Hub gears

Hub gears are great. All the mechanism is sealed away inside the hub shell, so maintenance is minimal. The gears work in order, so there is no need to learn about overlapping ratios as with a 27 speed derailleur. You can change gear when stationary.

The disadvantages are the higher initial cost, slightly greater weight, some power loss, and if anything goes wrong inside you need to be an expert to fix it.

We have  a guide on how to adjust the most common hub, the Sturmey Archer AW 3 Speed here.

Not all bike shops are familiar with hub gears. We are.

There are lots of different hub gears. Have a look at the list on the left.

Further information can be found on these sites.

Sturmey Archer official site. What they make at the moment, and a fantastic online archive of every hub they have ever made.

Tony Hadland's site. Lots of history from the man who wrote the book about Sturmey Archer.

Hubstripping. A modern and european guide to hub gears. If you think this website gets a bit obsessive about things, Hubstripping has photographs of the stages of opening a box of obscure old hub gears.

Sheldon Brown. Every cycling website must have a link to the website of the late, great, Sheldon Brown.