I’ve had my alfine hub for about 5 months now, done maybe 700 miles and I’ve noticed in the last week or so that the freewheel has a bit of drag in it.

By this I mean if I push the bike along forwards the sprocket and thus cranks turn slowly. If I’ve got the bike in a work stand and turn the cranks forward and let go they’ll keep spinning and if I hold on to the cranks to stop them turning there is an audible rubbing noise from the hub region. I can’t see anything externally, E.g. chain on the outside of the hub or something so I’ve concluded it must be inside.

Now, it could be that it has always been like this and I just didn’t notice, but thought I’d check! So, any ideas if it is normal or not? Is it worth getting the hub serviced?

Pretty sure mine would drive the cranks round

If yours is an 11 I wouldn’t know but that all sounds normal to me. Mine’s an 8 speed with a couple of thousand on it. It shouldn’t need a service at 700 miles.

Pretty normal in my experience of 2 Alfine 8’s for circa 10000 miles commuting. They are draggy, they skip under heavy load, there very sensitive to cable adjustment and take at least 500 miles to run in. Love them for commuting but there far from perfect.

this is why i got rid of mine.

as far as i can see they all do it …..

Yep, mine do that too! Glad to hear it’s not just me 🙂

If you’re freewheeling on a downhill, stick it into 5th. This is direct drive and a lot less draggy.

You have nothing to worry about!

Thanks! Good to know. Didn’t realise 5th was direct drive, but had noticed it ‘felt’ nicer.