The Sturmey S2 kickback wheel!
I’ve had this wheel for a number of years and only used it occasionally, but after I broke my wrist right before New Years Day 2025, I replaced the fixed wheelset with this Sturmey Archer two speed kickback wheelset.
The low gear is still hard to ride up to the Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field, but it’s do-able.
I like the feel of kicking back to change gears, and I’ve caught myself trying that on a geared bike, which does nothing. Sometimes I will end up in the wrong gear after coasting or stopping, and sometimes multiple back-kicks don’t seem to catch it. This seems to happen mostly on North Point after coasting fast down the hill.
I disliked the coaster brake on the Fichtel & Sachs Automatic hub way back when I had it, because it conflicted with both my fixed gear and freewheel habits and hampered kicking the pedals around to position them for best takeoff, so I like that this S2 has no internal brake.
Luckily I have a matching-ish black SON dynamo wheel so I don’t have to roll around with mismatched wheels like a fool.
I will probably go back to the double fixed wheelset for 2026, but I’ve enjoyed the S2 for all of 2025.
Shots taken from my bike commute or because I do commute.
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