Bicycle Projects
Not My Favourite Job

Today I was reminded why I'm not overly fond of derailleur gears. The bicycle came in for a service with the gears not working at all. The rear gear cable was seized and the outer casing was kinked and broken. The rear derailleur itself was totally gummed up with a sticky, muddy goo. I ended […]

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Hub Gears
1947 Sturmey Archer AW

I bought this hub at a very nice price on eBay. Had a problem with the seller not accepting my PayPal payment, but that's another story. The hub is a Sturmey Archer AW from 1947. It was described by the seller as untested, which sometimes means there is a problem that the seller is unwilling […]

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Bicycle Projects
New Wheels for my Mountain Bike

I have removed the FW from my mountain bike so that I can use the internal for a Sturmey Archer Course demonstration. Today I have built two very nice wheels for the mountain bike complete with a single fixed sprocket. However when fitting the rear wheel I have found that the frame is out of […]

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Hub Gears
Sturmey Archer TF 2-speed

Defeated by a free-wheel for the first time in my life!  The wretched thing just wouldn't turn no matter what I did!  The hub was made in 1933 and the free-wheel could well have been fitted at around that time.  It had to come off and I tried every trick that I knew (and I […]

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Courses
Sturmey Archer Course Dates for August

I am running the Sturmey Archer Course twice in August. These will be on Wednesday the 24th and on Tuesday the 30th. The course is for one day and starts promptly at 9am and will usually end at about 5pm. Lunch is provided. There is room for just two students on each course. For more […]

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Courses
Sturmey Archer Course an Outstanding Success

Today saw the launch of the Colwood Wheel Works Sturmey Archer Course. Two students undertook tuition on dismantling, rebuilding, repairing and restoring Sturmey Archer hubs. The course covered a large amount of practical hands on work. Both students were very happy with what they had learnt and the way the course was run. I am […]

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Hub Gears
Sturmey Archer AB 3-Speed Hub With Brake

A Sturmey Archer AB hub which wasn't as good as it looked I bought a Sturmey Archer AB hub dated 1974 from an eBay seller. It arrived this morning and it was clearly not going to work, so I gave it a full service this afternoon. Somebody has already tried repairing this hub The hub […]

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Courses
The Workshop is Now Ready For Action

After a lot of hard work the workshop is finally ready for students. Sturmey Archer courses can start almost immediately. The wheel building course will take a bit longer as I need to build some shelves and sort out tens of thousands of spokes. Saying a prayer before I start looking for the right spoke […]

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Courses
Workstand painted and reassembled

The work-stand is now reassembled. It looks very ...erm... different.

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Courses
Final Preparations for the Sturmey Archer Course

One thing that came up on the risk assessment was that the parts of the bicycle repair stand that stick out should be painted bright yellow. A friend from church took the parts that needed painting and informed me this morning that they are ready. The work-stand will be rebuilt in the the next couple […]

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