ [http://www.sturmey-archer.com/hubs.php Sturmey-Archer gear hubs] ] SunRace Sturmey Archer have improved the design and manufacture in many respects; compared to the old AW hub, the current 3-speed equivalent (SRF3) now has an aluminium alloy shell for lighter weight and reduced spoke breakage due to aluminium being softer so dispersing the stress at the bend in the spoke over a wider area.cite book
last = Schraner
first = Gerd
title = The Art of Wheelbuilding
publisher = Buonpane Publications
date = 1999
pages = 31
isbn =0-9649835-3-2 ] The new hub also eliminates the no-drive position found on most AW hubs between normal and top gear.Facts|date=August 2008

The Sturmey-Archer name was also credited with the 49cc two-stroke engine fitted to early Raleigh mopeds, although this was actually a reworking of Vincenti Piatti's "Trojan Mini-Motor" and built by BSA's motorcycle operation. [ [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pattle/nacc/arc0238.htm Raleigh Moped history] ]

Dynohub

The Dynohub was Sturmey-Archer's hub dynamo for bicycles. The Dynohub was designed as a means of generating electrical lighting power for bicycles during the second world war. The initial GH12 12-volt model was introduced in the early 1940s. This was followed several years later by the GH8. This 8-volt unit was in turn supplanted in the 1950s by the lighter-weight GH6 6-volt version, which remained in production through the early 1980s. The term "dynohub" is sometimes applied generically to bicycle hub dynamos, but it originates as a trademark.

The GH6 version produced a rated output of 6V, 3W from a 20 pole ring magnet with a stator having a continuous winding. A 2.4W headlamp bulb and a tail lamp bulb of 0.6W were used with the Dynohub. This is different from a modern standard bicycle dynamo, though properly-rated replacements can still be had. [ [http://www.reflectalite.com/lightmodel.html#anchor439407 Commercial cycle bulb supplier] ]

Rated output was reached at around 20 km/h (12mph), a rotational speed of approximately 60rpm. The name dynamo implies DC output, but as usual with bicycle dynamos (known as "generators" in North America), output was in fact alternating current.

Dynohubs were offered as front hubs and as rear geared hubs. The AG was an AW 3-speed rear hub with inbuilt dynamo, while the FG was a dynamo similarly combined with an FW 4-speed. Hub generators were absent from Sturmey-Archer's product range from the 1980s until the 2006 introduction of the X-FDD front hub, which combines a 6v, 2.4w or 3w dynamo with a 70mm drum brake. [ [http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/history.php|Sturmey-Archer Historical Hub Archive] . Retrieved on 2007-10-24.]

Cultural significance

In the UK "Sturmey Archer" is a genericized trademark that is occasionally used to refer to any kind of hub gear, regardless of manufacturer. Talk of Sturmey Archer gears can also be nostalgic, referring to the days when hub gears were more common. The John Shuttleworth song "Dandelion and Burdock" is an example. In the song John reminisces about his boyhood activities and recalls cycling up a tall hill, singing "I was grateful for the Sturmey Archer gears"Fact|date=January 2008. Poet Laureate John Betjeman referred to them with nostalgia [cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2000/10/05/ecfphys05.xml |title=How physics powers you over the hill |publisher=The Daily Telegraph |year=2000 |month=10 |accessdate=2008-07-09 |quote=It is an ability celebrated even in poetry, with John Betjeman telling in Summoned by Bells of how:

"Port Meadow's level green grew near
With Wytham Woods and Cumnor Hurst
I clicked my Sturmey-Archer gear
And pedalled till I nearly burst -
And, king of speed, attained the lead
And got to gushing Godstow first."

] and Half Man Half Biscuit refer to the gears in their song A Lilac Harry Quinn. [cite web |url=http://cobweb.businesscollaborator.com/hmhb/records/McTrDav.htm|title=McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt]

References

External links

* [http://www.sturmey-archer.com/ Sturmey-Archer site]
* [http://www.hadland.me.uk/page5.html The Sturmey-Archer Story] Details of the independently-produced technical history of Sturmey-Archer from its inception to 1987.
* [http://www.raleighbikes.com/ Raleigh bikes]
* [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/samaintind.htm How to repair old Sturmey-Archer hubs]
* [http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer.html Sturmey-Archer pages] from Sheldon Brown's website
* [http://www.sheldonbrown.com/dynohubs.html Sheldon Brown's Sturmey-Archer Dynohub page]
* [http://yarchive.net/bike/dyno_hub.html Jobst Brandt's Dynohub page]
* [http://www.sturmey-archer.com/ The demise of Sturmey-Archer] A compilation of articles from Nottingham local newspapers, chronicling the closure of the Nottingham factory.
* [http://www.hadland.me.uk/page10.html Supplement to The Sturmey-Archer Story] Comprehensive coverage of the latter years of Sturmey-Archer's British-based operation, including the closure.