MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I am thinking of buying one of these probably the 8 speed one.
Has anyone else got one and if so how do you rate them?
I live in a very hilly part f the world so are gears ratioed well or am i going to be puffing up the hills?
cheers
I've a 2009 one, which I picked up a year ago ex-hire from The Hub. I use it for commuting, but to be honest it's brilliant off road too, and I pick it out before the full susser quite often. Never had an issue with gearing other than it's slightly undergeared on the road and I can spin out above 20mph, but it's a joy to just have the 8 gears, they make life simpler and let you get on with riding rather than faffing with derailleurs and the like. It's a great bike - I love mine!
Same here - bought mine nearly 2 years ago as a commuter / winter bike but it quickly became my ride of choice. Converts to SS (and back) very easily, is very low maintenance and is great on singletrack. Did the SDW in a day on mine and found the gearing fine - the 20 - 30mph headwinds were a complete PITA though...
There are a lot of threads on here about them. I got a second hand 8spd recently as a winter bike. It hasnt rained much since but I have only taken my FS out once since. Was out on the SDW on Sunday and was looking for a smaller gear on a couple of the hills, but as there wasnt one I just put my head down. On the way down it can be a bit annoying not having a bigger gear, but the silence makes up for it!
To give you a rough idea the Alfine 8 is like running a 11-34 cassette with a single ring. The 11 speed is like running a twin ring set up in terms of gear spread. So look at how you ride and how many of your gears you actually use currently then pick the set up that suits most.
Absolutely excellent. Use it as my Singletrack steed and winter bike. Gets far more use than my Five.....
Mister P - Member
To give you a rough idea the Alfine 8 is like running a 11-34 cassette with a single ring. The 11 speed is like running a twin ring set up in terms of gear spread. So look at how you ride and how many of your gears you actually use currently then pick the set up that suits most.
Sorry to gate crash...
That's good to know Mister P.
I have been thinking of an alfine myself, but being unable to try one; I thought I'd be under geared for normal mountain biking.
Sounds like an Alfine 11 would be fine though.
Cheers Peeps, very useful to know.
I presume the longativity of the alfine hub is pretty good then?
AFAIK the 8 speed is extremely reliable; when I visited the shimano tent at MM24 in '10 they stated they hadn't had a single return by then.
Don't know anything about the 11 speed...