Forum menu
Well that's just it. I'd put up with it if it's small, but if it's big it would annoy me. Especially on a long day out.
I need to ride one first, don't I?
Both the 11 & 8 I have more losses than a dérailleur set-up. This is particularly noticeable when free-wheeling. This is easily shown up when you have the bike up on a stand, spin up the cranks/wheel & then stop the cranks & the wheel will stop way before a dérailleur wheel has even thought about slowing down. But hey, more exercise, less brake wear & a non-hub gear bike feels really fast when you get back on one. My hub gear bike is for my daily off-road commute, winter mud, just put in the shed covered in s..t & forget bike - I love it.
evesie - that i would disagree with - freewheeling my alfine is as good as any other bike - no drag whatsover. The rohloff has a bit freewheeling. I guess yours needs a service if its draggy freewheeling
What you wanting it for molgrips? to me the drag is irrelevant as it only makes me a few % slower if at all and I don't care I am doing 12 mph not 13 when out for a pleasure ride
How much is a lot? I don't notice it when I am riding at all.
My Rohloff is going back on my HT.
It' did a seasons guiding in Morocco & then a few yrs duty as a winter bike.
It'll get an oil change, a new chain & sprocket.
I'm very curious to see how it feels....
Evesie - Member
Both the 11 & 8 I have more losses than a dérailleur set-up....
The drag figures I've seen for derailleurs have been for a clean, unworn drivetrain and they are only marginally better than a good hubgear.
Add a bit of wear or good old British clag, and I'm sure there wouldn't be much difference.
The 8 speed Alfine is a very nice feeling hub, and if you don't need ultralow gears for climbing walls or lugging 50kg touring loads, then it's not worth paying for more hub than the Alfine 8. (I wouldn't buy the Alfine 11 except for a road bike because you can't gear it lower than the 8 without repercussions).
they are only marginally better than a good hubgear.
A good hub gear in this case being... The 8sp? Is it less draggy than the 11sp?
I guess if it feels more positive then that is probably more important psychologically.
molgrips - Member
'they are only marginally better than a good hubgear.'
A good hub gear in this case being... The 8sp? Is it less draggy than the 11sp?
I haven't ridden an 11 speed, so I really don't know. The 8 speed feels less draggy than my Rohloff though - but apparently that's an illusion caused by the slight noise the Rohloff makes in low gears. (I'm hypercritical of transmission noises - I'm usually on a singlespeed)
I think the drag thing is as much psychological as real but I have seen testing figures that show hub gears with similar performance to dérailleurs and also much worse
Also hub gears get less draggy with age - with the rohloff this is really noticeable but my alfine is much smoother and less draggy than it was when new as well- partly probably down to the fact I oil bath it every year so its not full of old dried up grease
I've used a rohloff for the past few years on a sir9 frame as a winter bike and its been great. It is currently on our tandem, but I am seriously thinking of getting hold of another secondhand hub, as having used a derailleur geared bike this winter I am sick of the extra maintenance they require in the mud. I haven't used an alfine, but would happily recommend a rohloff to anyone.
I found over time that the original grease in mine dried up a little and it became sluggish both in shifting and dull feeling under drive.
The full degrease and atf relube completely changed the feel of it to be far far less draggy in feel. Shifting has become much crisper and under drive its like you feel the gears meshing in together.
After having an Alfine 8 and going back to gears (bought a complete bike for once....) I wish I could afford a Rohloff Thur axel hub as the engagement of the Alfine had spoilt me was magic compared to the bag of balls hubs my bike has fitted atm.
Couldn't say I noticed and untoward drag took it across Dartmoor fine.
Hiya.
Also Alfine 8 curious for the old Rockhopper.
What's the smallest gear you can realistically run without damaging the unit?
Would like something under 20" if poss.
Interesting thread, thanks.
At the strathpuffer I ran mine on something ridiculously low. IIRC 26 chainring and 22 rear cog - something like that. 1st was around the same ratio as a granny gear on a 3x9 mtb setup ( normal MTB gearing for an alfine would be 32 / 16 ish
I wasn't mashing the pedals tho. there appears to be no lower gear limit set by shimano for ther 8spd
Slight tangent, but my trusty Alfine 8 slipped today, nearly sending me over the handle bars. First time in 1000's of km's....