110mm Flip Flop Hub

[RJS]

Been looking at doing something with my old dads '39 Hawkes, the drop outs are 110 rear, 95 front, tyres 26 x 1 1/4, (32 x 597mm), Michelin World Tour, they hold air, rear a lot more worn than the front, must be 20 years old. The first thing is it's fixed, I rode it once 39 years ago, not sure I could now, or want to with Devon hills, so I was wondering if I had any chance of a flip flop hub or a single freewheel in this OLN. With a new hub I think could use 700 rims, brake wise, there is a side pull on the front, a Resilion on the rear, (I know these aren't very efficient, possibly came from an old Sun tandem), but mainly I want a freewheel. The bike is along way from pristine, not thinking of a restoration, don't know whether to try to keep it original, or make it more user friendly, although the stays don't feel very stiff 8mm each side seems quite a bit to cold set, don't know any frame builders in Devon who might do this. Any help/suggestions gratefully received.
Cheers, Rob.

[Vorpal]

These might be more than you want to spend, but they do exist https://www.philwood.com/products/hubspgs/trackhubs.php

Look for something used? With some persistence and luck, you might even find a Sturmey Archer hub with 110 spacing.

Also, you might be able to have the frame respaced to take 120 (which might be easier to come by than 110) instead of 130?

[Brucey]

FWIW there is no problem to get new 32-597 tyres if you want them, there is just less choice than in other sizes. AFAICT you can still buy schwalbes in this size as well as tyres made by Raleigh. If there is another 3.5mm brake drop available, 590 rims and tyres might work OK if you need new rims anyway. You can buy 32 and 28mm width tyres for these rims if you hunt around but the standard 1-3/8" ones are a little wider than the 1-1/4" ones obviously.

Re the wheel and the gearing; I'd suggest that you consider a sturmey archer three speed hub (an AW or similar, or perhaps even a four or five speed hub could work too). These can be built to less than 110mm OLN without difficulty; the only real wrinkle is that you need to use external NTWs to get the last few mm off the OLN measurement.

Part number HMW494/HMW155 will work (they are slightly different widths in the dropout slot; both are brittle and need to be used on perfectly flat surfaces) and part HMW534 is worth considering also. Part HMW518 is meant for an 8s hub but it might be OK on a 3s too (check first), and part HMW515 will fit but is a bit thinner and won't take the loads that some riders exert. Any can be ground slightly to fit a different dropout width.

If you get the right pre-war AW hubshell, it can even look 'period correct' whilst containing a simple and reliable set of innards from one of several different hub gears manufactured between about 1939 and 1980-something.

cheers

[RJS]

Thanks Vorpal and Brucey, food for thought. NTWs that's these HMW494/HMW155 ? uk bike store have a ZAW hub 120 OLN, on ebay a 1980s 110 OLN, but only 28 spoke, perhaps no dish and me at 9.5 stone it may be ok? I'm not very clued up on hub gears. If I want the Phil Woods hub I think I'll have to phone for availability.
Thanks again, Rob.

[Brucey]

older AWs can always be respaced downwards easily but you will have to check with a more modern 3s hub to be 100% sure. Newer (single toggle) 5s hubs are wider than 3s hubs. Older (twin toggle) 5s hubs can be built as narrow as 3s ones and indeed the guts fit into the same shell as an older (pre NIG) AW hubshell.

40h and 36h AW hubs are not very difficult to find (try an old style LBS, I'd bet money they have some squirrelled away) but swapping the guts out of a 28h shell into another isn't difficult anyway. In fact if you can get an entire wheel with a 26 x 1-3/8" rim on it that would give you something you can try out to see if you really like the idea or not.

BTW you can find the NTWs at SJS or oldbiketrader. They are not expensive. There is a pretty good write up on SB too.

cheers

[RJS]

Thanks again Brucey, oldbiketrader looks very useful
Cheers, Rob

[gaz]

Not flip flop but if your looking for single free then used, NOS, etc 1980s BMX hubs may be worth a look.

My Suntour MTB hubs evolved from a BMX model by adding a longer axle and spacers, the hub shell was unchanged. I've bought them off the shelf spaced anything from 120mm - 130mm. 120mm suits five speed, I'd expect using a single freewheel would allow respacing to 110mm without any issues.

[RJS]

Thanks gaz, that's another route worth exploring
Cheers, Rob.

[WrightsW5]

I have fitted a hub gear into 110mm frame, just took off any unwanted spacers and it is fine.