^ Oh tosh. The 1950s SA hubs are supposedly the best-built, but the late 70s/80s/90s SA-AW hubs were far worse than the modern SRF3. When I worked in a bike shop (in York... full of AWs and SRF3s) I very rarely saw SRF3 hubs in for repair/replacement/chain adjustment (in fact, I can only think of one hub needing repair even though we sold loads of 'em), whereas AWs became a running joke.
It's also worth remembering that the design of the SRF3 (the replacement for the AW) means it is impossible for it to freewheel forwards or jump out of gear, regardless of chain adjustment - and also remember that riding a 'jumping' AW hub will further damage the internals to the point where it'll never work properly regardless of adjustment. Better design than the AW, and decent build quality to boot.
(The S2C, on the other hand, I found to be unreliable and unfinished... I think they rushed it into production. Finally got a refund after three failed hubs. This was when they first came out - perhaps the new ones are better)
Jim, personally I would scour car boot sales to find a good 50s/60s AW hub (easy to test by hand if you have a glamorous assistant) as I have picked up several for a fiver or less. SRF3s are a little more expensive, sadly.
It's also worth remembering that the design of the SRF3 (the replacement for the AW) means it is impossible for it to freewheel forwards or jump out of gear, regardless of chain adjustment - and also remember that riding a 'jumping' AW hub will further damage the internals to the point where it'll never work properly regardless of adjustment. Better design than the AW, and decent build quality to boot.
(The S2C, on the other hand, I found to be unreliable and unfinished... I think they rushed it into production. Finally got a refund after three failed hubs. This was when they first came out - perhaps the new ones are better)
Jim, personally I would scour car boot sales to find a good 50s/60s AW hub (easy to test by hand if you have a glamorous assistant) as I have picked up several for a fiver or less. SRF3s are a little more expensive, sadly.
