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I have recently bought a 2006 Brompton with 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub. I am in the midst of a full service (it had seen plenty mileage and not a lot of care), and will include servicing of the front and rear hub bearings. While I am doing this, I am wondering what service I should or could do on the gearing of the rear hub. I am mostly concerned about lubrication and do not plan to disassemble the hub beyond the bearing.

I have read that the gearing relies on oil as a lubricant, but that there is no servicing nipple to insert the oil. Should I lubricate the internals of the hub when I am servicing the bearings? If so, what lubricant should I use?

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If you don't want to disassemble it, the hub can be lubricated through the hole where the indicator chain attaches.

Douse it with an oil based lube, not wd40, not automotive oil. I do mine with the cheapest bike lube I can find. For the old AW type hub, Sturmey recommended a "light" oil but never specified exactly. (I've seen people say they use auto oil, but that has detergents for an engine etc.) The fact people do with them as they please and they survive decades tells you these items are well enough made that specifics aren't a problem.

The old wisdom seems to be that the hub needs oil more often than bearings need regreasing. (I do my city bike's bearings maybe once every few years. It's a beater.)

Watch out as the lube will drip out over the course of the next few hours (days).

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  • Sewing machine oil, or "3in1" oil would be good. Personally I'd use the EP90 gear oil that my car uses, because I have a lot of it and it says "gearbox" Too thick an oil will add resistance.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Aug 18, 2022 at 5:15
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    Thanks. I took out the parts that I could reach by just removing the bearing cone, the freehub body and the bearings on the drive side, and cleaned those and the centre cavity of the hub. Then I lubed those parts rather generously with a wet chain lube. Serviced the bearings and put it all back together. Seems to work well! I'll continue to lube through indicator chain hole going forward.
    – Superman.Lopez
    Commented Aug 22, 2022 at 13:50

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