Sturmey-Archer Gear Co, famous for its bicycle hub gears, also sold motorcycle hubs, of Nottingham, England.
1908 The Three-Speed Gear Syndicate became the Sturmey Archer Gear Co under Frank Bowden the primary owner of the Raleigh Cycle Co. The gears were manufactured for the company by the Raleigh Company [1]
Originally produced hubs for three-speed bicycles designed by Raleigh Cycle Co
By 1913 the Sturmey-Archer Company was producing 100,000 three-speed hub gears per year
1934 Public flotation of a new holding company: Raleigh Cycle Holdings Co Ltd of which there were 2 operating subsidiaries - Raleigh Cycle Co Ltd and Sturmey-Archer Gears Ltd; Raleigh had always manufactured the gears sold as Sturmey-Archer; both companies together had 4000 employees[2]
1939 a four speed model was developed.
This led to the development of temperamental 5 speed models
1994, 7 speed hubs were introduced.
The Sturmey-Archer name was also credited with the 49cc two-stroke engine fitted to early Raleigh mopeds, although this was actually a reworking of Vincenti Piatti's "Trojan Mini-Motor" and built by BSA's motorcycle operation.
2000 Sturmey-Archer was sold to Sun Race Sturmey-Archer Inc. and operations were moved to Taiwan.
Sturmey-Archer gears by the The Three-speed Gear Syndicate of Nottingham. Seen at the National Cycle Collection
See Also
Sources of Information
[1] Wikipedia
- [2] Sturmey Archer Heritage