Should I replace or repair my broken original Brompton Archer 5 Speed hub?

[Paul]

The spindle thing with the tiny thread that you screw into the hub just pulls out something obviously broken inside. It happened whilst changing gear.

The Brompton is from 1997, the hub a five speed.

Is it worth the hassle of taking it to be fixed or should I buy a new one?

And then which one?

All advice welcome!

[Keezx]

Had teh same , many years ago, also a folding bike , and repaired it.
A small bar in which the pulling pin screws was broken.
Not difficult for someone who is familiar with SA 3 speed hubs.
After the repair it had only 4 speeds left, the top one was gone, never missed it, the 5 speeds were not the most reliable SA hubs...

[robc02]

Before stripping the hub down I would have a good look at the threads on the "spindle thing" (SA call it the "indicator"). They are very fine and could easily be damaged.

If you have a single cable 5 speed this diagram might help:
http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/images/photos/pic-169.1.jpg
more here:
http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/files/view-169.pdf

If it an older twin cable hub, the part that sounds stripped is called the "axle key" - item 36, part No HSA 124 on page 4 of this diagram:
https://hadland.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/how-to-repair-old-sturmey-archer-hubs/

There is lots more info about SA hubs here:
https://hadland.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/how-to-repair-old-sturmey-archer-hubs/

and here:
http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/index.php?page=history&type=technic&era=2

[Brucey]

the parts that you need may not be very expensive so a repair is definitely feasible provided you can still buy the right parts at all.

If you replace the hub with a 'comparable' 5s hub it will have to be an S-RF5 which is itself going obsolete. The S-RF5 hub will have to be built into a wheel (in the internal won't fit in your current shell) and the shifter will need to be changed too (the cable pulls are different). To cap it all it isn't quite such a good hub in many ways.

BTW if it just has one toggle chain on the RHS you should have a 'sprinter' 5s hub. This exists in two versions; dog locking and ball-locking. They look the same externally and have the same gear ratios and shifters. The only external difference is that the dog-locking sprinter usually has a square end to the LH side of the axle and the ball-locking one has a small chamfer on the LH end of the axle. In 1997 I think the dog-locking hub is most likely, but if the hub has been repaired already the internal may have been traded for a ball-locking one.

cheers

[Paul]

Very much appreciated everyone. Thank you. After all these years, it’s a great Brompton bicycle and to be honest with the five gears ( and I do have the Sprinter hub), I hardly ever used the ‘heavy to pedal’ low gears.

I’ll take it to the Brompton shop today for an inspection and conversation about what is the most time, cost and mechanically effective for the next 21 years!

[Sweep]

Out of interest paul, where are you and which is your brompton shop?

[Paul]

Evening All

I’m in Stuttgart sweep. Bought my Brompton back in ‘97.
So my hub wasn’t in fact broken: the spindle thing had unscrewed all the way out and I couldn’t myself get it back in.

The shop

http://www.stadtrad-west.de/

Screwed it back in and checked the hub. Meanwhile I got fed up with the bottle rattling around and I’ve invested in a shimano hub dynamo with Lumotec switchable front light and Brompton rear.

I hope to cycle another 21 years which will take me rather nicely into my seventeenth years.

My bikes are

Brompton
Dave Hinde Steel fast touring bike from ‘96
Thorn XTC
2004 StreetMachine Recumbent
Hase Kettweisel for Winter

Love them all really.

Paul

[Sweep]

I hope to cycle another 21 years which will take me rather nicely into my seventeenth years.

l

seventeenth?

I know cycling makes folks younger but that seems like one hell of an achivement?

Brucey, with regard to your comments upthread, is the 5 speed sprinter going obsolete? I have one in my brommie, from a few months before Sturmey Nottingham was shut down, so probably ball locking.

Very nicely serviced a couple of years ago by the very nice Bicycle Workshop of Notting Hill. (the reason why I asked Paul where he was)

[Brucey]

re the sprinter going obsolete; the sprinter has gone obsolete some time ago. I said the X-RF5(W) (a different hub) is going obsolete.

There are still some spare parts available for the ball locking sprinter but I don't think they are making any more of them.

cheers

[Paul]

Seventieth! Love spell check but would rather be on me bike!

[Paul]

Well I can only hope my sprinter keeps on running as it’s been doing...very impressive and can’t believe they can make
anything as good, and as long lasting as this one.

[Paul]

Still remember cycling on it through the outskirts of Warrington in the late ‘90s and people stopped and stared at me.

When I collapsed it and put it on the bus it was an event with an audience. Like a magician folding up space: an illusion or some kind of slight of hand that made people really stare at what they had seen.

[Brucey]

Well I can only hope my sprinter keeps on running as it’s been doing...very impressive and can’t believe they can make
anything as good, and as long lasting as this one.

well, I hope so too, and, er, they didn't. The (W) 5s hub was not an improvement (in fact not as good), and the new 5s hub (C50) is a bit of a boat anchor.

The sprinter was a pretty good hub for a Brompton; the IGH has a fairly easy life inside a small wheel.

BTW occasionally a control rod screws back in and all seems well, but in fact the threads are damaged and the rod pulls out again some time later. Fingers crossed...

cheers

[Sweep]

With regard to my sprinter I seem to remember that Bicycle Workshop said that getting bits for it wouldn't be a great problem.

[AndyPat]

Very nicely serviced a couple of years ago by the very nice Bicycle Workshop of Notting Hill. (the reason why I asked Paul where he was)

Looks like Bicycle Workshop is closed: https://www.bicycleworkshop.co.uk/