my electric bike came with a 8 spd alfine hub. when i ride it without the electric assist on, it is very dead and slugish feeling.
kind of like riding with a softening tyre.
never ridden one before, but is that what they feel like on a normal bike.
it may be the weight of the electric beast that is making it feel so.

have you checked the tyre pressure? 😆

Probably worth taking it apart, giving it a hub degrease and replacing the packed grease with oil. It makes them waaay smoother and less draggy.

Mine feels draggier than a derailleur for sure.

Might be the motor causing the sluggish feeling, some electric bikes can feel draggy when pedalled unassisted

I’ve not noticed any real drag with a non electric bike with an Alfine hub, but I’ve only had short test rides on them

loads draggier than a rear mech
cant understand why i cant run a rear mech on the electric thing, but the shop said it is not a good idea.

Ton I also have no idea why they said no rear mech, all the electric bikes we sell have a rear mech: Claud Butler Glide, A2B, Cube EPO

I assume the frame has a suitable drop out for a rear mech?

My Alfine isn’t draggy at all

my alfine is not noticeably draggy either.

No drag to freewheeling / rolling along, a little drag when pedalling in some of the gears but hardly noticable

I’m not being scientific, it’s just a perception in the lower gears. Admittedly I’ve not had mine long – it might wear-in.

My 8 speed Alfine is really draggy . I thought it might get free off in time ,it’s only done 200 ish miles
Going to look into getting some oil in it now, do you need any special tools?
Only the vast weight of it hiding me back then .

A chain drive driving through an internal gear drive will always be more friction than just a chain drive (assuming the chain drives are similar). However, as an Afline owner, I suspect this is probably only measurable in a lab. I love my Alfine (an 8s one).

I suspect the main sluggish contributor difference is in the weight of the bike and electrical assist, coupled with the resistance of the electical system powered by you when pedalling, rather than any fault with the hub.

Oh, and tyre pressures of course. And tyre weight. And rim wieght. etc. I’d love to know just how much the full bike weighs?

Rob
bigrobracing.co.uk

Sure it isn’t the extra drag coming from the crank drive motor and sprocket? My alfine has more drag than a derailleur – but not much.

Oh, and tyre pressures of course. And tyre weight. And rim wieght. etc. I’d love to know just how much the full bike weighs?

Rob, 50lbs and a 20 stone rider.
no wonder it feels sluggish eh?……. 😆

I’ve been running a Nexus 8 (almost same internals as an Alfine) on my winter commuting bike for a few years and I reckon it does feel noticeably more “draggy” than a (clean) deraileur. It’s hard to describe the feeling – not like having a dragging brake, more sort of “woolly”. It’s worse the further you get away from the direct-drive 5th gear, with lower gears being the worst. Mine sounds like a bag of nails in 4th, always has done, hasn’t got any better or worse. It must have done getting on for 10,000 miles now, stripped down and soaked in ATF every two years.

Even though it doesn’t feel as nice as a deraileur, IMO it’s worth it for the almost complete lack of required maintenance in the crappy weather/salty roads.

Rob, 50lbs and a 20 stone rider.
no wonder it feels sluggish eh?…….

Loads of fun when the road points downhill though I imagine!

Ton, I think your leccy bike probably regenerates power when you brake. You wouldn’t be able to make this work with a derailleur, as anyone who’s ever had a stiff freehub will testify.

I’ve just stripped and re-greased/oiled mine for the first time in 2.5 years. It’s done about 1500 miles, mostly off-road, and including 2x Kielder 100. The first one of those involved at least 3 complete submersions.

It looked fine inside. The standard Shimano grease was a bit sticky but I’ve whacked it full of new grease and a bit of oil and it’s much quieter and seems less draggy over the 0.2 miles I’ve tested it on so far.

HTH

Well I spoke waaay too soon.

Literally two pedal strokes into the Coast and Castles route and the hub packed up! Thanks to a lot of help from Leith Cycles on London Rd, Edinburgh, I was on my way singlespeeding a 20kg trailer on my now 96er.

If the kit is unbreakable it’s worthwhile. If it will break (and lets face it, it will) then something commonplace is infinitely more fixable. Here ends my Alfine experiment.

I agree with Rob, i think the ‘draggy’ issue is an urban myth thats spouted out on internet forums mostly by people who do not use them.

No doubt there is a bit more friction but what differnece it makes is probably bugger all, unless you are ridding 100miles time trials.

For most people who commute or do a leasuly 20/30mile run the **0.2% reduction in efficency is obviously meaningless.

** my guess not Shimanos.

An epicyclic gear will always have frictional losses in it – not when freewheeling but in converting pedal action to forward motion.

Having said that I do not notice it

since i got a new but older model 32 spoked version, sent as a replacement, the hub seems a lot smoother.
also i have lessened the weight of the bike by 8lbs, this may make a noticable differance.

2lb per spoke! 😮

It will be more than 2lb per spoke as they arnt evenly loaded when your riding it!

I think they are meaning 36 to 32 is 4 spokes less, you have saved 8lbs heance 2lb per spoke!!!

And i would think it was a joke too!! 😆

there are 2 different 8 speed Alfine hubs.

I think one has a roller clutch, the other something else.

could be your new hub is different to the old one so doesn’t feel quite the same