Sturmey 5 speed gear lever Q.

[peetee]

I have a twin cable 5 speed sturmey hub circa 1980. I want to include it in the build of a 50's drop bar bike and need to source some suitable levers (with down tube band) or modify some to look the part. The supplied levers are horrid bulky things and not suitable for the down tube. I saw a roberts once that used Campag friction levers but finding the lever position for the next gear must be a bit hit and miss.
My main question is does anyone know if any index levers match the click spacing of the sturmey hubs? The Sturmey 5 speed hub has the same cable pull as the 3.
Ta

[Brucey]

at one time SA did a pair of levers that were about the same size as DT levers, but were band-on fitting to the stem. They may have done similar for DT bosses or indeed it may be possible to convert said levers to DT fitment with a little surgery.

Currently SA do a 3s DT lever that is correctly indexed for the RH shift in a 5s hub. You could use that. A (roughly) matching LH lever could be obtained I think from a set of Sun Race DT levers.

Also I have used a twin-cable SA 5s hub with friction levers and it was fine; the low to middle shift on the RH lever is easy; you just feed it in until you feel the shift go. There is no neutral position to worry about. The high to middle shift on the RHS is more awkward, but all that is required is to note where the correct position is and head for that. If you get it wrong and the gear slips out, it isn't likely that you will damage anything. Some simple dodges are;

a) just put a mark on the lever so you know where the middle gear position is
b) arrange it so that the lever is pointed straight at you when you are in the middle gear position.

hth

cheers

[peetee]

Thanks Brucey. Very comprehensive reply. The original Sturmey shifters I have are, frankly, hideous for any build, but like them or not they can't be modified for the down tube because the cable stops are wrongly positioned.
Perhaps I will try the friction shift approach although I was quite looking forward to shaving and reshaping some SIS shifters to look a bit more in keeping. either way I need to find something with a band before i can go any further.

[Brucey]

quite a lot of DT levers are built in the same way as old campag record levers, for the simple reason that the standard DT lever boss is essentially a campag design. This means that the lever stop plate locates on the 12mm square base, and can also incorporate a cable stop. You can often swap stop plates around between levers, and come to that they are easy enough to make if needs be.

Quite a lot of stem mounted and band-on levers use all the same parts but with a riveted construction. If you drill the rivets out the levers can be reworked and the parts re-used. Often the 'dummy boss' can be tapped M5 all the way through which means that riveted levers can be reassembled in a new configuration by using a short M5 screw loctited in at the back. If you are really sure of yourself an all the parts are steel a blob or two of MIG weld will hold everything together; this is a better scheme for some levers that use a combined stop-plate and anti-rotation device (that stops the tension screw from unscrewing). Certain older sun tour designs are like this.

BTW the cable stops on the extant levers may just be a decoy; do you really need them? You can surely run bare inners to cable stops on the bottom of the down tube, or even under the BB shell on a bare wire guide perhaps?

BTW reworking indexed levers to a different spacing is sometimes possible, but it isn't easy.

You can maybe tell I've spent a bit of time thinking about this sort of thing; I've run several different twin-cable SA 5s setups and I'm currently helping a chum with a similar build to yours. He has a 1947 Hetchins and I built a 1948 FW hub up into a (left-side pushrod) 5s version for him.

One idea for his build is to make a new stop plate for vintage (period correct) friction levers, which will incorporate a pointer for the middle gear position. The reason this works OK is that there is usually a 2mm wide 'window' for the middle gear position. If you really want to, you can shave the back of the middle/high gear pawls so that the low gear only engages in the last two mm of cable pull; this can extend the middle gear 'window' to 3 or 4 mm, which is a barn-door sized target to hit.

cheers

[robc02]

If you can't find DT shifters you are satisfied with then a three speed trigger for the RH side and either a three speed trigger or any friction shifter for the LH side works well. When I've done this I've fixed the triggers just beneath the brake levers, and turned them in slightly. I normally fit the gear cable under the 'bar tape. I haven't any photos of the five speed setup but here is one of a four speed on a similar vintage bike to the OPs:

DSCN2057 by SturmeyRob, on Flickr

[peetee]

Robc02 I did just that with a previous commuting steed. A 5 speed single gear Sturmey with it's plastic thumb shifter by the left brake lever. The sweep was spot on.

I have today set up a Shimano 7spd SIS downtube shifters running 'bare inner' to the twin cable rear hub. not had time to fine tune but I can see how the '2mm window' fits in as the shifter needs two clicks to make the first shift and 3 clicks for the next so that middle gear is flexible enough to line up to one or the other. Engagement seems positive like this but the proof of the pud is in the chomping so I will give it a road test to be sure. Having said that I will try friction levers too as The SIS jobbies look pretty horrid.

[[XAP]Bob]

OK - Mine does have a neutral... (between DD and overdrive on the RHS)

I have a pair of friction DT shifters, and the changes are easy enough to feel - it is just a case of knowing where the RH lever wants to be for direct drive - in my case I look straight along it when it's in position. The other gears are all slack/tight so easy to find...


Just reread Brucey's post and I think he is saying the same...

BTW - always park in neutral. Extra security. People don't expect bikes to have a neutral gear.
Neutral also makes a good 'chain servicing' gear as well...

[MLJ]

You can use a pair of 3-speed SA levers, too.