A lot of hogwash in this thread. LOL. I have a SA RD3, XL-RD5w, Nexus 7i with deplorable roller brake, and Rohloff14 with disc brake.
I just rode my 50 lb CCM 3 speed 92 miles the first full day ride this year. It hums along around 14 mph just fine. GIs are 47/ 63/ 84. Any other gear range is a stupid idea.
The fastest and easiest by far is the older SA 5w with finicky shifting. Efficiency is 96/ 97% at least, there are gaps between some gears of course. It has done 46 mph and my longest ride at 133.6 miles. R14 would only do 43 on the same hill.
The R14 does take thousands of miles to loosen up all the seals. The bike is 78 lbs most of the time. I go 16 mph a lot of the time with medium effort. IMO, the efficiency is 94 to 96% like often stated. The $$$ is 100% JUSTIFIED. I did 2 tours at 120 lbs, 8,100 miles. I didn't see any deraileur tour bikes passing me. Funny how it's slagged by guys with $10,000 CF racers that can't carry a box of kleenex. LOL
The Nexus 7i is less efficient but the best for shifting in traffic, with a 2 trigger shifter. The 7 gears are perfectly spaced, with 3 GI less on the top than the SA 5w. With a disc brake it should be closer to the SA hubs.
The flaw with the SA 8 is the biggest gap at the bottom and top. So gears 1 to 2 would have about 33 GI then 43 GI. The 5w is the opposite with 17% from 1 to 2nd.
I absolutely love my SA XL-FDD dyno drum brake front hubs. Best bike part ever made.
>>> Shifting any IGH with any load is STUPID. That's why cars have a CLUTCH.
But anyway, your 1974 bike has 120 mm dropouts.
Last edited by GamblerGORD53; 05-22-22 at 07:49 AM.