I’ve got an alfine on my own bike, have done since they first came out. Mine is on it’s second internals due to me messing up the full service. A few points
1. With shimano spares, if the part isn’t numbered on the exploded diagram it is NOT available separately, anything that is numbered can be found on madison’s site by removing the first and last digit from the code although some stuff that is numbered also isn’t available. This is true of ALL shimano stuff not just alfine.
2. Alfine’s need some servicing, the basic service is easy to do and doesn’t need many tools but needs doing more regularly than people think. I aim for everything 8 weeks but probably don’t quite manage it. This is still a lot less maintenance than a conventional setup so I’m still happy.
3. Rohloffs do cost more but take way less maintainance.
4. Sometimes things go wrong! Again not specific to alfine but some people need to realise that sometimes things go wrong. It isn’t the manufacturer planning to ruin your ride, it just happens. What makes a product stand out is how often it happens and how the company sort it out. Hope and Rohloff are both good examples of this.
5. Buy what you want, Rohloff’s are nicer than alfine’s but an alfine will be fine for a lot of people and a Rohloff will be out of reach for a lot too, this doesn’t make either of them bad products, just different. The new alfine 11 will be a good compromise it terms of cost/gear range/weight/everything really
6. You don’t need to disassemble a wheel to send it to madison or Rohloff (unless you’ve damaged the shell), just send it with a courier via your friendly bike shop, won’t cost much more as the weight is next to nothing and saves time (and possibly cost) of a rebuild.
If anyone has any questions r.e. alfine/hub gear in general feel free to email matt@18bikes.co.uk or call the shop (although I’m framebuilding much of the time and not generally here but Simon or the other Matt can still help
HTH