Morning all,

Had a bike reshuffle and i have decided to have a look at putting an Alfine on one of my spare frames, (Slot drop out Kona Unit) had a quick look on Google but can't really find anything that tells me what i need to do, and how about going about it and also which ratio's work, anyone got one? Please share your experiences with me and point me in the right direction, really looking to run it as my only geared bike, so would like it to be able to climb sufficiently as well,

cheers all.

David

The range of the Alfine is 0.527 to 1.615 which means it's about the equivalent in range to a 11-34 cassette (and if you fitted a 21t sprocket it'd be pretty much exactly that).

I've got an Alfine bike but it's for the road (a Roadrat) and that's been running 45t on the front and 20t at the back with 700c wheels. That's a pretty good range for commuting but would be too low for mountain biking. For road I'd probably try 32 front and 20t rear as a starter. That give roughly 32:32 as the lowest gear equivalent and 32:10.5 as the highest.

You can also use the Alfine tensioner and run a double up front.

Isn't there supposed to be another model later this year with a wider range?

The is an 11-speed one coming out with something like a 400% range (the current one is 300% and a Rohloff is about 500%).

that's the one I'm waiting for.

Search for: alfine
1626 results found, showing 1 – 40

😐

yes Del i did that search, but none could return the results i wanted which was real life experience of it, and how i needed to set it up for running on a mountain bike, well there probably is actually, but have better things to do on a Sunday morning than read through 1626 results of a google search, but thanks anyway

Cheers epic steve, that seems to make more sense, what would you think would work as a ratio for off road?

For off-road I think I'd start with 32t up front and a 20t on the back.

spoiling you now.
look here
32:20 IIRC.
HTH

Thanks Steve, and cheers Del, (you are now my hero!!) now just need to go and trawl t'interweb and go see who's doing what deal wise, do I need to use an alfine specific front cog or will any ss one do?

Had it for 18months and it's barely been touched.

The nuts are 16mm, which isn't on any biketool I know of – fortunatly only required twice, because I was adding a trailer hitch and hadn't tightened them up enough before setting off on a spin.

I use 32:20, which is low for the road but gets me up 95% of hills, it's not as low as a normal set up – but I've found that I plod up more difficult hills now. It's also silent… v nice.

My riding style has changed – with the alfine I tend to sit in a gear for much longer rather than obsessing over getting the most efficient gear with a 27speed set up. Not a bad thing, bit like diesel versus petrol I guess. Shifting works slightly differently too, it's not too keen on changing down under a load, but just that 1/4 second of not pedelling and it'll drop down easy. Shifting up, well it's almost too quick until you are used to it.

It's spread of gears is a bit limited and to someone fitter than I, they might find it a bit annoying, but I'm very happy with where it's at even if I'm spinning out a bit on the road to and from the trails.

Getting it on and off is supposed to be a faff (I wouldn't know, bike mechanic stuck it on) so I went UST with gunk inside to reduce the chance of a puncture to a minimum. SO far I've walked to the shed once and the trye was flat, pumped it up and it's still good to go now.

I liked it so much I've just had one built into an open pro rim for my Pompino. Oh, the Alfine crank is nice, but doesn't like the thicker 9spd SS chains if your chainline is slightly off – you can get a nexus sprocket which is offset to adjust this slightly.

On-One 456 EBB Prototype
On-one 32T chainguard (for neatness)
E13 32T SS ring
HT1 LX crank with XT BB
XM819 rims (ck hub up front) with choir master UST.
BB7 front and rear (could only get 8" rear when ordering, will reduce it at some point) with speedial 7 levers.
Pace RC-41F
Planet X/on-one/Ritchey finishing kit.

I've ridden two winters with my slot Inbred Alfine. 32t front 18t rear. Not had any problems and had the hub serviced (£18 LBS) at the end of this winter. Same chain and rings.

It is a bit more draggy than a normal set up and a faff to take the wheel on off. So I run a tube with sealant (schwable removable valve tube and stan's). I carry a spanner with me in case of having to take the wheel off and do the track nuts up tight to stop the hub moving (it hasn't).

Gear changing is super smooth, it runs sliently, low maintainence but you'd never with a race with one.

Thanks all, i think has made the decision for me, i'm in no fear of ever winning a race so no need to worry about that side of things, and as i currently ride a frankenbike 69er, i'm used to walking the odd hill or two, so time to have a shed sort out and have a look see what new bits i need, and Saccades that is one nice looking bike £18 for a service, can i use your LBS tony? That is a damn site cheaper than new cassette rings and all that.

ron jeremy **** me if that is you in the photo forget it dont bother to come round you fat ugly barsteward! you ride a bike! are you taking the piss or what you lardarse!

manwells – Member

**** me if that is you in the photo forget you fat ugly barsteward you ride a bike! are you taking the piss or what you lardarse!

whoa this could be good.

"pops kettle on"

bruneep, make one for me, peppermint tea please, i too am intrigued as to how this will finish

cheers, i must have done something right as a lot of people like how it looks, as for racing i got my best result ever on that bike….(course was a shitheap though)

The range of the Alfine is 0.527 to 1.615 which means it's about the equivalent in range to a 11-34 cassette (and if you fitted a 21t sprocket it'd be pretty much exactly that).

First part correct, second part not… The range is roughly equivalent to an 11-34T cassette with an 18T sprocket fitted, with a 20T it is approximately 12-38T, a 21T sprocket would put it at a 13-40T cassette equivalent.

For road I'd probably try 32 front and 20t rear as a starter. That give roughly 32:32 as the lowest gear equivalent and 32:10.5 as the highest.

I think you mean offroad, as for road 32:20 would be very low. But yes, I'd recommend 32:20 as a good offroad starting point. Maybe 34:20 if you've got stronger legs, or even 32:18 if you ride flattish terrain. 32:20 gives the equivalent to a 32:38 bottom gear, so a little under 1:1. It's roughly equivalent to being in your granny ring and the 3rd cog down on a normal 9spd MTB cassette.

The is an 11-speed one coming out with something like a 400% range (the current one is 300% and a Rohloff is about 500%).

Yup, and I can't bloody wait for it! My 8spd one is ace, but for those rides where a slightly lower bottom gear, and another gear at the top of the range would be nice, it's gonna be awesome!

Incidentally, current Alfine is 307%, a Rohloff is 526%, the new Alfine is supposed to be about 411% iirc. A full 27spd setup with 22/32/44 chainrings and an 11-32 cassette is 580%.

The nuts are 16mm, which isn't on any biketool I know of – fortunatly only required twice, because I was adding a trailer hitch and hadn't tightened them up enough before setting off on a spin.

The nuts are VERY definitely 15mm and not 16mm. ie. the same size as a pedal spanner etc. 15mm nuts are pretty common to be fair, I've got a small 15mm spanner I keep in my Camelbak at all times, and another one I usually keep in the car just in case.

My riding style has changed – with the alfine I tend to sit in a gear for much longer rather than obsessing over getting the most efficient gear with a 27speed set up. Not a bad thing, bit like diesel versus petrol I guess. Shifting works slightly differently too, it's not too keen on changing down under a load, but just that 1/4 second of not pedelling and it'll drop down easy. Shifting up, well it's almost too quick until you are used to it.

Totally agree with all that. My thoughts exactly on it…

Getting it on and off is supposed to be a faff (I wouldn't know, bike mechanic stuck it on) so I went UST with gunk inside to reduce the chance of a puncture to a minimum. SO far I've walked to the shed once and the trye was flat, pumped it up and it's still good to go now.

Frame choice makes some difference to the level of faff, but it's no more of a faff than removing a wheel off a singlespeed bike. I'd recommend going tubeless to anyone using an Alfine if they haven't gone tubeless already, as removing the rear wheel is always going to be harder than a regular QR. But it's not a massive issue.

It is a bit more draggy than a normal set up and a faff to take the wheel on off.

I found the drag disappeared on mine after about my first 10 rides (say 200 miles(ish)) and it's now about the most free-rolling wheel I own!

Anyway, here's mine…

And since building mine, my best mate decided to go the same way and we built him up a Kinesis Decade Virsa with an Alfine too…

peppermint tea about time you had something healthy, beer just makes you fat and bloated!

Any ideas as to price on the new 11spd version?

Cheers all 32:20 it is then, right just need a shopping list now Chain Reaction have this now apart from sprockets what else would I need.

Oh and manwells, throwing personal insults over the Internet doesn't really bother me, just for future reference

11 speed will be over £300 IIRC.

My 8 speed Alfine ioID is fantastic. Ride it much more than my orange 5, however took my 5 out yesterday and loved the plushness but missed the gears!!

have gone Stans tubeless to keep the tube changes down.

Downsides are that the shifter is quite high profile; can't leave on bars upside-down, and it's fragile. Trashed my first shifter in less than a week. There's no option of removing the shift indicator like you can on SLX/XT.

11 speed bits up on our site here

matt's our resident alfine man (I'm Rohloff) – I'll try to get him to post on the morrow…

Price is £350-375 for the hub + extra for shifters. Which is lots of money for 3 more gears. Thats over double what I paid for my complete Alfine back in 2008. I never run out of gears in Surrey so I'm fine with 8spd.

Just back from 3 day roadtrip riding some trailcentre's over wales way on mine and cant say enough good things about it, good range little faff and no mech's to bend or break. Would second the tubeless thing tho got mine setup on 819's and touch wood haven't touched the back wheel since I fitted it 3 months or so ago. I'm running 32 – 20 and have found it fine so far but can be a little spinny on flat stuff/road. Apart from the hub (obviously!) you'll need a drive sprocket http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?&catref=CSS50020 shifter http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?&catref=SLS500RL and fitting kit http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?&catref=SMS500A all come seperately im afraid, HTH

G

Thanks Graham, so probably looking at £200 then cost of having wheel built, (couple of bottles of Leffe to my mate trustyrusty) has anyone run v brakes as the unit frame is v only, saying that I don't see how it would make any difference

The cost of 11 spd and the ratios specced out by mboy has made me open up again to the idea of Alfine 8

So what roughly would be the conversion cost – I've got the frame already, and would by the sounds of it go for a wheel on a tubeless ready rim (819 f.e.)

Where to go for a complete build kit?

First part correct, second part not… The range is roughly equivalent to an 11-34T cassette with an 18T sprocket fitted, with a 20T it is approximately 12-38T, a 21T sprocket would put it at a 13-40T cassette equivalent.

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here but doesn't simple arithmetic say that with a 20t sprocket the low gear equivalent would be 0.527 x 20 = 10.54 and the high gear 1.615 x 20 = 32.3?

To get the equivalent to an 11:34 would then be 0.527 x 21 = 11.067 and 1.615 x 21 = 33.915.

To get anything like a 13-40 range would need a 24t sprocket (the SRAM one should fit) and would be 0.527 x 24 = 12.648 and 1.615 x 24 = 38.76.

Ratio for a single 32:21 combination is 1.52 and this can be alfined to a range of 0.527-1.615 => effective ratios are 0.801-2.45

Now convert that back to a cassette equiv, assuming a 32T front

32:40 is 0.8
32:13 is 2.46

Simples!

And then further as most of us don't have a concept how 'easy' 32:40 would be, rating that back down to a 22T front, the same ratio is achieved with 22:27.5 which is granny and about 3-4 depending on what cassette you run.

If anyone wants a copy of my Alfine hub gear ratio calculator, then drop me an email…

mbonnes AT gmail DOT com

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here but doesn't simple arithmetic say that with a 20t sprocket the low gear equivalent would be 0.527 x 20 = 10.54 and the high gear 1.615 x 20 = 32.3?

To get the equivalent to an 11:34 would then be 0.527 x 21 = 11.067 and 1.615 x 21 = 33.915.

To get anything like a 13-40 range would need a 24t sprocket (the SRAM one should fit) and would be 0.527 x 24 = 12.648 and 1.615 x 24 = 38.76.

Incorrect

0.527 is the bottom ratio, not the top one. That is to say the hub turns 0.527 times for every time the cog turns once in the bottom ratio. So actually your method is right, but you've used the wrong numbers…

For top gear equivalent you use (I'm using a 20T cog here btw) 20T / 1.615 = 12.38T (or 12T to nearest whole number)

For bottom gear equivalent you use 20T / 0.527 = 37.95T (or 38T to nearest whole number)

Simple really! 😀

Price is £350-375 for the hub + extra for shifters. Which is lots of money for 3 more gears. Thats over double what I paid for my complete Alfine back in 2008. I never run out of gears in Surrey so I'm fine with 8spd

But Alfine 11 speed isn't just about 3 extra gears. It has all new internals for improved shifting and reliability plus simple servicing.

"But Alfine 11 speed isn't just about 3 extra gears. It has all new internals for improved shifting and reliability plus simple servicing."

Ok it will be improved but I've run a 8spd for two years with super smooth shifting and one recent oil change. So it's not exactly poor shifting wise or un-reliable is it? The point is in my mind for my winter bike the £160 I paid for my complete 8spd set up is good value for money (compared to standard gears) but the approx £500 to change isn't worth it(£375 for a hub, £55 shifter, £20 fitting kit/sproket – £450 total plus wheel build). For £500 you could have two complete deore disc groupsets from Merlin.

Simple really

Cheers!

Ok it will be improved but I've run a 8spd for two years with super smooth shifting and one recent oil change. So it's not exactly poor shifting wise or un-reliable is it? The point is in my mind for my winter bike the £160 I paid for my complete 8spd set up is good value for money (compared to standard gears) but the approx £500 to change isn't worth it(£375 for a hub, £55 shifter, £20 fitting kit/sproket – £450 total plus wheel build). For £500 you could have two complete deore disc groupsets from Merlin.

Yes and no.

At £500 it doesn't represent the brilliant value that the original 8spd Alfine has done for those of us wanting a zero maintenance geared winter bike, such as yourself (and myself for that matter). What the 11spd version will do though is offer the extra convenience of another gear (or 2) at the bottom and top of the range over the current 8spd, which then brings it into the realms of an everyday usable setup for about 90% of mountain bikers, especially if they already use a twin chainring setup up front, or rarely use their large chainring beyond about 5th or 6th cog down on the back.

It should (I hope) be as reliable as the 8spd version, be smoother running and easier to service too. Not as cheap indeed, but for the initial outlay it would be well worth it to me, and probably many other people to be honest.

That said my 8spd hub is so good, I'll really struggle to justify changing it. Expect I shall probably manage to ok though if I find another application for my 8spd, or somebody gives me a good price when its time to sell…