Oilit
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
This post started in a discussion over this 1957 Corvette:
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1957-schwinn-corvette-3-speed.258645/
But there are others interested in these hubs, so it probably needs its own thread.
Background: Founded in 1902, Sturmey-Archer became the largest producer of three speed hubs for bicycles. Their early designs were refined to produce the “AW” (Type A, Wide Range) in 1936, which became their mainstay. Though owned by Raleigh, Sturmey-Archer sold hubs to other manufacturers including Hercules, Raleigh’s biggest competitor.
In the U.S. nearly all bicycles before World War II were coaster-brake single speeds, but Schwinn offered Sturmey-Archer hubs on the New World lightweights from 1939. WWII temporarily forestalled anything further, but postwar Britian prioritized exports to help pay war debts and by the early ‘50’s English bicycles had gained a strong share of the American market. Schwinn responded by introducing the “middleweights” in 1954, with the first two models, the Tiger and the Corvette, having optional three-speed hubs and caliper brakes from the start.
But despite their success, Sturmey-Archer faced challenges post-war. Evidently many of their patents had expired, and Tube Investments introduced the Hercules/Brampton three speed hub in 1946, based directly on Sturmey-Archer’s design. There were also foreign clones of the AW, notably one introduced by Steyr/Daimler/Puch (Austria) in 1954. As the old saying goes “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Facing this competition Sturmey-Archer introduced a new hub, the SW, in 1956. According to “The Hub of the Universe” (Tony Hadland and Alan Clarke), there were a couple of trial runs that exposed problems, but these were fixed and “the board approved the changeover from AW to SW production commencing on 1 April, 1956”.
But once the SW was in production, problems continued. In his essay (on the Sheldon Brown website) Brian Hayes says, “The Sturmey-Archer SW hub has a history of troublesome operation, to say the least.” Hayes goes into the problems in detail, and the main culprit seems to be the springless ratchet pawls. Being smaller than the AW pawls all three need to engage to distribute the load, but being springless it’s nearly impossible to ensure that all three engage, and uneven loads can make the pawls “walk” out of engagement. The result is the hub slipping under load, the last thing you want when you’re cranking hard. Hayes eventually modified his hub with springs under the pawls, which cured the problem.
But Sturmey-Archer never got that far. By 1959 the AW was back in production, their design chief of twenty years had been let go and the SW disappeared.
Schwinn adopted the SW hub sometime in late 1956 or early 1957. While Sturmey-Archer “commenced” the changeover on April 1, I have a Corvette with an AW hub dated October 1956 - seven months later, which suggests that the changeover ran into delays.
And once adopted, Schwinn was soon looking for alternatives. The first mention of the “Schwinn Approved” hubs found so far is in the August 1957 Schwinn Reporter under “New 3-Speed Option”. Thanks to @ABC Services for posting this and to @GTs58 for calling it to my attention. (12th picture of Post #59 in this thread) :
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1958-dealers-catalog.227161/page-6
But even though the Schwinn Approved hub was now a factory option, Schwinn continued using SW hubs. The next documented date comes from a 1958 Schwinn Reporter: “Sturmey-Archer SW hubs will not be available after 10/24/58. Models which used this hub will have Schwinn Approved hubs installed instead. The SW will be available again on 1/1/59.” Despite the last sentence Schwinn never used the SW again as far as I can tell, but I could be wrong. (Quoted by @GTs58, Post #10 in this thread) :
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/schwinn-corvette.168169/
So that much is known but there are still some questions.
1. Exactly when did Schwinn change from the AW to the SW?
2. Was August 1957 the first use of the Schwinn Approved hubs? Given the timing it appears that problems with the SW led Schwinn to use the Austrian hubs, but three points may indicate that they were already in the works:
a. The post in the Reporter gives very little information. You would think Schwinn would offer a little more than “New Hub Available.”
b. The Approved hubs have a different shell than hubs S/D/P built for Sears (“JC Higgins”), which required some tooling changes. Which doesn’t sound like a rush job.
c. The Weinmann calipers on the 1956 Corvette are also marked “Schwinn Approved” so the Approved hubs may have been part of a new marketing strategy for Schwinn.
It‘s also worth noting that some early ‘50’s Schwinn lightweights have Brampton hubs that appear original, so Schwinn had used other hubs even before the SW.
The Schwinn Approved hubs aren’t dated, but there are two different Schwinn Approved shift triggers, a more common (later?) oval style and a less common (earlier?) “baseball diamond”.
3. Was October 1958 actually the last time Schwinn used SW hubs?
4. And finally, what was the last year for the Schwinn Approved hubs? By the late ‘60’s derailleurs were the hot ticket and while Schwinn still sold three speeds, all later bikes I’ve seen had Sturmey-Archer.
If you have any relevant documents from either Schwinn or Sturmey-Archer, please feel free to share.
And if you have a Schwinn three speed that you would like to post, please include good pictures of the bike, the shift trigger, the hub and enough of the serial number to tell the month and year.
And if you have an SW hub that you use, tell us about it. According to Hadland and Clarke: “Not all SW hubs failed, but the failure rate was unacceptable.” But not all failed, so with luck you might have gotten a good one. If this was you, let us know.
The Brain Hayes essay:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sw.html
And thanks to @AS-1 for starting this discussion. I had suggested he start a thread on the subject, but I know he’s kind of bashful, so I went ahead and took the plunge.
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1957-schwinn-corvette-3-speed.258645/
But there are others interested in these hubs, so it probably needs its own thread.
Background: Founded in 1902, Sturmey-Archer became the largest producer of three speed hubs for bicycles. Their early designs were refined to produce the “AW” (Type A, Wide Range) in 1936, which became their mainstay. Though owned by Raleigh, Sturmey-Archer sold hubs to other manufacturers including Hercules, Raleigh’s biggest competitor.
In the U.S. nearly all bicycles before World War II were coaster-brake single speeds, but Schwinn offered Sturmey-Archer hubs on the New World lightweights from 1939. WWII temporarily forestalled anything further, but postwar Britian prioritized exports to help pay war debts and by the early ‘50’s English bicycles had gained a strong share of the American market. Schwinn responded by introducing the “middleweights” in 1954, with the first two models, the Tiger and the Corvette, having optional three-speed hubs and caliper brakes from the start.
But despite their success, Sturmey-Archer faced challenges post-war. Evidently many of their patents had expired, and Tube Investments introduced the Hercules/Brampton three speed hub in 1946, based directly on Sturmey-Archer’s design. There were also foreign clones of the AW, notably one introduced by Steyr/Daimler/Puch (Austria) in 1954. As the old saying goes “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Facing this competition Sturmey-Archer introduced a new hub, the SW, in 1956. According to “The Hub of the Universe” (Tony Hadland and Alan Clarke), there were a couple of trial runs that exposed problems, but these were fixed and “the board approved the changeover from AW to SW production commencing on 1 April, 1956”.
But once the SW was in production, problems continued. In his essay (on the Sheldon Brown website) Brian Hayes says, “The Sturmey-Archer SW hub has a history of troublesome operation, to say the least.” Hayes goes into the problems in detail, and the main culprit seems to be the springless ratchet pawls. Being smaller than the AW pawls all three need to engage to distribute the load, but being springless it’s nearly impossible to ensure that all three engage, and uneven loads can make the pawls “walk” out of engagement. The result is the hub slipping under load, the last thing you want when you’re cranking hard. Hayes eventually modified his hub with springs under the pawls, which cured the problem.
But Sturmey-Archer never got that far. By 1959 the AW was back in production, their design chief of twenty years had been let go and the SW disappeared.
Schwinn adopted the SW hub sometime in late 1956 or early 1957. While Sturmey-Archer “commenced” the changeover on April 1, I have a Corvette with an AW hub dated October 1956 - seven months later, which suggests that the changeover ran into delays.
And once adopted, Schwinn was soon looking for alternatives. The first mention of the “Schwinn Approved” hubs found so far is in the August 1957 Schwinn Reporter under “New 3-Speed Option”. Thanks to @ABC Services for posting this and to @GTs58 for calling it to my attention. (12th picture of Post #59 in this thread) :
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1958-dealers-catalog.227161/page-6
But even though the Schwinn Approved hub was now a factory option, Schwinn continued using SW hubs. The next documented date comes from a 1958 Schwinn Reporter: “Sturmey-Archer SW hubs will not be available after 10/24/58. Models which used this hub will have Schwinn Approved hubs installed instead. The SW will be available again on 1/1/59.” Despite the last sentence Schwinn never used the SW again as far as I can tell, but I could be wrong. (Quoted by @GTs58, Post #10 in this thread) :
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/schwinn-corvette.168169/
So that much is known but there are still some questions.
1. Exactly when did Schwinn change from the AW to the SW?
2. Was August 1957 the first use of the Schwinn Approved hubs? Given the timing it appears that problems with the SW led Schwinn to use the Austrian hubs, but three points may indicate that they were already in the works:
a. The post in the Reporter gives very little information. You would think Schwinn would offer a little more than “New Hub Available.”
b. The Approved hubs have a different shell than hubs S/D/P built for Sears (“JC Higgins”), which required some tooling changes. Which doesn’t sound like a rush job.
c. The Weinmann calipers on the 1956 Corvette are also marked “Schwinn Approved” so the Approved hubs may have been part of a new marketing strategy for Schwinn.
It‘s also worth noting that some early ‘50’s Schwinn lightweights have Brampton hubs that appear original, so Schwinn had used other hubs even before the SW.
The Schwinn Approved hubs aren’t dated, but there are two different Schwinn Approved shift triggers, a more common (later?) oval style and a less common (earlier?) “baseball diamond”.
3. Was October 1958 actually the last time Schwinn used SW hubs?
4. And finally, what was the last year for the Schwinn Approved hubs? By the late ‘60’s derailleurs were the hot ticket and while Schwinn still sold three speeds, all later bikes I’ve seen had Sturmey-Archer.
If you have any relevant documents from either Schwinn or Sturmey-Archer, please feel free to share.
And if you have a Schwinn three speed that you would like to post, please include good pictures of the bike, the shift trigger, the hub and enough of the serial number to tell the month and year.
And if you have an SW hub that you use, tell us about it. According to Hadland and Clarke: “Not all SW hubs failed, but the failure rate was unacceptable.” But not all failed, so with luck you might have gotten a good one. If this was you, let us know.
The Brain Hayes essay:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sw.html
And thanks to @AS-1 for starting this discussion. I had suggested he start a thread on the subject, but I know he’s kind of bashful, so I went ahead and took the plunge.
