More Triumph Roadster.........

Its now November 4th and a little progress has been made! A week's holiday in Devon and  a broken computer have prevailed causing considerable hinderance!

However, we made our first visit to a cycle jumble, in Kiddrminster and it was nice to see more traditional bike bits. At start the jumble was very busy but I found several bargains - a rear carrier for £1, a complete 700C alloy rim with 7 gears and good tyre for £7.50 (for my other bike) an unused rim dynamo and lights for a fiver, a box of bits containing three complete Weinmann brake caliper, levers, gear levers, brackets, all sorts of useful bits and pieces for just three pounds!

You always have to keep your eyes open and I have also found old fashioned metal tyre pumps (Chinese?) for 99p in a local pound shop.

Right, back to the Triumph. This has a rear Sturmey Archer three speed dynohub, but low gear has gone. I have to admit that the workings are a mystery so I have purchased a good AW hub. Question is, and no one seems to know the answer can I just swap over the complete three speed mechanisms, complete.

The other problem is how do you undo the large threaded collar on the sprocket side, in order to take the internals out?. I know that it is a right hand thread with two starting positions. It has two flat on it and one has SA stamped into it to indicate the correct position relative to the hub. Can I unscrew it? Can I hell? I have hammered really hard against the flats but the collar doesn't want to budge, I guess that there must be a proper tool, maybe similar to a C spanner that is used for the bottom bracket.

Sunday, December 9th. In fact, Both Sheldon Brown and Tim, from South Wales, have since told me that the hub internals are not directly interchangeable. Further, help from a strong, long screwdriver, a mallet and my wife have all joined in freeing the collar, at last. One small point, as I discovered, after the initial slackening of the collar - the left hand cone must be free or unscrewed otherwise the collar comes to a dead stop again as it runs out of free axle movement!

Once the internals were free there was found to be a lot of old congealed oil inside. Most important both of the low gear pawls had broken springs and had subsequently seized. Liberal application of WD40 and replacement pawl springs, borrowed from the AW hub appear to have restored normal operation, I think. However, apart from being a somewhat tiresome chore, the task of removing the gear mechanism is no longer a daunting task. I can confirm that the two hub internals cannot simply be swapped over although many of the individual parts are the same.

With the wheel indoors and the bike  in the garage, at the top of the garden, the cold dark nights are not conducive to cold metal tinkering and testing will have to wait until the first comfortable weekend.

NEW OLD BIKES..........................

Of course, old style Roadster bikes are still made, India and Africa. These are usually rugged 28" wheel models complete with rod brakes. Pictured below is a typical Hybird Shakti. I have just one Hybird Lady's model with splendid loop frame - and all as brand new!