[Closed] Tell me about hub gears please.

2 speed sturmey archer kick back hub? No cables or shifter to worry about 🙂

Alfine 8 speed with Jetk shifter perhaps?

Alfine 8 speed with Jetk shifter perhaps?

Yep

Alfine 8 speed with Jetk shifter perhaps?

These are bar end shifters yes? That could work, my current tourer has bar end shifters.

2 speed sturmey archer kick back hub? No cables or shifter to worry about

As a fixie/ss user this really appeals but I'm not sure it would give me enough slack for riding home tired after a parent's night!

Ooh, just found a three speed fixed gear Sturmey Archer hub. That could be just the ticket and let me do away with a rear brake.

S-A are the least draggy.

Alfine and rohloff are like pedaling with a soft tire.

-havw got 3 s-a - different models , wife has an Alfine and I also have a rohloff ..... If I could live with the range everything would be S-A

Sealings not so good but I can live with that.

trail_rat
S-A are the least draggy.

Alfine and rohloff are like pedaling with a soft tire.

Pretty much my experience.

I really like the 3 speed Sturmey Archer. Virtually silent and relatively light. If you gear it for the old medium gear setting in top (72"), you have a useful spread of gears for road use. Rear sprockets are dirt cheap and easy to change so you can experiment quite cheaply to get your ideal gearing.

The important thing is to always set your adjustment to the marks (easy 30 second job) rather than try to twiddle it by feel.(i.e. don't wreck your gears)

Interesting to hear that SA are less draggy.

2 speed sturmey archer kick back hub?

I had one and did not get on with it. Weighed a ton and was a nightmare in traffic - could never get myself into the right gear.

Currently run a 3-speed Shimano with coaster brake. It works but is draggy.

If you can singlespeed I'd do that. If not I'd be looking at Nexus 8-speed.

Starting to think I might need more than 3 speed. It's not hilly but I'm likely to be carrying stuff sometimes or riding home tired. Plus the return is East to West and quite exposed to wind.

What are folks thoughts on the Alfine 8?

I used various bikes when I was younger which had 3 speed S-A, i never felt the range was lacking, but i was coming from singlespeed.
When people are saying that the alfine hubs are draggy, it’s not terrible, but you can notice it.
I haven’t tried the 7/8 speed nexus/alfine, but i have had an extended go on an 11spd alfine, yes it’s ‘slightly’ more draggy than a derailleur setup, but i think it’s an individual thing whether it bothers you or not.
Also, it very much depends on what type of bike, carbon road/cx with lightweight tyres probably won’t feel that nice, but a commuter type bike with puncture proof tyres mudguards and a rack that weighs 16kg cos the panniers are full, well you’re not really going to notice the drag.
Horses for courses innit.

What are folks thoughts on the Alfine 8?

I had an Alfine 8 on a Genesis iOID my son is now using. Utterly faultless in 10 years. Yes, not *quite* as efficient as normal gears but a great setup.

They are sensitive to cable adjustment but otherwise easy to live with.

I've been running an Alfine 8 on my trail hardtail (DMR Trailstar) for a couple of years, once they're bedded in I don't think they're any draggier than normal gears, or not noticeably so.
I bought mine 2nd hand, ran it in my Krampus for a year or so, and then rebuilt for the DMR.
Needs servicing once a year maybe - dip in ATF and a regrease - and I might grease and check cables once a year too.

They do feel different, a bit 'springy' in the lower gears maybe, but lack of dangly bits and low maintenance makes up for a lot.

Love it, and no plans to change it any time soon.

I have two of the old Alfine 8 and have just built up (2 weeks ago) a new one.

One must be over 10years old. Faultless in all that time.

The new one 'feels' lower geared (I've dropped 2 teeth on the sprocket) and is nicer to use as it runs the trigger shifter levers the same way as every other transmission. Cable operated & ebike ready, as is the newer 11speed, so I assume it will be 'tougher'. My 10 year old is on a Speedball, 3 cross spokes & geared 30 X 20, the other old one on a Pugsley, 2 cross spokes & geared 32 X 20.

Had an Alfine 8 setup on my dayglo orange Saracen Pylon 8, sadly the frame developed a dodgy hairline crack near the seat tube join with the top tube ~2014, it might have been realtively heavy but even my former heavy and quite unfit self could always find a gear to haul myself up the commute incline with the 39T chainring and 20T sprocket IIRC. Bike is still in the garage minus the Recon Race fork upgrade it got and then sold on here a few years back (original alloy fork on garage shelf), but I've no idea if any of it would actually be salvage-able after ~6 years of no use.

Did enjoy being able to change gear while stationary at the many Southampton traffic lights.

I've got a Nexus 3speed with drum brakes, dunno if it's draggy or the bike it's attached to is just heavy and flexible, or the upright seating position, or all three.

It's great for 5 miles or so into town, really wouldn't want to do 16 miles on it, I've done that once and it was exhausting!

I do however also have a Charge Plug Singlespeed, which is a great mid-distance commuter! My commute used to be 25miles each way and it was perfect. Mostly flat near home with a few short but steep hills through Ascot / Windsor / Egham. Depends on your commute through. I had it geared 39-16 fixed which is barely high enough to keep up with the spinning on but low enough to keep the effort reasonable on the undulating bits.

How hilly? I'd go single speed rather than hub gears.

Or TBH, Tiagra will do thousands of miles with **** all maintenance on a commuter. At that mileage maybe a £10 chain and gear inner cable every 3 months and a new cassette and chainrings each spring? Still cheap to run and no drag.

How hilly? I’d go single speed rather than hub gears.

It's not hilly but it's a mix of sometimes muddy tracks/road and it's pretty much west-east aligned and exposed to wind in places. I'll also be carrying stuff from time to time. I'd love to go SS or even fixed but I think some gearing is necessary to cope with all that on a regular basis and not hate it!

thisisnotaspoon
...It’s great for 5 miles or so into town, really wouldn’t want to do 16 miles on it, I’ve done that once and it was exhausting!

...How hilly? I’d go single speed rather than hub gears.

I think the S-A 3 speed is a much better hub gear than other 3 speeds, but I'd sooner have an Alfine than the S-A 8 speed.

As for covering distance, the S-A is fine. I've done a number of centuries on mine mainly around Wester Ross.

Here's my 3 speed Pompino on a 125 mile audax through the Northern Highlands.

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And as for hills, on part of the HT550 course (just come from the far horizon)

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i use claris on my commuter.

i find it needs much less care than an alfine.

got 4500km on it commuting and nearly 3000km as a tourer(4 panniers style touring rather than trendy touring) and it is now needing a new outer chainring/cassette and chain total is 60 quid. IT wasnt even expensive in first place.

much less drag than alfine or rohloff that i also own. - bike also feels comfier/more responsive as it doesnt ahve a dead weight out on the rear axle.

i find it needs much less care than an alfine

I've run an Alfine 8 with Versa levers on a Cross-Check for the past 5+ years, I've taken the insides out and dipped them into ATF once in that time. I'm sure this is way short of maintenance best practice but it just plods on regardless. And sure it's a bit draggier than a mech but if I wanted sprightly I wouldn't be on a Surly.

I found especially with the versa it was very very fussy about cable tension.

Easy enough to adjust but at least once every couple of months it would decide to start slipping needing the tension sorted.

Also found that over time the lines were not the optimum position for clean shifting and were part of the above issue. Once I started ignoring the lines and adjusting to feel it stopped going crunch

Got a very old / early adopter Alfine 8 that I've been commuting on for the last 2 or 3 years when I got bored of fixed and a similar East / West headwind commute to you. Just gets ignored and still works fine (way overdue an atf dip so will probably be a corroded wreck when I finally venture back inside).

I wouldn't say it is much draggier than SA 3 speed but just feels mushier due to the roller clutches instead of pawls.

Off road I like the gearing gaps on 3 speed (down hill, flat / ss and uphill). On road I find the gaps a bit big.

Like being able to shift / pre-select gears when coasting round bends or sat at traffic lights.

On the whole with fat slicks, mudguards and hub dynamo it is a moderately quick and very no-fuss commuter.

Cheers for all the input folks, got the LBS pricing up an Alfine 8 wheel build.

I've got a couple of 8 speed Alfine bikes. A belt drive Gazelle for commuting to work which feels draggy/slow as hell (not ridden in ages for obvious reasons), and a gravel bike -Pinnacle Arkose which is great. Had it over 3 years, never missed a beat. Been axle deep in mud, been used for road rides. I use it mainly for road riding from home with bridleways/non techy singletrack thrown in where possible - it's so versatile. I find the gear range ok, could do with higher gears for spinning on the road but I've always managed to get up everything in 1st (or if I haven't, I doubt I would have on a rear mech set up). It is noticeably slower than my old road bike, but I still choose it over my road bike for tarmac only rides due to increased comfort and hydraulics (losing 2-4mph average not an issue when riding solo). The bar end shifter thing works well. I'd prefer an STI type, but you quickly get used to it.

I've already got bar end shifters on my tourer so getting used to them won't be an issue.

Had a Alfine 8 in a Singular Swift, wish I still had it...

I ran a Cotic roadrat with alfine, flat bars and mudguards as a commuter over a hilly route. The draggyness didn't bother me as much as the rear weight bias and the faff of getting the wheel out and back in the case of a puncture. Come the end of a working day I didn't want to feel like I was fighting the bike on the way home, and scared of a puncture in the dark with frozen fingers.

Fantombiker
... the faff of getting the wheel out and back in the case of a puncture...

It's no faff at all with an Alfine, it's comparable to a derailleur. S-A is a wee bit of faff though.

(Unless you're comparing it to a SS)

I've got an Alfine 8. It's been used on both a hardtail and a full susser.

I don't find it draggy, and if you don't keep picking the back of the bike up to convince yourself that the handling will be ruined by the weight at the rear wheel, it rides lovely.

I think a lot of the comments about drag is that you can feel the hub through the pedals when putting a bit more power down, personally I think this is just the gears working. The only time I start to suspect it's making things harder work is in thick, heavy mud when cranking hard in 1st gear, still not convinced if that's the hub feel, or if it is harder!

I've had my hub years, not stellar mileage but it's had a life of river crossings and aimed at pretty much every bit of mud and water I've come across. I gave it a service a last year and it genuinely looked brand new inside, no water or dirt ingress, the grease was hardly discoloured. I quickly rectified that as internet experts convinced me that Land Rover swivel grease was the best stuff for them, so it's now covered in black gloop inside!

The biggest faff for me was having to take a spanner for the nutted axle! If your gear outer is free near the hub (miss the last cable stop) it's even a one handed operation to disconnect the cable (pull outer from hub cable stop, jiggle it to free the inner and push backwards slightly to pop the nut out of its slot)

So it seems the challenge will be getting one, LBS struggling to source at this point.

You can probably get a ready built wheel off the shelf from Rose Bikes. Just make sure you get a selection of the anti-turn washers as you can swap them around to send the cable forward, up at 45deg etc. Also needs a centrelock disc rotor.

Think I've only had one puncture in the last 2 years. Managed to change the tube without removing the cable from hub (just with bike upside down).

If you do order from Rose then they also do a great tip-top dry hand cleaner gel in a tiny tube which is fab for neglected dirty commuter bikes.

SJS cycles will probably have them. They do very good full wheel builds.

Turns out LBS can get me an Alfine 8 but not till August. Happy to wait and I've built it up with a derailleur in the meantime. Gone with Geoff bars so I can run a regular shifter.

Anybody got any other hints and tips? Ratios, sprockets that sort of thing.

Ta

Off-road I run 32 x 20. If I was doing more road or gravel paths I'd probably go 36 or 38 up front.

Rear cogs are standard 3 lobed ones, Shimano & Sturmey Archer do them. The SA ones are better quality IMO and only £5 or so from SJS cycles. Worth having a few to play around with ratios.

8 speed Alfine (X2) and Rohloff owner here.

Alfines have been brilliant despite no servicing. Both were SH when built in 2012/3.

They have been consistent with both skinny and fatter tyres.

Rohloff is circa 13 years old and I’m at least it’s second owner.

Reliable, has never skipped a gear but total overkill for me. I swap it with a SS setup.

Currently running a 3” 29er tyre and 50mm rim. Total weight ... lots but much better than a non fat tyre.

Having a choice I would probably go Alfine.

the trick to releasing the gear cable. Put it in the slackest gear, turn bike over. Put a small allen key in the provided hole in the "cassette joint" ( the rotary shifting bit) and use that to create slack by rotating the cassette joint, flick the cable out. Takes seconds when you get used to it, reverse to refit. doing this removing the cable is simple and easy

Ratios? I ran mine with all sorts of rations from 15 rear / 36 front to 22 rear, 26 front (IIRC) ( that was silly low but got me round the puffer) 36 / 18 is a good start point

I really rate the alfine for commuting and if you look after it its not draggy - an annual dip in atf makes it much slicker

36 / 18 is a good start point

I was looking at something around there so that's good confirmation. Cheers.

Basically what TJ said. You don't actually need a tool to turn the cassette joint, but it does make it much easier.

The problem is finding the small allen key as it is so rarely used it usually migrates to some spot where it's invisible. I suggest attach it to the tyre levers with a rubber band.

It doesn't need to be an allen key, a short section of spoke will do. I made one like this out of a coat hanger:
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and carry it on the bike like this:

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Next question...

Although I don't need it for the commute the thought occurs to me that if I got an Alfine 11 I could also use it for loaded touring and bikepacking. It would also be a fairly simple way of converting my SS MTB (Genesis Longitude) for that kind of use.

Anybody got experience with them? I read a few things about reliability issues but wondered if this was a thing of the past.

Cheers.