Sturmey-Archer Gears
Even in the early days, Raleigh was aware of the benefit of marketing the unique features of their bicycles, for example the Sturmey-Archer three-speed cycle gear, which was fitted to most machines.
The original inventors of the three-speed hub were Henry Sturmey and James Archer who patented it in 1902. Frank Bowden soon appreciated the possibilities of 'variable' gears for Raleigh cycles and his son Harold tested them in a series of hill-racing trials. Sturmey and Archer were soon installed in a separate workshop at the Raleigh factory to develop their ideas into the Sturmey-Archer Hub.
Other engineers followed with further refinements to the original and a four-speed Hub was created in 1938.
Advertising campaigns for 'The Hub of the Universe' highlighted not only the domination of the Sturmey-Archer Hubs in the cycling market, but also the extent to which Raleigh had become a world-wide business. By the 1930s, Sturmey-Archer advertising was covering the wide range of gear hubs available for all types of bicycles, and promoting their goods as "the gears that make cycling easy" and "the brakes that make cycling safe". 
The Sturmey-Archer gear hub is an integral part of Raleigh cycle design, but has changed little since its invention at the beginning of the twentieth century. Even in 2008, three-speed Sturmey-Archer gear hubs were being fitted to the latest Raleigh designs.
