The hub
The big news for late 2008, for fixed wheel fans at least, was confirmation from Sturmey Archer, now owned by Sun Race, that a rumoured three speed hub with no freewheel, similar in concept to the legendary Sturmey ASC hub of the 1950s, was to be made reality.
Unlike the ASC, which had relatively close ratios of 10% and 25% down from direct drive top, the new hub would have more conventional (for a three-speed hub) ratios of 25% and 37.5% below top.
So it does, the other obvious difference with the half-century older design being the use of an aluminium shell in place of steel.
The new hub, archly named the S3X, retains the familiar toggle chain exiting the hollow nut on the right-hand spindle end but employs a new threaded sprocket retention collar in place of the old snap ring. The fixed sprocket is splined and retained by the collar; using spacers allows chain line to be adjusted from 42mm to 45mm in 1mm increments. The thread on the sprocket holder will accept a single freewheel, fitment of which turns the hub into a three-speed freewheel hub…
Fixed sprocket options are 12t to 13t for 3/32″ chain and 12t to 18t for 1/8″ chain.
The bike
So, the S3X is here at last and has found a natural home in Condor Cycles’ Tempo fixed wheel road bike. The standard build of the Tempo S3X comprises the Tempo’s steel frame with added cable stops under the down tube and chainstay, Deda Black Rain all-carbon fork and Deda bars and stem with Condor-branded brakes and saddle with the S3X hub and bar-end shifter and Sturmey Archer’s single chainring crankset.
Mavic Open Pro rims and Continental’s new SuperSport tyres complete the specification, which is priced at £1099.99 minus pedals and can, of course, be upgraded according to the customer’s preferences.
The ride
Condor’s base-model Tempo is well-proven so RCUK’s initial spin concentrated on the impressions offered by the hub. For starters, with no freewheel, it is near-silent in all gears thanks to the absence of the ticking that afflicts regular hubs.
Next, there is about 10 degrees of backlash or free play, which feels like having a very slack chain. It is an inevitable aspect of the hub, since the internal mechanism must have some free play to allow the gears to mesh and, to be fair, it hardly impinges on the riding experience even when attempting a track stand.
Lastly, for now, is the experience of shifting gears. In doing this, taking advantage of the hub’s free play is critical, since it only shifts when there is no load on the gears. With a freewheeling hub is it enough to freewheel to remove the load, whereas the S3X requires that the pedals continue to turn with the chain running slack as the shift is executed, which in turn makes the cranks turn either faster or slower. With a few attempts it becomes easy enough but we have yet to find out what happens when trying to shift at a high cadence.
It is great fun, for sure, and on first acquaintance the S3X would seem to be a machine for the more experienced fixed rider. We’ll be giving it a proper outing or two over the next few weeks. Watch this space…
