Sturmey Archer S5/2 advice

[d87francis]

Hi all,
I've purchased an old ladies Raliegh Cameo for my girlfriend as she's always wanted a nice burgundy town bike with a wicker basket. However, I have never owned a bike with an internal geared hub and need some advice. It's got a Sturmey Archer s5/2 hub with only a sachs 3 speed trigger shifter on the handle bars and no shifter for the left side of the hub. Where the indicator chain comes out of the left side of the hub some wire has been fed through it to hold it in place. Can I use a friction shifter for the left side, and will it be simple-ish to use?

The outer cable for the right shifter is not in its braze-ons so I have yet to check how effective the sachs shifter is, but would you recommended changing it for a 3 speed SA shifter or sticking with the sachs torpedo and when I do connect it up how do I get it indexed (as in shifter on 1 and cable loosest)?

Final question, there is very slight play in both front and rear wheels making me think they need a service/new bearings. Is this quite a cheap job for LBS as I'm scared to pull apart hubs I have never used on my own but am also on a tight budget?

 

[tyred]

You can use a friction shifter for the left. It only has two positions so a typical DT shifter works fine.

I would also change out the Sach shifter for the normal 3 pseed SA shifter as gear adjustment is critical on hub gears and there is a possibility that the Sachs has different cable pull and risks damaging the hub.

3 speed trigger shifters and "band on" downtube friction shifters cost pennys from ebay usually.

 

[Chris S]

I've only ever adjusted an SA 3-speed but you should be able to find some useful information here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/s52.html