They went ‘cold’ on me so I continued to hound them by calling their WhatsApp number (50x a week) at all hours of the day. I eventually started receiving promises about a replacement, but nothing happened. Come to the end of January I resigned myself to the fact that I had been suckered. Either I could toss the bike and write off my $3000 investment or install a Rohloff. I decided on the Rohloff. I had to purchase a new rim, spokes, smaller disk (160mm), new Gates belt and Rohloff sprocket, and of course an XXL Rohloff hub to fit the 220mm drop out. Spoke Wrench Cycles in Toronto built the rear wheel for me. Alan Wu who owns the business walked me through putting it all together. Fantastic customer service. The cost was $2250. I also added a Thudbuster saddle post
. So, now I have this gorgeous bike that rides like silk. There is no comparison between Rohloff and Sturmey Archer.
This is not the end of the story. I was still making my daily calls to Suzhou – just because I felt that I had been duped. A few weeks after completing the build, I got a message from Tony at Suzhou Ansbern, to ask me to stop hounding them and that they were sending me a replacement Sturmey Archer hub and spokes. The package arrived about three weeks ago – 8 months after reporting the issue. I now have a SA hub and spokes I have no use for.