Alfine "sticking" in sub-zero temperatures

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Alfine "sticking" in sub-zero temperatures

16 posts & 13 voices | Started 4 months ago by tonycarrigan | Latest reply from coastkid

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tonycarrigan - Member

Hi All,

I have a bit of a problem with my Alfine 8-speed hub when riding in subzero temperatures. It freezes so that I can't shift down - suspect it is the cassette joint that freezes but not sure.

E.g. this morning it was -3 degrees; the shifting was absolutely fine when I took the bike out of the shed (as always I checked it by shifting from 4 to 8 to 1 then back up to 4 and making sure the yellow marks were still aligned). After 5mins in the open air, however, the downshift stopped working. It didn't start working again till a couple of hours later when the sun came out.

The same thing happened one day last winter as well, when it was about -5 degrees.

Has anybody else experienced this? I am guessing that maybe spraying some windscreen de-icer on the cassette joint before leaving the house might resolve this, but would be interested to hear any comments or suggestions.

Thanks
Tony

Posted 4 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Yes - In may case it was the cable - water in the cable freezing

Posted 4 months ago #
thepodge - Member

frozen cable perhaps? I've no had mine long enough to try it much in sub zero but it was fine in the snow

Posted 4 months ago #
mick_r - Member

My Mrs had it last winter when commuting - really early morning and something daft like -10. It worked for a bit then packed up after about 10 mins (was an hour commute so she turned back).

Not quite sure which bit froze - the bike hadn't done a great deal of work and didn't often get a wash when compared to mtbs (so probably not water in the cable).

Have also had regular cassette freewheels freeze off on a Polaris (-7 overnight).

I've read about back pedal brakes / 2 speed back pedal shift Sachs Torpedo hubs being popular with regular sub zero Canadian commuters (no cables to freeze up).

Posted 4 months ago #
billyboy - Member

It does sound like it is cold induced in your case, but these hubs did use to have a habit of locking up in the upper gears if they were not serviced at 1500 mile intervals. Never done it, but I think the service is supposed to consist of dismantling the internals and bathing them for 60 secs in a special (bloody expensive) oil.

Posted 4 months ago #
twohats - Member

Its pretty much always moisture in the cable freezing.
I service a lot of Nexus equipped bikes and its the main issue every winter.

Posted 4 months ago #
FieldMarshall - Member

Happened to me last winter. Couldn't get gears 5 to 8.

Cable was moving freely, but the "arm" on the hub wasn't. I could move it by hand to get a higher gear.

Problem went away once the temp increased.

Posted 4 months ago #
Merak - Member

Peeing on the cassette or hub as the case may be helps. Frozen pawls have been thawed like this in the past.

Posted 4 months ago #
grizzpup - Member

"alfine - totally bombproof, you never to do anything to maintain them" (but you have to ride them singlespeed all winter)

Still not convincing me away from deraileurs living in Northern Scotland...

Non-frozen hope hubs here (slightly smug feeling)

Posted 4 months ago #
BruceWee - Member

I had a the freewheel on my single speed freeze up when temperatures dropped below -15. It was really annoying because this had the same effect as the chain coming off, great fun when trying to pull out of junctions. I would then have to get off and hit it with a spanner until it re-engaged.

My eventual solution was to use a small blow torch on it. My thinking was that there was some moisture inside that was causing the ratchet mechanism to get stuck open. That worked for the rest of the winter.

Not sure if you want to do that on an alfine since I'm sure there are seals that would be damaged by a blowtorch but maybe you could try a hair-dryer or something.

Posted 4 months ago #
scruff - Member

My alfine is stuck in the rain outside work all week, cable serpantly does freeze up when cold.

Posted 4 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

oiling the cable cures it - flush the water out

Posted 4 months ago #
thepodge - Member

mentioning new cables, how do people deal with stretching? is it just a case of set it up and keep an eye on the alignment or is there a trick to it?

plus I'm on my tiny phone screen & can't find the details on where I set the nut from the outer end, can anyone remember?

Posted 4 months ago #
mark a. - Member

My Nexus would freeze into one gear each winter and that was down to the cables. But then one winter it turned out to be ice in the hub which meant that water had got in which meant the hub was buggered. I could only tell the difference between hub freezing and cable freezing once the hub really wouldn't work properly again even after everything had warmed up.

Posted 4 months ago #
tonycarrigan - Member

Thanks to all who replied. I think ice in the cable housing is almost certainly the explanation. I'm not big on cable maintenance but I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and oil my gear cable once a year

Never had this problem with a derailleur-geared bike but then I've never had a fully-enclosed gear cable before.

For next winter I think I might split the cable run using a couple of clamp-on cable stops on the down tube (my frame is a Surly 1x1 so doesn't have any brazed-on cable stops). Hopefully this would greatly reduce the likelihood of water building up in the cable housing.

Posted 4 months ago #
coastkid - Member

Sounds indeed like cable freezing, you putting away a wet bike in the shed?, leave it in house a few hours first, or do not wash if that cold, Alaskan riders have greased the inner cable to prevent it, i did that last year and had no probs with shifting in -14C.
Why not put a Middleburn cable oiler on it?, blast with GT85 and job done

TJ, still have my seized Alfine as a progect for you

Posted 4 months ago #

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