It's Really Not That Complicated

I've been aware of three speeds for a long time, but it was only recently I began thinking that an internally geared three speed would be worthwhile and fun.  It the back of my mind, I had somehow developed the idea that they were too complicated to service, and I like, to some degree, to take care of things, (though some regular maintenance is more of a pain than others - my roof is leaking, for instance, and I'm not looking forward to repairing that).  That is one of the reasons why, after I bought the SRF-3 three speed hub for the happy little three speed bicycle, I started thinking about an older hub, with its little oil port for regular maintenance, and its reputation for being extremely durable.

But where did I get the notion that three speeds were hard to maintain?  Browsing the bike section of the library of the college where I work, I glanced into Richard's Bike Book by Richard Ballentine.  Being someone who reads obsessively about anything that interests me, I had read this book long ago.  He says "I consider these units too complicated to be worth disassembling, and so does any bike shop I have asked about doing such work."

That's hardly a ringing endorsement for three speed hubs. No wonder it took so long before I gave them a second thought.  Hey Richard, they aren't that complicated.  The springs on the pawls really are tiny though.  Even looking at them on the Youtube videos I watched didn't prepare me for how tiny they really are.  I kept them in a mini-altoids tin so I would not accidentally knock them somewhere where I could not find them.