When hobbies become interesting.....

[GrifterGuru]

Oh...oh dear.

It's a stylish, cool looking bike, that for those of us with fond memories of the 70s is a lovely bit of nostalgia.

An optimal design of bicycle, it is not.

(those Sturmey Archer gears for example, take the effort one puts in, chuckle to themselves and chuck about 10% of that effort in the bin; 10% isn't much when compared with stuff like the aerodynamic drag of rhe rider but if you're having to provide that effort yourself, every Watt counts )

No, not optimally designed frame, but I would rather ride an Armchair (Raleigh chopper) or Land rover (Raleigh Grifter) than any of this modern rubbish or a road bike with drop bars, a racer, anything alloy or carbon.

Regarding sturmey gears... Trust me when I say that they can rust completely solid, be knocked apart, cleaned up, rebuilt with new pawl springs and be in use for a further 50 years or more.

Properly lubricated, there is low loss through drag of the internal gear train although that can be compensated by swapping the hub sprocket for higher or lower gearing ratios.

Besides, rolling resistance of the tyres has more drag than the hub itself.

The more exotic S5 (3+2 5 speed) are fun to rebuild and an easy fit in an AW shell. Easy to convert an FW to S5 as well.

 

[jwmay]

Well I love it. I hope they make a few million or more. Idk how soon I’ll be buying, so I wanna make sure there’s something in the used market for a codger like I hope to be.

I’ve got a lot of fond memories of riding similarly styled bikes all over creation as a preteen.

Can a 5’10” rider get along ok on one?

 

[GrifterGuru]

Well I love it. I hope they make a few million or more. Idk how soon I’ll be buying, so I wanna make sure there’s something in the used market for a codger like I hope to be.

I’ve got a lot of fond memories of riding similarly styled bikes all over creation as a preteen.

Can a 5’10” rider get along ok on one?

Only run this year was limited release and that was "around" a total of 2000 (I know the exact number, but can not say due to agreements). There was talk of more being produced, but that has neither been confirmed nor denied.

There are a few on ebay at inflated prices. Original sale price was £950 ($1210.83 at current conversion). the optional extra cissybar was £50 ($63.73 at current conversion).

There is, of course, the fact that they were sold to "UK only", though some have been shipped abroad through private means. There is an FB page dedicated to the new MK-IV entitled "The New Raleigh Chopper MK IV Group" if you wish to learn about them.

Then there are the elder mk1 & mk2 models.

Choose what you want, do your research, pay for what you actually want.

At 5'10" you will be fine. Just get the seat height right for a slightly bent knee at BDC of the crank with your foot on the pedal and you will be golden.

 

[SouthernChap]

No, not optimally designed frame, but I would rather ride an Armchair (Raleigh chopper) or Land rover (Raleigh Grifter) than any of this modern rubbish or a road bike with drop bars, a racer, anything alloy or carbon.

Regarding sturmey gears... Trust me when I say that they can rust completely solid, be knocked apart, cleaned up, rebuilt with new pawl springs and be in use for a further 50 years or more.

Properly lubricated, there is low loss through drag of the internal gear train although that can be compensated by swapping the hub sprocket for higher or lower gearing ratios.

Besides, rolling resistance of the tyres has more drag than the hub itself.

The more exotic S5 (3+2 5 speed) are fun to rebuild and an easy fit in an AW shell. Easy to convert an FW to S5 as well.

Oh the Sturmey Archer gears would survive direct tactical nuclear hits and modern hub gear designs are popular with touring bike riders for good reason.

 

[GrifterGuru]

Oh the Sturmey Archer gears would survive direct tactical nuclear hits and modern hub gear designs are popular with touring bike riders for good reason.

Not so sure these modern 6+ internal S/A gear hubs will last as long as the original S/A 3, 4 or 5 speed units. Have you opened a newer multigear hub up lately? Overly complicated, thin materials and I dread to think how many pawls, pins or springs they house that will either wear or break over time.

A technical and engineering marvel for sure, but good for 50 years use or more? I am not so sure.

The new SRF3 hub inserts over-complicated the original AW by putting pawls on the driver and already that has caused enough issues that people are clamouring to retro fit the original AW inserts since they are a direct fit in the SRF3 shell and almost a "fit and forget" insert other than a few drops of mower gearbox oil a year.

The originals may be close on bullet-proof** and will outlast many-a-generation but I don't hold out hope for the newer stuff lasting quite so long.

**not literally, I have no proof of that unless someone wishes to carry out testing for me?

 

[SouthernChap]

I inadvertently failed to separate out the meanings there, my (as the kids used to say) bad.

My uncle (in his late seventies no less!) regularly came over in the 2010s from Oz, with members of his club, to do their annual 5000 kilometre-odd tour around Europe and many of them used hub gears on their bikes (the rest had the usual derailleurs) for the sake of simplicity of on-tour maintenance and on-tour durability.

Whether these modern hubs will have the long-term durability of something like the Sturmey Archers, as you say, remains to be seen.