I thinking of getting hub gears! and woundering if the extra three gears justfies an extra £200?
i'm riding a 29er fully ridged and I'm running a 1x9 (32 upfront and a 12-36 at the back) set up at the mo riding xc routes/ trail centres red and black
any one using hub gears whats the pro and cons ect
Ive got the Alfine8 and love it. My set up has more or less the same range as my previous 2 x 9 setup. So far, 6 months use and nowt has gone wrong. The only "issue" is the weight shift to the back can feel odd, sticking an extra 5 psi in the tyre fixed that.
The price I paid was about the same as a new cassett, chain and mech and I think it's a bargain. (www.rosebikes.co.uk) is the cheapest I found for the whole kit)
what chain ring you running up front and what your riding style?
but thaks for that I'll check that site out although on one bike have got it for £179
the 11 gear version is supposed to be less draggy at one one of the gearing.
I had a nexus premium and it was draggy but off road you might not notice it.
Got 32T up front and 20T at the back. My riding is XC with lits of big, steep hills going up and down.
An alfine 8 is only the same gear range as a 1x9. I have one.
its a bit draggy in some gears and the ration gaps are not even leading to jumps between some of them. it is however just simple and reliable
I have an * for commuting. The gaps are well spaced but a little large for road use. Off-road they'd be spot on. (a quick reference to Sheldon and excel suggest the jumps between gears are 1.14, 1.16, 1.22, 1.18, 1.14, 1.16, 1.22)
In total that's a 306% gear range. 12-36 is a 300% range. Do you want any more than you have currently?
HTH
You could almost buy this bike and strip the parts out you want and then sell the rest of the bike onwards.
Extra twenty per cent off makes it a cheap bike!!
* That was supposed to say "8" as in "Alfine 8" but I went to hang the washing out and didn't notice 'till it was too late to edit! Oh, such is life!
Personally I find the gaps a little too large on my Alfine 8, however, I haven't the legs for SS so coupled with my rigid frame it's my best compromise option for a low maintenance/trouble free winter bike. Quite fancy an 11, for extra ratios and right-way-round shifting but can't justify it just to sit in the garage at the mo.
I want an Alfine 8.
someone please sell me one.
I have a Genesis io id with the alfine 8, and at the moment am having a few chainline issues with fitting the hub/wheel into an inbred frame.
Anyway my experiences of the hub off road are that it struggles to shift under load when you are trying to grunt uphill, you have to back off just for a moment. You don't notice the weight of the hub, tyre changes are easy enough, and you can change gear at a standstill.
I need to change from the standard 32T front as it's just too low.
hi shedbrewed, i've got an inbred frame with slots, and that the frame i would be putting the alfine in to please can you explain the problems your having?
thanks
29erconvert
I ran an Alfine8 on a 29er Inbred for a bit, I never managed to get the chainline absolutely spot on, but I got it pretty good running a Nexus rear sprocket (no plastic cage thingy) flipped so it stuck out more, XT HT2 cranks with chainring in the middle position and an 8spd chain. I found it was VERY important to run the 8spd (or you could use a 7 or a 9) speed chain rather than an SS specific chain, as it allowed for the slightly imprecise chainline. When I ran a SRAM PC1 it kept throwing it off, despite it being only a few mm out.
As for gearing, it depends where you ride. I found the 8spd just about ok for about 95% of my riding (mine was running 34T ring and 22T cog on a 29er), only very occasionally did I long for a lower gear, and only once or twice spinning out on the road going downhill did I want any longer gearing. I did however wish that 1st and 2nd gears were closer together (big gap) and also 5th and 6th (another massive gap here), the rest of the ratios are reasonably well spaced but these two jumps are annoying. If I went Alfine again, I'd definitely spend the extra and get the 11spd myself but then closer gearing and right way round shifting are quite important to me, they may not be to you.
And yes, the Alfine does need you to lift off the pedals to allow it to downshift, but you just learn to shift gear earlier before grunting up a hill, it makes you look further up the trail (as a singlespeed would) which is better practice anyway. But otherwise, functionally, they're superb!
Sorry to do a bit of a hijack but - I'm after a pair of blue / green no-turn washers to tidy up my Alfine 853 Inbred build. I've had no replies to my wanted ad' so thought I'd try here 
When it's running I'll tell you how I like it... Anyone got any lying about & needing a good home?
mboy thanks for that really help full i'm heading to the 11 to be
honest
"29erconvert - Member
hi shedbrewed, i've got an inbred frame with slots, and that the frame i would be putting the alfine in to please can you explain the problems your having?
thanks "
The chain run is about 8mm out, and the rear rotor position requires an additional (to the already in place IS-PM adaptor) spacer being made up to move the caliper in. I am wondering if I can adjust the wheel spacers on the axle, but my axle is fixed.
SB, the spacers are required for the brake caliper on inbreds. if you don't have the proper ones that came with the frame you can drill out some 6mm nuts IIRC.
@ the OP, if you root through my forum activity you'll find a few posts relating to the alfine, on an inbred, and later a P7. start early though, because later on i got bored typing it out/linking it for people, so just told them to check my profile...
i have an an Alfine 8 and a Rohloff, so can compare. Both of them weigh a fair bit, and the weight is concentrated on the back. But I balance it out with some big forks on the hoff'd bike, and a dyno hub on the alfine.
The Alfine in some ways is smoother than the Rohly, but the indexing occasionally slips (unlike the Rohly).
Gear steps are big, but I've spent so long riding SS and fixies, I don't mind stomping a too-big gear, so I don't find it a problem.
Running a SS chain, but I've got a correct chainline. I flipped the cog, and I have a SS chainring on the outer position on some Middleburn cranks on a 110mm BB axle. (ISIS)
Biggest problem with external BBs is you can't tweak the chainline so well as you've got a fixed axle length.
In short, they're both great and they're both worth what they cost. But i can't wait to get my hands on an Alfie-11, as soon as I sell the Singular which has the 8 on it. I reckon extra gears, better transmission and lower weight are worth the extra cost. Just a shame they don't do a QR version like Rohloff.
I have an Alfine 8 on my Chameleon, like it very much. Gets used for general XC on Dartmoor, trail centre trips and is off to the Alps this summer.
Don't find it particularly draggy and the ratios feel OK to me (was SS before though). I did have to switch some spacers around on the BB for my saint cranks to get a better chain line (isn't perfect but works fine). I did get noticably more pinch punctures when I first switched to the Alfine, but going tubeless fixed that.
I did notice the other night that I can rock the rear wheel forwards and backwards with the rear brake on. Feels almost like some play between the disc rotor mount and the rest of the hub. Not sure if it has always done that, could be time for a service.
Evesie - Member
Sorry to do a bit of a hijack but - I'm after a pair of blue / green no-turn washers to tidy up my Alfine 853...
Had an 8 for 2.5 years on a ebb frame which I've ridden everywhere and for all that time, in whatever weather ireland has thrown at me.
The cup/cone is now rough as because I've not touched it in all that time (I should have been doing a bit of maintence obviously), but I've getting a new race from sjs so I'm hoping for another winter out of it before I have to get a new hub.
I'll keep the old hub for spares as currently it's still working perfectly (this is the older 500 model, my 501 model on the CX bike is also working perfectly but that is used as a pub/commuter only).
I used a whipperman anti rust SS chain on both bikes and the chainline on the CX was slightly off and chewed through a bit of the trouserguard thing on the alfine crank, whereas I had no bother on the mtb (32:20 btw).
Rarely I want more top end to the mtb, and only on the steepest longest ascents do I want lower, tbf lower gearing would only get me up a little further so I don't miss it. It has made me a stronger cyclist as I grind up in a bigger gear instead of spinning in first.
Have a scan through my profile for more comments along a similar vein.
Shedbrewed - as per Del's advice above, you'll need those spacers for the sliding dropout Inbred. I think I have some unused ones that I paid a (relative!) fortune from On One a while back. Never got round to taking the stack of washers off... Let me know if they might be of use and I'll look them out - email's in my profile.
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