Deciphering Shimano Designations and Part Numbers

[SuperDirtMan]

Anyone have any good tips on this? I've been looking at some Shimano SG-3S31 hubs on ebay, interested as to if they are meant to marry up with a band brake assembly, but I've had little luck finding information (I've actually had more come up when misspelling the name as SG-3531) and Shimano's website has been of little help, just listing it under the discontinued products as '3S.' It seems like Shimano has also removed most of their technical documentation from the site, and I've been only able to find a few scant Japanese documents on the hub itself (unhelpfully grouped in with a number of other hubs, making its features difficult to determine). Does anyone know any good resources for older Shimano products?

Also, Shimano is severely lacking in a convenient way to look up individual parts as well, and has seemingly changed their formatting over the years. I can see why SA is so much more appreciated on this part, with their more substantial backlog.

Thanks!

 

[Archie Sturmer]

I believe that the letter is some kind of code; “C” for the coaster brake; “R” for the roller brake (not included); “D” for disc brake; and “S” may be Something else.

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Fixed gear?

 

[SuperDirtMan]

I'm not sure, the standard freewheel hub (SG-3S30) uses the S.

I did find this Polish listing of a 3S31, with some kind of aftermarket band/drum brake, although I'm not sure if that's what the particular design is for.

Shimano 3CC Japan Piasta 3-biegi ham Rolkowy lata 70-te Płońsk - Sprzedajemy.pl

100 zł: Shimano SG-3S31 Japan Piasta z biegami i hamulcem rolkowym. Wymontowana z pogiętego koła - Stan nieznany (nie testowana w rowerze - ale obraca się bez zastrzeżeń). To co na zdjęciu. Kontakt telefoniczny 534134151,

sprzedajemy.pl

Looking at the images of both, the main difference seems to be the threaded (?) segment on the NDS.

 

[SuperDirtMan]

When consulting the shimano documentation search, I actually found that changing the language to Japanese or Chinese will actually return a number of results, regarding the installation/adjustment of this hub and the parts list.

From the listing on the polish site, and some context provided by Sheldon Brown, it seems like this particular hub may have been a East-Asian market 3-speed with an interface for an aftermarket band brake mechanism. These are supposedly more common on bikes in Japan, China, and the PRC.

That might resolve the question about this particular hub, but there is still the issue of deciphering Shimano part numbers. If anyone has any other thoughts on this, feel free to chime in.

 

[J-wagon]

I believe that the letter is some kind of code; “C” for the coaster brake; “R” for the roller brake (not included); “D” for disc brake; and “S” may be Something else.

Maybe S for servo brake?

 

[SuperDirtMan]

Update:

This hub is, indeed, intended for use with an aftermarket band/drum brake assembly! That resolves the question on that part, I suppose, for anyone with the same question...