I really like the idea of internal gears but I want to know how an alfine will feel on the bike, particualrly in the air. anybody got any ideas how I can simulate the weight shift without spending much if anything?

Alfine = 1600g roughly
currently running an old Hope XC Hub, 8speed cassette & old LX short cage mech at a guess that lot will be somewhere between 900-1000g

Bend some lead round it?

fill your tyres with sand?

Just wrap something around the hub. How much does a dh inner tube weigh? Probably only need 2 of them, although it may be a bit bulky.

Strip of roofing lead wrapped round and tiewrapped (probably a few), might cost a bit if no one has some in a shed though (don’t just borrow some from a local church, that is bad, ok?).

No idea but when you’ve done it try adding an ugly rattly thing to your bar to simulate the shifter too. 😆

I want the weight to be at the hub not the rim!
hmmm… Where could I find lead? only idea I’ve had is wrapping an old DH tube (and a bit) round the hub body.

<EDIT> I type too slow :/

had a shot on a rapidfire shifter’d alfine at the weekend, shifted the wrong way but nae rattles

Could you not just use a heavy tyre and a slime tube to give you at least an idea? I can see any attempt to wrap stuff round your hub ending badly!

Self adhesive wheel balancing weights, the stuff that comes in thin but wide strips might be the way to go with this.

tube filled with a bit of water to the righ weight then somehow straped to the hub body

Try a scrapyard.

GW – I have some lead flashing here if you can figure out any way of getting it to you. I suspect postage would be ridiculous.

Maxxis DH tube is 430g

As for the shifter comments, the shifter moves the correct way – it’s the future! 😉

cant you bolt something to the frame near the back wheel, I can also see wrapping something round your hub anding in disaster.

Fill a ziplock bag with sand, wrap round the hub and wrap a load of gaffer tape round it. Should hold I reckon, and no great disaster if it doesn’t.

Sand in an innertube or something similar tied round the hub?

Sounds like a good idea to me – let us know if you try it.

Note that the shifter on the 11-speed Alfine will work in the other direction to the current 8-speed one. i.e. it will work the “right” way round.

A stick of plumber’s solder?

if you don’t get the weight evenly spaced round the hub the wheel will not spin corectly. Imagin an unbalenced wheel on a car.

Adding it to the rear triangle of the frame will be better.

Remember:

The weight of the rest of a deraileur system will still be on your bike.

The Alfine is rated for ‘Light XC’ use, so “seeing how it feels in the air” might require a bag of loose spanners to be wedged in your wheel!

Ben

Some plastercine in a bag tie wrapped on would work, remember you want the weight as a rotating mass, not just hanging off the frame.

Buy a solid gold QR skewer

Fill a ziplock bag with sand, wrap round the hub and wrap a load of gaffer tape round it. Should hold I reckon, and no great disaster if it doesn’t.

I’d say that’s pretty much the best idea. Cheap and easy to fine-tune the weight.

Buy a solid gold QR skewer

And that’s probbly the crappest idea, but top marks for inventiveness! 😆

Is an Alfine really 600g heavier than a hub, cassette, rear mech and extra chain links?? 😯

if you don’t get the weight evenly spaced round the hub the wheel will not spin corectly. Imagin an unbalenced wheel on a car.

Too close to the hub to matter IMO.

GW why not bolt something heavy to the rear triangle near the hub?

not meaning to state the obvious but isn’t there any where you can demo a bike with an alfine hub? I know a few trail centres that have them.

uplink beat me to it, 500g per stick, should be close enough, I’ve even got a stick in the garage that you can borrow if you’re anywhere near Taunton.

blue tac 😆

Strap a small monkey to you seat stays 😀

tony24’s idea (blue tac – perhaps with tape around it?) could be one of the more practical solutions.

What about one of those Velcro strapped ankle weights for exercise/aerobics? Sealed unit filled with sand, compact, easily attached/removed I think they’re 500g? Would be close enough to simulate.

some decent ideas there, Thanks.

To answer a few questions..

I Don’t want to demo an Alfine equipped bike, I’ve had a short ride on one alrady and liked it enough as a gear system. I seriously doubt anywhere would have a bike to my taste with an Alfine to demo anyway.
I ride a dirtjump hardtail as an all round bike (All round to me means everything from long XC rides to DH & DJing to pissing around in the woods).
I did ride my hardtail single speed for a while and loved the silence, confidence and directness of having no gears but unfortunately it lost all it’s versatility as an all rounder.
My Hardtail weighs 30.5lb and is already at the point I couldn’t really get away with fitting anything lighter to it without durability issues.
An extra 600g I could live with, but not if it’s detrimental to the handling having all that extra weight rotating at the furthest rearward point.
Hopefully you can see why I really want to have extra weight fixed to the hub and not the frame.

What I think I might try is home made Playdough in a tube wrapped round the hub body and gaffer taped (and maybe a ziptie for good measure). this way I should even be able to get it balanced by simpy squeezing it while in place to distribute the weight if needed to keep it spinning as usual.
I make playdough for kids all the time anyway so it’s really not a hastle at all and won’t really cost anything more than the price of some flour and salt.

might try this over the october break as I’ll have time to go jumping/DHing and XC riding then.