rudypyatt

In the couple of years I have been off the bike, I see that Sturmey-Archer has brought out a 4 speed hub:
Sturmey-Archer | X-RF4

I have the SRF 3 hub on both of my bikes, a Linus Gaston 3 and a Windsor TimeLine that I had my local shop convert to 3 speeds. I enjoy the three speeds, but the 4 speed intrigues me. Does anyone have any experience with the current Sturmey-Archer 4 speed hub? Is it more reliable than the SRF5W?

Dan Burkhart 

No hands on experience with the new 4 speed hub, but just be aware that it is an all overdrive hub like their 8 speed model with first gear direct. This needs to be taken into consideration when choosing cogs and chain rings to get the desired ratios.
Just about anything will be more reliable than the wide range 5 speeds. They were problematic to say the least.

rudypyatt

Thanks, Dan. I will keep that in mind; I take it that a chain wheel of 30 or less is the only way to get away with 700-32 wheels and still have reasonable gearing. I will have to check and see if this hub is in the list on the Sheldon Brown site’s gear calculator, then run a few calculations.