That is just the same as my 1956 ladies Sports' SW hub. The two piece indicator rod. I'm going to rebuild the hub and see if it'll work well. Yours looks to be in good shape. As a matter of fact, they were made in the same month!

Here's mine:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6785a23cdb.jpg

My 1947 dynohub find and your SW find prove that cool old stuff is still hiding at co-ops. What will you do with it?

I have a 32h '47 dynohub with the black bakelite covering, and a 36h '62 dynohub all chrome. I'm trying to figure out which one to build into a new set of Velocity Dyad wheels to go on my red Peugeot AO8 and a new B&M dynamo light set. I intended to use the 32h dynohub for the ladies '56 Sports in a new front 32h CR18 wheel with an old sturmey light set, and keep the 36h for the new Dyad wheel. The black bakelite centre would look so cool on my red Peugeot though. I think it makes more sense to have a 36h wheel up front for a tough commuter / all-rounder bike.

Hopefully, October 1956 was a good month!

The biggest complaint is that the springless pawls engage unreliably.

I'm not sure of SA's rationale for this design, but I do see it as an advantage. The more common AW hub has a reputation for reliability, but one of the common failure points is stripping the axle key into which the indicator rod threads. Replacing the axle key requires opening the hub. The two-piece rod eliminates this problem, as the axle key is unthreaded and trapped between the two pieces of the indicator rod. If one or the other piece gets stripped, they can be removed and replaced without opening the hub.

Good points.
The S/A literature at the time promotes fewer parts as an advantage (their advantage)
I've never had a stripped axle key but did have one shatter as I was running/testing the hub
without the indicator in place. Lesson learned.
This SW is a 40h and shows minimal signs of use.
I suspect it was removed early and replaced with an AW...

The attachment below shows how to adjust the 3 Speed Hub with LH Indicator Rod.https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fa10750f37.png
SA Technical Paper Extract Ref Indicator Rod Adjustment

What does anyone think about building up a bike for hard, fast riding using an old FW hub?

Back in 1939 Tommy Godwin set the record for most miles ridden in a year and for the second half of that year he was running a sturmey 4 speed, he did ride 75,000 miles that year.


I have an S5 in a bike that I smash on pretty hard, I also had an AW in that bike and rode a hilly century on it at 16+ MPH...

IMO sturmeys can easily handle anything a normal human can throw at them.

75,000? That would be a lot of tires.

Right?!?!?

The guy was surely made of nails and train tracks.

His record was recently beaten, 80 years later, but it was by someone riding in circles around their house on asphalt.

Tommy Godwin | Long Distance Legend

BSA (later BSA/Triumph) bought the Sunbeam name from AMC in 1943, also produced motorcycles (the S7 and S8) postwar until 1956. The motorcycles left a bit to be desired, and are usually considered in retrospect as the first signs of weakness and impending disaster in the British motorcycle industry. The bicycles continued to have a good reputation, as they should seeing there was very little change from the pre-war models, and were produced until 1957, at which I assume the Sunbeam marque was discontinued completely.

Unfortunately, I must inject a bit of bad news into this thread. For those who haven't followed my thread on the subject, my garage/bicycle shop burned to the ground two weeks ago. All tools and a 15 year parts collection were lost. And, most unfortunately, the 1935 Armstrong Ladies Roadster I was working on was in the garage when it burned. I'd been restoring it for a WWII British Women's Land Army impression, and had the misfortune to put it in the garage that Monday afternoon with the intention of working on it the following rainy Tuesday.

I haven't tossed it, despite the twisting in the frame from the heat, intending to at least pull the components, media blast them once I have the shop rebuilt, and re-chrome if necessary. I'm also to going to save the SA hub, as pre-war hubs aren't exactly common. And I've got a bag of additional part (my Tuesday project) sitting in the house.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d3682add1.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...70ffb04bc.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1eb43ee81.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2e83d7f31.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...267c25566.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a73b230fd.jpeg

I have a Wartime Finish Sunbeam produced after BSA took over Sunbeam, no chromium all in black paint single coat, it is covered in surface rust and needs full restoration but is a nice original bike. Yes Sunbeam was in decline on all fronts and the S7 Motor Cycle was a failure, due to insufficient development, the S8 was an improvement and did sell more bikes but not enough to save Sunbeam. They did in 1959 launch a BSA/Sunbeam Motor Scooter in two versions, a 175cc two stroke and a 250cc four stroke but the market was already sown up by Vespa and Lambretta whose machines have cult status and you see gangs of old geezers still riding them today re living their youth. The BSA Sunbeam Scooter lasted until 1964 when they were discontinued. The Sunbeam bicycles were discontinued in 1957 when Raleigh took over BSA though they did later use the Sunbeam name on various children's bicycles, a sad end for a great marque.

I was sorry to read of the loss of your collection due to a fire in your workshop, a great loss and very upsetting. I know how it would affect me so my thoughts are with you. I hope you can salvage something and rebuild your workshop and collection, regarding the Armstrong frame, it might be worth getting a good frame builder to look at it, some are very clever and may consider it worthwhile to attempt to straighten and re align the frame, I have had frames straightened though admittedly nowhere near as bad but they can put it in a jig and may be able to reform the tubes. Bike restoration is a very worthwhile enterprise especially as our successors may have to resort to the bicycle as the only means of transport in the future. My best wishes to you on this.
Best regards
Peter Young

I have a 1957 Philips 'step thru' with the SW 3 Speed hub, I stripped and rebuilt the hub along with a second one as a spare as part of the rebuild of the bike (posted earlier in this thread). I found the hub to work very well as when I am in USA I ride it a lot and todate it has never slipped, it is a silent hub (pedalling or freewheeling) which is a bit of a novelty. It needs to be lubricated with a thin oil such as Transmission Fluid otherwise the unsprung pawls can tend to stick, also parking the bicycle on its flip down stand allows the oil to drift to the 'non drive' side of the hub reducing lubrication to the drive side. It needs to be used sympathetically. If one bears these points in mind the hub should give many years trouble free service. I have posted how to adjust the indicator rod in this thread with an extract from an SA Technical Manual.

That makes sense.

That's a terrible turn of events.

Horrible. But, you know, it's only stuff.

Yeah, I was thinking it's a perfectly ok idea.

For the Detectives
George at Parts Unknown has these two vintage English bikes at his shop.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e08c182177.jpg
They both have "Made in England" stamped on the handle bars.
There are no other markings/decals left.
He thinks the headbadge says "Windsor"
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bd5cb4e7ba.jpg
Both are coasters.

The camelback frame is similar to a Raleigh Colt.
I recognize both chainrings but at the moment can't remember what the the one on the right is.

The chainring one on the left is more common.

Both are large 24" frames

Looks like a couple of Birmingham Hercules.

My Saddle Soars.....
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c4f119730.jpg
I know Proofhide is the recommended treatment for leather saddles but
it's an expensive/small container.
I've been using mink oil from the shoe store @ $6.00 a tub and seems to work fine.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1589736aaf.jpg

It seems to me oil could make the leather too soft so I would use very sparingly. For a Proofide alternative, how about Sno-seal? Waxy, not oily.

Good suggestion! I have some, but never thought of this. Thank you.