Head's still a bit foggy this morning, so bear with me if I sound ridiculous (this'll be a bit of a 'stream of consciousness' post!)… Couldn't sleep that well last night and found myself musing over my ideal gear setup (as you do at 3am 😆 ).

Now, I really like my alfine, I like not having a dérailleur to wreck and love the 'winter proofness' of it, but I do find it a bit heavy at times, and in all honesty I find the gearing a little wasteful/inefficient (I think that'd be the term?) What I mean is that I don't really use all the gears, it's either in the 'hardest' gear for speed, in the middle for cruising, or in the 'easiest' for climbing/winching/spinning up hills.

I also really like my SS, nice and light and simple; and 32/16 is a good usable ratio generally, though obviously (sometimes) tough to climb with, and it spins out quite quickly as well…

So I got to thinking… would I be happy with a combination of the two? A superlight 3-speed ISO disc hub? No idea on the ratios, but personally, I'd want a nice 'speed' gear (say spin out around 80rpm at 30km/hr or so), a nice 'middle gear' (say spin out around 80rpm at 20km/hr or so) and a good 'climbing' gear (akin to a 36 single front and a couple of gears up from the granny on normal 9-speed cassette; as I hardly ever find myself at the very biggest rear cog, unless it's stupidly steep!)

As for the superlight bit, what could you make it out of? Carbon? Titanium? Aluminium? Exotic plastics? What about the internals? Would they have to be steel for durability, or are there lighter options available?

Also, would it be possible to build it with 'instant engagement' like a King hub?? That'd be uesful, wouldn't it?

And… could all this be done for a similar price to a King rear hub, say around £300 or so do you think? Or am I wishing for the moon on a stick? 😆 😳

Would be interested to hear any thoughts and suggestions 8)

So a bling sturmney archer then?

I guess so… pretty much the SX-RK3 but a lot bloody lighter than 1.2kg!

Maybe you should run a triple up front with a single gear at the back and a mech as a tensioner?

nah… I like the neatness and look of a singlespeed 🙂

I've never done any 'proper' biking with hub gears but my experience from my old 7 speed Nexus work bike was the same as yours- I only ever used 1, 4 and 7. I think a (very) wide ranging 3 speed hub that was light(ish) and not overly expensive would be a very tempting proposition…

Like the idea. My setup on my SS is 32:16 but as you say a gear either side of that would be ideal. SOmething like a 28:18:12 would suit me.

The only thing is that if the gear ratio was fixed by the manufacturer the jump between gears would be quite large and depending on ability could mean it is not the best. If there was a way you could set the ratio yourself that would be sweet but engineering wise a nightmare!

I think it would have to be superlight to get me away form the simplicity of SS, but like the concept.

yep, being able to set the ratios yourself would be a great plus… I'm no engineer, have no idea if this'd be possible, but whilst we're dreaming… 😉

Similar discussion here.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rohloff-or-alfine-11

I think a lighter Rohloff with less gears would be ideal.
Rohloffs seem to be aimed at touring cyclists. I guess if you're riding a heavily laden bike up a mountain pass it's nice to be able to pick exactly the right gear for the gradient with 13% steps between gears.
On a mountain bike where the terrain changes a lot more quickly and there's only a few seconds between steep down and steep up, I'd be happy with half the gears and twice the step between gears, as long as there was the same overall range and it weighed less.

grrrr… I want to build one, but no idea how or where to start! I wish I was smarter and had access to CNC machines etc! 🙁

Eh? Is the shifting slow or something?

Bicycles are something where loads of closely spaced gears are really very useful – most people don't have a huge range of RPMs where they're developing good power. In an ideal world, you'd have a CVT.

Or is it a case that the people who've tried hub gears out have switched from singlespeeding, and are used to working over big rev range?

I could mince with that. Granny climbing gear, middle work gear and overdrive for the road… other way to do it would be a three speed HammerSchmidt type thing without the AM/FR/DH bulk 8)

The modern S-A 3 speed hub is very smooth and it's nice and light. I use one on my roadbike. It has all the gears you could possibly need.

1 for uphill
1 for the flats
1 for downhill

The middle gear is direct drive so it's just like a single speed there – minimal transmission losses.

I have been tempted to squeeze an mtb frame in to 120 OLD to try it as a mtb gear, but I haven't yet worked out why I would need gears on a mtb. 🙂

I've got an S3X as well – it's a heavy bugger, but apparently more robust. It would be possible to put a WI freewheel on it and have a strong mtb 3 speed. There's no disk mount, but I suspect a bit of playing around with the S-A parts list would make that possible.

(BTW I have an SX-RK3 as well, and it's a lot heavier than 1.2kg 🙂 )

Or another take on the problem…

http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/mountain_drive.shtml

?

"Eh? Is the shifting slow or something?…"

No, the twist shifter used on a Rohloff is very quick, especially if you want to shift several gears at once, even when stationary.

More gears will always be better, all other things being equal. They're not equal though, it's a compromise between number of gears and complexity and weight.
Most bike manufacturers have settled on 3×9, although many individuals go for 2×9, 1×9 or singlespeed because they think simplicity and weight are more important than range of gears.

3 gears would be awesome.

a little twiddly one to get you up steep things.

a big pushy one for fast flat bits.

a 2:1 for everything else.

and surely that could be made a lot lighter than an alfine? – 8 less cogs for a start…

i know you can get something like this, but i've not seen one that's robust enough for mountain biking.

edit: a quick look at the sturmey archer website reveals the SX-RK3, with 6 holes for a disc!

but 1400grams?! – what's it made of? – osmium?!

and it's £250!

I dont think I get it. Well I sort of do, but don't. I like singlespeeding too. But I like my geared bike. This would just be a half-way-house that would be odd. If you're having gears you might as well have a good selection and use them all, why would you only use a couple?!

but 1400grams?! – what's it made of? – osmium?!

that's what I wondered as well, maybe it's depleted uranium or something?? 😆

I wonder if you could take the internals from a S-A 3 speed hub and fit them into a better/lighter/disc compatible shell? Also, maybe swap the axle for Ti or something to go lighter again?

I dont think I get it. Well I sort of do, but don't. I like singlespeeding too. But I like my geared bike. This would just be a half-way-house that would be odd. If you're having gears you might as well have a good selection and use them all, why would you only use a couple?!

I only want 3… well, I want them all, but I only need 3, to keep my imaginary IGH nice and light and as close to a SS as possible…

Although the hub won't be light, ltll be the internals that add the weight.

What you want could be made but the market would be so small as to make it financially pointless

Rohloff say they can't make one that's lighter by simply removing gear ratios. Apparently it's more complicated than that.

I think Rohloff use three epicyclic gear units inside the hub.
By combining the way they step up or step down the gearing, they give 14 different gears.

To get the same range of gears with less ratios would not simply be a matter of leaving some of the cogs out to save weight. It would take a complete redesign.

As thepodge says, the number of people who would want to buy it would never cover the development cost.

well, sturmey archer make one, and i'm sure it would be lots cheaper and lighter if it wasn't made from a Uranium/Osmium alloy.

thepodge – Member
Although the hub won't be light, ltll be the internals that add the weight.

What you want could be made but the market would be so small as to make it financially pointless

This is the key thing. Very few people want a light three speed hub.

even fewer people want a VERY VERY heavy 3-speed hub… but clearly enough for S-A to think it's worth making.

three speed HammerSchmidt type thing without the AM/FR/DH bulk

I'd buy that.

36-32 gets me up 95% of climbs
36-20 singletrack
36-12 road

I'm looking at my worn cassete at the moment and wondering what the point of £50+ cassetts is when they only last a few months. Time to MTFU and go singlespeed.

ahwiles – even fewer people want a VERY VERY heavy 3-speed hub… but clearly enough for S-A to think it's worth making.

I would say that the average SA user has no concern about their weight, they just like their fit and forget ability. plus if you have a low enough gear weight becomes less of an issue so the hub kind of counteracts its own faults.

I also imagine (though I could well be wrong) that the SA hub was cutting edge when it was released but has not been updated with the times.

I'm looking at my worn cassete at the moment and wondering what the point of £50+ cassetts is when they only last a few months. Time to MTFU and go singlespeed.

Or not spend over 50 quid on a cassette…

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5045

but those cassettes weigh more than cornwall.

hang on, claimed wait: 230grams? – my 'internet lies' detector just exploded…

I was having the very same musings just yesterday. The Rohloff hub is incredibly heavy. After nearly a year of ownership and 1100+ Peak District miles I still cannot get over the weight of it. It is like carrying a heavy stone on your rear axle. Jumping on my Orange G3 SS is a revelation.

For climbing and getting up to pace I use nearly the full range of gears. I don't *think* of which gear I'm in, just use the right one for the job and keep on moving – so I do make much use of the range. But in more steady state environments I'd reckon I could get away with just 3 or maybe 4 gears… and to have a super lightweight hub in that format would be brilliant.

I've been toying with the idea of a Nuvinci hub http://www.fallbrooktech.com/nuvinci.asp, but they make the Rohloff look lightweight. Where are all the materials scientists who could make this stuff from superlight metals???

would this do you?

3 speed nexus with disc mount

used on some specialised hybrids

What's the gear range though ? That's more important than the number of gears.
What most people seem to be looking for here is a hub gear equivalent of three chainrings and one rear sprocket, or 3rd, 7th and 10th on a Rohloff.
One chainring and three adjacent rear sprockets or 6th, 7th and 8th on a Rohloff isn't much use.

ratios for hub gears

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

3 speed normally jumps of 33% up and 25% down

on the nexus inter with 32 chainring, 16t sprocket on 2.1 26er tyres would give:

Gear Inches approx of 38", 52" and 71" (middle being 1:1)

for comparison…

32tx12t would give you 70" 32x16t give 52" and 32tx20t would give 41"

So, compared to a Rohloff with its 13% steps, that's roughly equivalent to 4th, 7th and 9th.
A bit better than a singlespeed and probably a bit lighter than a Rohloff, but I can't see it catching on for mountain bikes.

Right. My idea was two chains, one on each side of the bike with different ratios, with a centrifugal clutch inside the rear hub that would flip over automatically above a certain speed. When one was not in use it'd just spin freely. It'd look just like a singlespeed except on two sides. No shifters, no giant hub, no cables.

How does that sound?

How many gears do you need? Internal hub musings… engineers wanted 🙂

ONE! 😉

By the time you've added up the weight of the centrifugal clutch and the two chainrings, chains, sprockets and tensioner, you might as well run 1×9.

You want Retro Direct!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro-Direct

Right. My idea was two chains, one on each side of the bike with different ratios, with a centrifugal clutch inside the rear hub that would flip over automatically above a certain speed. When one was not in use it'd just spin freely. It'd look just like a singlespeed except on two sides. No shifters, no giant hub, no cables.

How does that sound?

try:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro-Direct

though you do have to pedal backwards to get one of the gears.

there is also the 2 speed kick back SA hub – change gear by a quick kick back on the pedals – doubt it would be so good offroad with frequent brake etc

clubber! doh beat me to it..

i think the nexus 3 speed looks a good bet