RX-RD5; another flawed Sturmey Archer 5s hub? -surely not....

[leeta]

the way SA have implemented rotary shifting is very clever but if there is the slightest drag in the extra bearing or worse yet, contact where there should be none,, a tendency to autoshift is the usual result. So that is what I'd look at first.

The shifter itself is rubbish for sure, but it is probably not to blame for this particular malady.

If it’s teardown time I’m up for it… what signs of drag would I be looking for once inside and how to remedy it? I presume factory lubricant could be insufficient in these nowadays?

[Brucey]

… what signs of drag would I be looking for.....

If you can, test the driver to see if it is dragging the shift mechanism round; it may just be set too tight. If it is set too loose, there may have been metal to metal contact and this may have left a mark.

[leeta]

Goodness me - as simple as that eh?

Right, I will try and check for that. Maybe I need a work stand

[leeta]

wow im googlignt his and finding my own posts, and almost exactly a year ago. means the bike hasnt been ridden all year how sad. but Ive two bikes with these hubs now and they both behave exactly the same. so ive obtained the trigger shifters with the up and down shift levers apparently tehy will improve this hub. i will try fitting up one of the bikes today. I think even the shifter cables are different though with I think the rotary shifting hubs using a more flexible style inner. the shifters I think have the tradditional double-twisted like "rope" style inners which are stiffer and not sure will wind around the actuator.

[leeta]

… what signs of drag would I be looking for.....

If you can, test the driver to see if it is dragging the shift mechanism round; it may just be set too tight. If it is set too loose, there may have been metal to metal contact and this may have left a mark.

these hubs I have seem to misbehave when I push on the pedals so I wonder if some flexing is happening causing some binding.

[Brucey]

I gave up on the Sunrace SA stuff. It's nicely finished and you can see they are trying to improve the design, but they just don't know what they're doing. So we get badly-sealed large ball races, a NIG design where the pawl plate rattles or gets bent, and the S3X which has worn sun-locking dogs after a couple of hundred miles.

That’s a rather depressing state of affairs. How does an AW convert negotiate that minefield? A case of only buying old stuff ‘till there isn’t any left to buy?

reluctantly I am in agreement with much of what 'rogerzilla' says. However the NIG design actually originated in Nottingham; too bad they decided this was to be the 'one size fits all' option, and likewise it is just too bad that they have, at times, shown a remarkable lack of talent for making bits that actually work as intended. Those with very long memories will recall that the AW hub was out of production for a while in the late 1950s, the ill-fated SW being the intended replacement. It is probably fair to say that BITD about half of SA's hubs had considerable 'room for improvement'. Arguably in this respect, little has changed with the move to Taiwan, although some of their design changes (deletion of the cone locking washer on the RHS being a good case in point) are rather worrisome.

[leeta]

well, I fitted the click-shift style changer with its stiffer cable and short test ride shows it working at least, couple of changes up and down the gears very slick. shortened the upshift lever by cutting / filing so that it doesnt interfere with the grip / my hand. seems promising! that was the roadster, got another bike a tuberider which I will do the same.

[Brucey]

.....these hubs I have seem to misbehave when I push on the pedals so I wonder if some flexing is happening causing some binding........

that it seems to be worse when you pedal hard is symptomatic of the driver moving slightly under load, in which case adjusting the hub bearings (a wee bit tighter) may fix it.

FWIW using the triigger shifter may help, but it is arguably just masking an underlying fault, one that will, ultimately, lead to shifter/cable breakage. Also the use of a braided cable with this shifter is almost certainly because this is, at heart, a microshift shifter, where they have increased the cable pull per shift by increasing the radius of the pulley inside the shifter. This is a bit like the oversize thumbshifter barrel, only you can't see it. This does 'work' but there is extra bending in the cable; this typically puts a massive strain on the cable inside the shifter, leading to it's premature demise. Microshift have form for this; they sell/sold a 7s trigger shifter for a N7 hub, re-using most of the design for a shifter with much shorter cable pull. The shifter itself worked fine, but proved to have an unhealthy appetite for cables.

[leeta]

I can recall a bike years ago with i think simplex branded shifting / gears and the shift cable inner was solid!

anyway with this one, the SA RX-RD5 was fitted with the thinner braided style cable, the rapidfire stlye shifter came with the thicker traditional style cable fitted. initial indications are - It works! hopefullly longer rides wont show up any issues. I'll bear in mind about adjustment. I had hand on the shift actuator while changing the cable, seems snug - not loose / not binding..

[Stradageek]

I can recall a bike years ago with i think simplex branded shifting / gears and the shift cable inner was solid!

It's a very early Shimano hub gear with a push-pull bell crank I think. I was given a bike with this system to repair, the cable outer had disintegrated. Given the cost and poor availability of the cable assembly I just rebuilt the wheel with a standard Nexus 3 hub, cable and changer I had in my spares box. Several hours work to save £40, I worry about myself sometimes

[Brucey]

..... I had hand on the shift actuator while changing the cable, seems snug - not loose / not binding......

this is necessary, but it isn't necessarily sufficient; the worst binding/autoshifting is expected to occur under load.