A large colleague of mine has been told by LBS that he would better with a hub gear rather than derailleurs because of his weight. He weighs 130kg or (20.45 stone) and is 1.78m tall.

I did 8 years in bike sales and have never come across this recommendation. The only thing I can think of is that the axle might be stronger on the hub gear. I would have thought the forces through the frame would be similar regardless of gear type.

Any thoughts on whether one might be stronger than the other?

Rubbish. Me from a few years ago knows.

I killed a alfine in 4 weeks. sheared something inside the hub, got a full refund.
9 spd deore is ace, cheap and strong.

Sounds like balls TBH, I suppose that in theory a larger person will place the drivetrain under greater stress/torque, but I wasn’t aware of Alfine, SA or Rohloff hubs being any better at higher torque…

To be honest, I’d be more wary of smashing the gears inside a hub gear if I were that big.

The chain is the only weak link in a derailleur system.. but I suppose, you can use a thicker and possibly stronger chain if you have a hub gear?

Make sure he doesn’t get bling light hubs with alu freehub body though.

I started riding at 150kg + on a normal derailleur. It was a Deore mech (M525 cup and cone hubs) and nothing broke.

I thought as much. I would have thought worst case scenario he could swap the QR for a solid axle if it snapped. Many thanks.

just stick with good old 9 speed, ive never snapped so many chains since going 10 speed and im not even big lol