Alfines- love the idea of no mechs and think the bikes look great, BUT will I be able to get up a hill!! I want to use the bike for local road rides and the occasional 40/50 mile ride. I live near Glasgow and the flat isnt normally that flat so coming from MTB the lack of a granny ring could be a problem? How do you know what the alfine ratios equate to on normal gearing? Am I better off getting somethink like Spec Sirrus, or Trek FX?
similar to a 1x9 set up.
An Alfine with an 18T cog fitted is the equivalent to an 11-34T cassette in terms of spread (with a 20T it's the equivalent of approx 12-38T spread). Most setups I've seen have had an 18T cog with a 34T ring, giving you a lowest ratio of 1:1 (same as middle ring to biggest cog on a derrailleur setup normally), and a tallest ratio of just over 3:1 (which you pretty much NEVER need anything taller than offroad at least).
Can you get uphills with a lowest ratio of 1:1? Depends on SO many variables. How strong you are, your fitness, are you a gear masher or a spinner, where do you live, etc etc. Was discussing the same thing today with singlespeedstu off this forum. Many people ride Singlespeeds pretty much everywhere (with approx 2:1 ratio) after all, but my legs aren't that strong personally. I also prefer to sit and spin rather than mash. On rides with steep terrain, I use my granny a lot, but on todays ride, which was mostly rolling hills, with a few longer climbs but only 2 short/steep climbs, I barely touched the granny ring.
My thoughts are along the lines of putting an Alfine on my hardtail, and using it for most of the riding I do now, but if I know the terrain is going to be steep and there's going to be a lot of climbing, just take my XC full sus bike with a full compliment of gears instead.
I will however be doing my damnedest to get a bit of a ride on one first before I decide it's the route to go down or not. Having had a bit of a go on a Rohloff before, and being very unimpressed by the amount of drag in the Rohloff hub, I want to check for myself that the Alfine isn't as draggy (though I've been told it isn't).
Ive been running an alfine as my only mtb for around a year. I have the 18T setup and despite not me being the best climber its ideal.
its been to the alps for a week and through the worst that scotland can chuck at it and it has NEVER missed a beat. Its still as smooth and drag free (ive had a shot of a rohloff that was "bedded" in which still felt uber draggy and had crappy twist shift)
it is for sale at the mo (search on classifieds for further details) but tbh im tempted to keep it but need the funds for my "race" bike.
if you are looking for an alfine setup try hub at glentress who should still have a few fleet bikes left. The fact that the most popular trail centre had >30 alfine set ups tells a story in itself.
mboy - the hub is drag free straight out of the box
thanks, its very intresting that GT run them as hire fleets, I had no idea they did. I guess I will be booking a ride! I have a Sunn Tonic (from way back) that has slicks on it at the moment with deore drivetrain, probably cheaper to buy another alfine specced bike than buy alfine hub/wheel and shifter to convert the sunn. Haribo what is it yyour maybe sellin???
alfine on mavic 719
complete with fitting kit for VERTICAL dropouts (others available) shifter (spare if you want it) and 160mm centrelock disc (alfine is centrelock specific)
email @ owen dot foster@sepa.org.uk
im based half way to edinburgh for pick up etc.
haribo
the sunn doesnt have disc mounts and i dont have a spare brake, so all sounds like too much hassle to buy yours i think, would ahve been ideal too as I am in EK!
nae botha - the hub have an ex hire for sale reduced from £1000 to £600, personally im not sure about the frame (but im a steel snob 😆 )