Priced a Rohloff up today and the budget wont stretch that far at the moment so...
I'm thinking of building my Pugsley up with an alfine, it's going to be used for beach riding, touring and general winter crud.
Will I kill it, has anyone used one off road without any problems?
I tired to get one, they were sold out. Thats my horror story.
got one and had to service it immediately.....well two years and two winters later....but 3 speed sturmey archers need servicing every 30 years
Mine is covered in 2 years of road grime and looks pretty horrific.
I'd be waiting for the 11 speed version which will use an oil bath like the Rohloff. I believe it should be avaliable before the worst of the winter weather sets in.
A mere 3-400 winter miles on mine so far... And all is good still!
Highly recommended. In fact, buy mine as I'm gonna be in the queue straight away when the 11spd version hits the shops...
11 speed will be in stock near xmas according to my lbs today... don't fancy waiting that long so I'll either have to make do with an 8 speed or singlespeed it until the 11 comes out.
The 8spd is really good mate, you won't feel like you're "making do".
The only reason I want to get an 11spd over the 8 is I will actually appreciate the slightly wider gear range, if you're used to Singlespeed, or at least a single ring setup, the 8spd Alfine will be more than enough for you.
20th September for the 11 speed at the moment. Don't know which version of the Madison trade website your LBS uses!!
As a hub gear convert I think the 11 speed will be worth waiting for if only for the oil bath. My Rohloff must have done somewhere in the region of 8000 miles plus in the last 4 years and an oil change once a year takes half an hour or so. It's a damn site better than having to take something apart to re grease it. In that 4 years I've changed the chain once even though the original chain was still running fine and reversed the chain ring and replaced the sprocket. I could have reversed that as well but chose not to as the outer surface which had 3 years of exposure to the elements would then of been running against the oil seal. Looking on the Thorn forums many have done this without problems but most don't commute off road all year round on their bikes as I do.
I think the 11 speed alfine is going to be as big a milestone in mountain biking as index gearing, working suspension forks and disc brakes. well Maybe I should say hope rather than think. I should also add that I adopted all of those big improvements years after they were established. But like the Americans I may have been late for WWI and WWII but god dammit I'm going to be early for WWIII
I spoke to the Shimano rep at MM24 whilst my SLX brakes were being bled and they said they've not had any failures. I love mine but will go for 11 spd when my 8 spd dies (at least five years according to shimano dude!!)
happy days!!
The 11 speed is going to be much more expensive than the 8 speed.
read somewhere its about £475 for the 11speed hub and about £50 for the shifter, should be good though 
Filthy if you get a 8speed i would recommend a Nexus 22tooth for the hub,im running 20/32 and 1st isnt low enough for sand dune duties,
alfine sprockets available in 18&20 tooth, Nexus in 20/22t, there the same sprockets except for the plastic gaurd on the Alfine,
hope to have the 11speed and belt drive on my pug next year
Mine does not get used offfroad a lot but it has done a few laps of GT and 'puffer solo
For the puffer I geared it right down - 22 chainring, 18 sprocket which was very silly - gave me a 22/ 34 granny gear first but span out around 12 -15 mph. It didn't break tho. It now runs 32 chainring and 16 sprocket for commuting duties
Its deffo got less draggy as the miles have increased. It just works!
The bike feels heavy at the back when you lift it up but when riding I am not good enough to notice. I do find the unequal gaps between the gears a bit of an oddity.
I have 2 alfines...
1st one is 2 years old in novemeber and just works (32:18), my only problems have been the ebb slacking off a coupla times and also the big bolt thing, but that's related to the kid trailer hitch I've stuck on there. I used it at the bonty 24/12 just gone and i had no problems with the 2am clag. I've raced XC with it, pottered about all over ireland with it, done things like whites level and cycled in hub deep snow.
It's been so maintenece free that I bought another for my pompino pub/commuter.
That I couldn't get to work (would not stay in gear or give me the full range) and it went back to the shop that built the wheel, they had a play and it's now gone back to the distributor for them to replace the internals. Been a week now, but they said 2 to get it accross the irish sea and back.
Only heard of 2 other alfines with trouble in 2 years, which isn't too bad.
Coastkid, how to you plan to get the belt drive on the Pug, are you going to cut the frame?
The Surly dropout can be neatly sliced at a diagonal of 45º and then a dropout shaped plate screwed to the dropout to tie it all back together. It means you need enough length on the rhs axle to compensate for the thickness of the plate.
I don't know how much clearance there is at the BB for a belt drive pulley on the Pug though - it's something I would check for fit before cutting the frame 
I suspect the flare of the chainstays may limit options for a front pulley.
The 39T is the smallest available and is not sold in Europe because of problems and 46T is the next size up. I haven't managed to find a MTB frame for conversion with enough room for a 46T.
will cut and plate the drop out,someone has started doing one in the states,i will order the kit from the states via a friend who will post it to me after a paypal email to him
heres the thread on a currant coversion; belt drive pugs
You can get the belt drive stuff in Europe. I've got all my stuff from knicolai@gates.com.
Except for a 32T cog which I will be getting from Spot.
I'm quite nervous at the thought of taking a hacksaw to my new frame, think I'll let Coastkid go first and see how it goes.
The belt drive make perfect sense when riding on sand though, I've noted what you said about the ratio's I'm hoping to go a bit smaller on the front so I can run an 18t on the rear to match the 18t freewheel on the surly front hub. Not sure how yet, but I'll figure something out. I'm just waiting on the rims and tyres to arrive.
thanks Filthy 
im too waiting on all the parts specs and a few miles on the MTBR thread beltdrive progect before getting the hacksaw out!, i have a hope SS rear hub up front so got a 22t...maybe you could get a 30tooth chainring?.dunno if anyone does one of the shelf,if not Middleburn will make one for you
Filthy - Member
I'm quite nervous at the thought of taking a hacksaw to my new frame...
I've done this to quite a few now. The really really important thing is to make sure the front pulley will fit. I chopped a brandnew Scandal only to find I couldn't get perfect alignment with a 46T front - oops! Still, it has served as a good guineapig for the chainstay split method I use. I've used it with a chain for 12 and 24 hour races with absolutely no problem.
As far as the actual cutting is concerned, just do it confidently with a fine saw.
I'm modifying a frame to take fat tyres and it will have belt drive.
Hijack- epicyclo did you get hold of big apples, I was asking steve about getting some and he said you were looking for some too?
Not a total hijack because I'm going to make up an Alfine wheel for the bike - which also happens to be belt drive
The Penance
The bike rolls beautifully on them.
I also have another set on order from Germany - the Big Apple Lites (they're not distributed in UK)
I got a set of the liteskin 28 by 2.35 last week . Shame you've ordered some as I could sell you these. Had a few rides and decided they are not quite what I was after. They are cracking for our third world roads mind you
I'll keep them and it'll give me an excuse to build a balloon bike for pootling on with one of these
PSA
8speed alfine are £150 in Planet X sale 
8speed alfine are £150 in Planet X sale
Really? I'm almost tempted! Been interested in hub gears for a while since I hate derailleurs etc. How does a heavy back end affect jumping etc though?
I run one on a Singular Swift and one on a Cotic Roadrat. Its perfect for the road work but I feel it deadens the Swifts ride on the trail.
Downside would be the weight. And all of being right at the rear.
Mine is knacked after a year, was quite good while it worked. Seems like they are generally pretty reliable though.
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