Rather than fork out £250 for an Alfine rear hub, I've got a nexus hub on my folding bike that I could recycle – would it be up to light commuter offroad duties or should I save my pennies?

A mate used an old 4 speed Nexus hub on his MTB a couple of years ago, it stopped working after a couple of off-road rides IIRC. Might be OK for commuting.

Ran a 7 speed Nexus on my Inbred all last year for a mix of commuting and off road. Worked very well built onto a Mavic 321. Got a friend in Germany to send a disc mount adapter over, that a company out there produces. Very reliable in all weathers and conditions (it's still on the bike – I just don't use it at the moment). Only slight drawback was the extra weight at the back. Soon get used to it though

I've been running a nexus redband hub for a while now which I got really cheap off ebay. The redband is distinguished by (suprisingly) a red band around the driveside of the hub) – I think the pic below is too muddy to show it!

I don't have any trouble with it at all. It appears to be well enough sealed and the gears are very smooth. Pretty heavy compared to gears I reckon, don't know what the comparison with the Alfine is like.

Try doing a bit of digging on google. I did before I fitted it and apparently the red band version was unofficially OKd for offroad use in the USA (obviously warranty voided but hey) and alot of people were experimenting with it prior to the alfine coming out.

Take a look at this discussion on mtbr for example.

Obviously the problem you have is brakes. As mentioned in the above thread you can get disc adaptors if you hunt hard enough. Mine came from Germany thanks to my GF who happened to be working there at the time.

The shifters for the Alfine work with it although I still use the supplied twist grip and get on fine with it.

Anyway, a couple of pics of mine out in the Peak district:

Hi,

I use a 3 speed nexus hub on a 90's mtb that I use for commuting.
Bought of ebay with a new mtb wheel built up. Its not the same as my brompton one which has the chain pull changer at the hub.

Its a about 5 miles one way on a mixture of bumpy road, tarmac track, dirt track and a little single track. It goes over a hill so hence the need for some gears. I tried it as a single speed but found I was either standing up or pedaling like crazy.

With a semi slick tyre, singleator chain tensioner and a 42 chainring I find it great and it suits me fine. Smooth and does not get bunged up.
A bit of a pain to setup but once working I've had no hickups. I wasn't too sure about the twist gear changer but its good once you get used to it.
I had to buy the special bolts for vertical dropouts, only one side fitted but I haven't had any wheel movement.
I've not tried it on any full on xc but cycling through the woods, firetrack, jumping on/off kerbs etc no problems.

The gear range is quite wide if its the same as the one I have. 2nd gear is the straight gear. i.e. less there is more gear resistance in 3rd gear which I mostly only use for going downhill.

Cheers Iain