# Nexus3/i-motion 3 shifters



## selin (Nov 20, 2009)

For quite a while now, I've been thinking of adopting an internal gear hub for my commuter.
Has anyone ever tried to combine a front derailleur shifter (three chainrings) with Nexus 3 or i-motion 3?
Is it possible?


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## john_dalhart (Nov 6, 2009)

The late Sheldon Brown shifted his Sturmey Archer 3-speed hubs with a DT friction shifter for years and reported no problems.

Now, and this is important, you gotta line up 2nd gear accurately. If you don't get 2nd lined up, your hub can have a short and very unhappy life. :nono: 

The Shimano 3-speed bell crank has an indicator on it for 2nd gear alignment, and the Sturmey hubs have a shoulder that lines up with the end of the axle. With your friction shifter, you have to know ~somehow~ when the shifter is in the right position to align 2nd gear. Mr. Brown said on his set-up that it was when the shifter pointed at his navel. :thumbsup: 

Of course the other two gears are found on the shifter at cable slack and cable taut.

With SRAM 3-speeds, 2nd gear is cable travel half way between 1st & 3rd. (The secret word for today is "protractor".)

Besides friction shifters, another approach with a three-speed is to use a many-speeds indexed shifter (DT, bar end or brifter) and set one of the middle index positions to 2nd gear. This acurate shifter index position can be found when riding by counting clicks, visual observation, looking at the shifter's indicator (were applicable) or feel.

At a cycle swap meet I picked up an old Shimano LH (front) bar end shifter that had a single index click position in the middle of its travel. It's perfect for three-speed hub 2nd gear shift position. 

I've been shifting a SRAM T3 with a low spec Shimano left hand triple brifter for the past two years. I set it the same way SRAM recomends setting their twist shifter: the second shift just barely pulls the hub into low gear at the end of cable travel. Works fine, and BikeFriday and Dahon have shipped factory bikes shifted this way.

Sturmey-Archer has released a dedicated bar end shifter for their indicator chain shifted three-speed hubs. I read that it can be disassembled from its mount and used on a DT shifter boss. 

BTW, I gotta give Sturmey snaps on this. They offer a classic metal trigger (a versatile, rugged and classy bit of kit), a newer trigger, twist grips in long and short versions, a dual paddle (Rapidfire-style), that barcon, a downtube shifter, a thumb shifter - even "stick shifts"! - for their 3-speeds.

HTH,
JD


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## selin (Nov 20, 2009)

Thank you.


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## Jay6543 (May 29, 2010)

I'm having a wheel built with the i-motion 3 for my commuter. I don't like the twist grip either. I was thinking of using one of the newer Sturmey thumb shifters like this one

http://www.sturmey-archer.com/products/shifters/cid/3/id/10

Will that work?

Thanks!


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