Alfine and Rohloff userists – which has the lower low gear?

Considering a used touring frame that is configured for a Rohloff or Alfine hub.

I already have an Alfine 8 speed wheel, but the vendor also has a Rohloff wheel he may sell. That would add an extra £700 to the build.

I’m not overly fussed about the Rohloff unless it can offer a significantly lower low gear than the Alfine.

Anyone have experience of both?

Think of it this way.

The alfine is a 11-34 cassette, with a single front ring, so small front ring means you will have small gears but no top speed.

The rohloff is a full 11-34 and 22/32/44 front triple.

Thats not perfect (in terms of ratios) but its an example of the differences.

I would like to know this too….or what is the lowest c/ring and sprocket combo you can use with a rohloff.

Lowest ‘approved’ ratio is 38 tooth chainring and a 16 tooth sprocket.

So thats a bit lower than this chart which is a 40-16…

You can use a 40T chainring and 19T sprocket on Rohloff if you are under 100kg (and on a solo bike).

This will give you a low gear lower than 22×36 on a derailleur setup. It’s a lower gear than most people would need, on a fully-laden touring bike, riding up steep, loose, gravel roads. You’d be travelling at less than walking speed.

The range is not quite as much as STATO suggests – it’s just over 500% from lowest to highest gear whereas triple and 11-34 gets you 618%. It’s pretty close though – more than enough spread of gears for virtually any application on a bike, provided you pick your sprocket and chainring sizes sensibly. Plus, if you get it wrong, you can just buy a new chainring and/or sprocket for not a lot of money.

Chart shows 12-34 (rather than 11-34) and 24/32/44 (rather than 22/32/44) so is a bit disingenuous (on the part of Rohloff) IMHO – no need as the point is that Rohloff gives NEARLY the same spread of gears and has many other advantages.

so in easy terms, 19stone bloke can use a 38 front ring and a 16 sprocket? for low spinning climbing gears?

Pretty sure that ratio got me around NZ’s hills with up to 40kg of luggage. I was around 14 stone of leg muscle then.

In answer to the OPs question: neither has a lower low-gear as such – it depends on what ratio chainring/sprocket you choose. Rohloff publish a minimum (2.1:1) but it seems Shimano don’t – though for the Nexus 8 they recommend the same as Rohloff (2.1). So it’s safe to assume that the lowest gear you could set either up to give, without invalidating the warranty, is the same.

The difference is that with that low gear, the highest gear on an Alfine would still be very low. On Rohloff it would be significantly higher (as it has a much wider range) although still quite low, compared with a traditional derailleur setup.

Over 100kg the minimum ratio Rohloff recommend is 2.35:1 so 38:16 is fine.

Plenty of people exceed the limits Rohloff set without worries, but given their warranty I don’t think you’d want to invalidate it by doing something they recommend against.

I have running my Alfine 8, 32 x 21 for over a year and it still feels like new. In fact I have just fitted a 22T sprocket but haven’t ridden it yet.

Even if it does shorten the life span a bit at 1/6 the cost of a Rohloff I’ll just buy a new one.

I’m pretty sure Rohloff have stop quoting the minimum ration now, anyway…

Thanks for you input on this guys.

I have an Alfine 8 speed on my fat bike, however the large circumference of the tyre ups the gear considerably, I expect the 26 inch wheeled Alfine with a standard touring tyre will lower the gear considerably.

For a flat barred expedition style touring bike outright speed isn’t an issue, load carrying steep hill spinny low gears are what I’m after.

I might take a punt on the frame.

Put it this way then

As the Alfine replicates an 11-34 when run with a 20t sprocket (roughly) then you’d want a 22 front ring (effective gearing equal to 22-34) to be ‘Twiddly’. Meaning your high gear would be effectively a 22-11, so a 2:1 ratio. Of course how long it will last with that ratio/torque going though it on a loaded bike…?

On my fat bike I have a 32-22 ring – sprocket set up. I feel the low gear is far too high. I think I could fit a 23 tooth Nexus sprocket but that would make very little difference. I don’t think the chain line would allow clearance past the tyre with a smaller ring on the crank.

I think the larger circumference on the fat bike tyre is having a big impact on the gear.

I just can’t justify the cost of the Rohloff. Maybe if I were going on an epic adventure tour it would be a worthwhile investment. But that would be a pipe dream at the moment.

For the ones I’ve seen using a wider crank (these new ones for 190mm wide back ends) would let you use the granny ring position. That’s prob the only way to get it low.

mcm – I’ve run an 11-speed Alfine on my fatbike. The last time I did this, I kept the two rings up front and just fitted an Alfine tensioner. The chain does run very close to the tyre when in the smallest ring (not touching but close enough to scrape mud off). That’s running Rolling Daryl rims and Nates and/or Husker Dus.

Did I hear ‘epic adventure tour’? I’m in :-D

McM, I’ve just sent you an email re an ex-demo Rohloff we have.

Did I hear ‘epic adventure tour’? I’m in

Boblo, I’ve been checking out some blogs written by friends of Patrick and Rachel. Inspiring doesn’t come close.

http://cyclingdutchgirl.com