www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/

The first 100 years………

The heritage site is intended to help preserve the heritage of Sturmey-Archer and to record the various types of Sturmey-Archer cycle hubs produced during the 20th century.

Gears have been in use for thousands of years with the potters wheel being an early example. Bicycle internal hub gears are based upon the epicyclic gear principle, described by James Watt in a 1781 steam engine. The subsequent development of smaller metal gearing for clocks improved function and late in the 19th century, many improvements in bicycle design were introduced. Frank Bowden had purchased a bicycle company initially located in Raleigh Street, Nottingham, England and his engineers worked with ideas from Henry Sturmey and James Archer resulting in the first Sturmey-Archer 3-speed bicycle gear hub patent in 1902. This is all described in much more detail in “The Sturmey-Archer Story”, a book by Tony Hadland, from 1987. This website is intended to be a more pictorial history.

The Heritage site has recently been updated and has grown, as friends from around the world, have contributed more and more ancient images. To help with navigating the site we have added filters which enable you to further refine your search. Whether you are looking for advertisements or technical information, it is all just a click of the mouse away.

The site deliberately does not refer to individuals but it is dedicated to all the employees who have helped make Sturmey-Archer a world renowned supplier of high quality bicycle components.