Internal 3 Speed Fixed?

   Just when bike technology seemed to be going in the wrong direction... no gears... no brakes... no beer - Sturmey has come out with a really interesting piece of fixed gear technology. This is a 3 speed internal shifting hub... for a fixed gear. That's right - A FIXED GEAR 3 SPEED:

The business

   Here are the specs on this bad boy:

• Comes with a 130mm or 120mm spaced axle, so it can go on a track bike or a standard road bike converted to a single speed
• Threaded driver can run a either a fixed cog or a single speed freewheel
• Spacers on driver allow for easy modification of chain alignment
• Available in all kinds of colors: black, silver, red, gold, purple, and turquoise

    What I think is awesome is that it's not some proprietary cog system BS. An example of that is the White Industries cog. What this also means is that you can thread and cog and lock ring on, and any standard BMX freewheel:

"Put me in, Coach."

   By putting on a BMX freewheel you could easily run it as a single speed rather than a fixed gear. Here's a shot of the driver on the hub:

Lots of room for spacers

   And here's an action shot:

   The shifter has to be a push / pull style shifter, sometimes called a friction shifter. These hubs don't have a retracting spring like a derailleur, so you have to have a shifter that both pushes and pulls the cable. Here's a classic friction shifter:

Friction shifter

   This shifter is nice and cheap and another piece that doesn't have the be purchased from Sturmey for an exorbitant fee. Here is one more shot of the hub exploded exploded view. Final thoughts? I would LOVE to ride one of these, so one of my faithful readers is going to have to buy one and send me a report.