A hub gear. The gears, normally three, are contained within the rear hub and often require less maintenance than derailleur gears.
Careful-One5190 on
Internally geared hub. In this case it’s probably a three speed. There are modern versions that go up to 14 speed.
ThatMathsyBardguy on
Gear hub or internal gears. Can’t help you on how they work, but that’s what it’s called
Masseyrati80 on
To add to what others have said, it’s a pretty common choice in bikes meant for everyday use in cycling-friendly countries: people not interested of cycling as a sport, or bicycles as such, find them to do their job reliably with minimal maintenance, and don’t care about the slightly higher internal friction compared to a derailleur system. Since the chain is always in the perfect chain line and there is no need to make the chainring or sprocket able to help shifting the chain off or to the sprocket, they’re quite meaty and have potential for a very long lifespan.
When I was a kid, you’d either have a Sachs Torpedo, or a Shimano 3-speed. Later on, hub gears have offered more gears with 7 or 8 being somewhat common.
RenaissancemanTX on
3 speed hub.
RaghavSarda on
It’s an internal gear system, the gears are inside the wheel hub
bad__username__ on
(TL;DR: I’d call it a shit hub.)
I own a bike with this system. It literally _never_ worked. There should have been 7 gears in there, but I never found more than about 3 or 4. After a few years it just got stuck in one gear and it stayed there for years. No bike shop could fix it, neither could I. And two years ago the little chain broke and now it’s stuck in the heaviest gear possible. My knees hurt when I think about it.
Mecha_Magpie on
Looks like a [Torpedo 3-speed hub](https://www.700c.dk/?torpedo-3-speed-h3111). Used to be really common where I live, before Shimano took over the 3-speed coaster market, so you see them on a ton of old city bikes.
ClumpBag on
Used to have one made by Simplex on my 3 speed.
Forward-Plastic-6213 on
I also have a bad experience with these kind of gears but i understand why they are still being used for their low maintenance. Thanks a lot for everyone’s feedback 🙂
Gucciassassin on
IGH-internally geared hub
constpetrov on
Something is wrong with this hub. It looks like Sturmey-Archer 3 speed. The little chain that comes out of the axle should be quite tight, and on this photo it looks relaxed. I think the gear shifting wouldn’t work like this.
13 Comments
A hub gear. The gears, normally three, are contained within the rear hub and often require less maintenance than derailleur gears.
Internally geared hub. In this case it’s probably a three speed. There are modern versions that go up to 14 speed.
Gear hub or internal gears. Can’t help you on how they work, but that’s what it’s called
To add to what others have said, it’s a pretty common choice in bikes meant for everyday use in cycling-friendly countries: people not interested of cycling as a sport, or bicycles as such, find them to do their job reliably with minimal maintenance, and don’t care about the slightly higher internal friction compared to a derailleur system. Since the chain is always in the perfect chain line and there is no need to make the chainring or sprocket able to help shifting the chain off or to the sprocket, they’re quite meaty and have potential for a very long lifespan.
When I was a kid, you’d either have a Sachs Torpedo, or a Shimano 3-speed. Later on, hub gears have offered more gears with 7 or 8 being somewhat common.
3 speed hub.
It’s an internal gear system, the gears are inside the wheel hub
(TL;DR: I’d call it a shit hub.)
I own a bike with this system. It literally _never_ worked. There should have been 7 gears in there, but I never found more than about 3 or 4. After a few years it just got stuck in one gear and it stayed there for years. No bike shop could fix it, neither could I. And two years ago the little chain broke and now it’s stuck in the heaviest gear possible. My knees hurt when I think about it.
Looks like a [Torpedo 3-speed hub](https://www.700c.dk/?torpedo-3-speed-h3111). Used to be really common where I live, before Shimano took over the 3-speed coaster market, so you see them on a ton of old city bikes.
Used to have one made by Simplex on my 3 speed.
I also have a bad experience with these kind of gears but i understand why they are still being used for their low maintenance. Thanks a lot for everyone’s feedback 🙂
IGH-internally geared hub
Something is wrong with this hub. It looks like Sturmey-Archer 3 speed. The little chain that comes out of the axle should be quite tight, and on this photo it looks relaxed. I think the gear shifting wouldn’t work like this.
I bought a set of wheels off FB
https://preview.redd.it/h8sn5798qrrd1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ae2f3f8869fd4a4214981c41b186026fe7fab13
with that installed. Put it on a cheap Schwinn Fixie and it’s been great.