Senrab62 

Good morning BF!

I scored a delapidated women's Raleigh Sprite 5 speed including original shifters, hub, and cool looking crank for $10. I hope to eventually build a club racer type build once I find a decent Raleigh frame to utilize. Currently I have too many frames that need building so that search will go on the back burner.

In the meanwhile, though, the hub on this is a a bit of work. The bike looks as if it was put away for storage in a vat of salt water. I have seen a fair amount of Sturmey hubs and have never seen one with as much rust on it as this one.

I have not attempted to clean it in any manner, but will be looking to do so to try to get some additional information about the year of manufacture and the like. I do have some questions:

- Can I soak a hub in evaporust? Should I just soak the shell? What options for refinishing the shell do I have as I am not sure it can be salvaged?

- do any shops specialize in overhauling SA hubs? I did a quick search before work, but only see shops in the UK!

- from my limited research, it seems that though there is some value for the shifters, that they are not very functional. Am I limited to one downtube and one 3 speed SA thumb shifter as my best option?


Thanks all in advance. Any and all info regarding hub or overhaul/cleaning/rust would be appreciated.