Veloria

Exactly my thinking.
Hmmm okay - so maybe the 3XS will be under the Chrismannukah Wisteria Vine this year.

Where does that weird shifter usually get mounted - on the downtube?

ColonelJLloyd 

When I build an SX3 wheel I will most certainly use a bar end shifter.

Maddox

+1 to Bar-end, or you could use a thumb shifter.

This is an interesting idea. While I love riding fixed, the idea of putting a fixed drivetrain on a heavy loop/city frame seems really odd to me. That said, I'd be interested to hear (or read) your opinion after a couple of months with the new setup.

But I'll be honest, I still don't know that I'd bother with it. I guess I just don't see an upright bike as the ideal candidate for a fixed-gear conversion. I'm all for building around the 3XS, I just don't know if a Loop frame is the direction I'd take it.

Sixty Fiver

Handlebar is traditional and would fit the aesthetic of the bike although bar end shifters are very nice.

Can't see how you will have any issues as long as you gear the SX3 to suit your riding ability and terrain.

Veloria

The handlebars on this bike are proprietary, made in Italy, narrow Porteur-Northroad hybrids - they are not suitable for a bar end. On the handlebars works for me; for some reason I thought the shifter was DT-only.

NormanF

Veloria, they work well mounted on the end of my Nitto Albatrosss bars.... they should work fine on the end of it and they won't get it in the way of your cycling.

But you can mount them DT if you want... You'd have to discuss with your mechanic a place on your bike where you can shift gears that you find convenient.

NormanF

Bar-end... its more comvenient. But DT is fine also. Its an old-fashioned thumb shifter. Just flick it with your thumb to the desired gear setting.

Andrew F

I've been using an S/A bar end, easy to use and accurate. If I did a down tube, I'd refurb an old S/A Quadrant, functional with a very retro look.

noglider 

How about those giant stick shifts we had on our Stingrays (or knock-offs thereof)? THOSE were cool. Actually, in those days, they weren't cool, they were neat.

Andrew F

I thought the Sting Ray shifters were Really Boss!

The quadrant is neat.

surreal

the i.d. of Veloria's bars won't accomodate the bar-end shifter.

I rode around on a track bike for what seemed like ages. Loved it, but didn't know much about the alternatives. In time, i got a longer quill, which allowed me to raise the bars up some. With just one very adaptable brake lever and no shifters, i began experimenting with lots of different handlebars. I started to develop a preference for a more upright riding position on that bike, before i got rid of it...

My most recent "fix" was a singlespeed 29" mountainbike, with a flip/flop hub. I used the 32x15t fixed option for pub rides and commutes on dry days. While not an upright bike, it was heavy and a lot more relaxed than my track bike was. It would've been much better with taller gearing, but it was all in good fun.

The point i'm meandering towards is that, while we tend to think of fixed gear as a super-racy velodrome-only thing, it isn't. As others have already mentioned, fixed used to be the *only* option. If you prefer an upright position for a given style of riding, and you think FG would fit the ride nicely too, you ought to do it. For tooling around boston, i think a FG would be perfectly suited, given the proper gear ratio. Having an IGH will help to ensure proper gearing. And, if ya like loop frames, that might be the perfect place for a fixed drivetrain.

If you do build a bike with the s3x, consider getting an english-threaded freewheel, as well as a couple different sizes of the splined cogs for fixed use. This will give you more options, and make experimentation more convenient.

Also, for real, ppl have been getting really creative with the name of this hub. The new fixed/3 SA hub is the s3x. The old, rare one is the asc. All of these references to the sx3 and 3xs confused me to no end. Let's help future generations of bikeforum ppl conduct some viable searches.

=D
-rob

mkeller234

You never mentioned what you do not like about the Shimano Nexus. I am curious.

nlerner

Maybe you can rig that hub to work with the S-A 5-speed shift levers:



Just use the left as a dummy?

Neal

Andrew F

All jesting aside Veloria, if the i.d. of your bars won't accept the bar end, the thumb shifter looks like it functions the same way and they show the bar end being adapted to a DT braze. I purchased my hub as a kit; hub, cables and shifter, everything worked perfectly.....The more I ride it the more I enjoy it. If you decide to give it a try, I hope you are equally as happy with it.

noglider 

Be sure the bike has good pedal clearance. I hear that "pedal strike" is extremely unpleasant. It hasn't happened to me, or if it has, I don't remember.

NormanF

Every one who has a FG bike has 165 mm cranks. I haven't had a pedal strike issue.

noglider 

Not if it's a converted bike.

Veloria

The handlebars will not take a bar end, and they are fantastic handlebars, so I am keeping them. I have a trigger shifter on my (non-functional) 1936 Raleigh Tourist, but don't want to canibalise that bike. On the handlebars it is then.

This bike has a very high BB, it will not be an issue. (My Moser roadbike on the other hand gives me some cause for concern - though I am now assured it is fine.)

Sixty Fiver

Whut ?

I have rocked 175's on my fg bikes with no issues and one of them has extremely low bb clearance.

ColonelJLloyd 

I use 170mm cranks on my fixed gear. I ride 63cm frames. 165mm cranks would feel too strange; too small.

tcs

S3X

The ratios of the S3X are 1:0.625, 1:0.75, 1:1.
For reference, the ratios of the AW-NIG hub are 1:0.75, 1:1, 1:1.33.

Sturmey-Archer designed and put into manufacture a three speed hub that did not have a "neutral" between 2nd and 3rd back in 1984 (following Sachs, that redesigned their three speed to eliminate the neutral in 1976). Since SunRace took over Sturmey-Archer in 2000, all the three speed designs they have built do not have a neutral position. They're called "NIG" hubs: No Inbetween Gear. The S3X is based on the NIG 5-speed hub.

Charles Wahl

Here's a link to a page with a somewhat technical, but interesting, review of the S3X.
https://www.gsevans.com/blog/2010/06/...-gear-hub.html
Not a thumbs-down, but some things to consider or be aware of: the author of the review claims that there's the possibility of between-gear freewheeling in both shifts. Gear lash is reported to be 10 degrees (something that I find a bit disconcerting, even on an AW with freewheel, though I've never measured it). And also there's some complaint about "axle key" being a part that isn't, in author's opinion, really robust enough. Hub impresses reviewer as being "a hack of the current 5-speed."

The reason I went looking in the first place: high gear is direct drive, not middle as reported elsewhere in this thread. Ratios are 1.0, 0.75, and 0.625. Low gear is described as being "noisy," but the mechanical efficiency of middle gear impressed the reviewer. I think that high gear being direct probably makes sense, for a fixed-gear bike -- they're geared higher than "cruise" normally anyway.

noglider 

I was at Andrew F's house a couple of weeks ago. He built the S3X into his Japanese-made Raleigh Competition with 531 tubing. I went right up to it and found neutral between 2nd and 3rd. It was very easy. I can't explain the conflict between what you say and what I experienced, but there you go.

I just looked at the picture. So the spline is cut through those threads? And that's why you can put on a traditional sprocket or a single speed freewheel? That is bloody brilliant.

It says it has an aluminum lockring. Is that a good idea?!

noglider 

Nice article, Charles! It states clearly that the hub has TWO neutrals but it sounds like the lower one is hard to find inadvertently.

Tom

Velognome 

Yep, I saw Tom find the neutral like he had done it 100 times before. I've "found" the neutral while riding and not paying attention to my shifts. I've never used the neutral between 2nd & 3rd in fear I may tear something up, but I can say with all certianty, the neutral is there on the s3x hub.

My experience has been a lash, may be 10 degrees in 1st and considerably less in 2nd with none in 3rd. Troublesome at first until you you begin shifting at speed. The lash is just enough to take torque off the chain while shifting an keeping your cadence, quite brilliant actually. Without the lash, you'd be forcing the shifts and it would be terrible. Like I said, first ride was odd on account of the lash, learn to use it to your advantage and the shifts become seamless.

Noisey? Not mine, I think of the bike as "a mouse in felt slippers"