Alfine Hubs

Just had a search through the forum and can't find a thread asking for opinions please.

Further to my post the other day re a 1×9 setup this is another consideration for the Scandal build.

Are they any good / reliable as I believe they were designed for commuter bikes?

Is the weight noticeable?

What ratios do you run?

Anyone running 32f x 23r with a Nexus sproket?

Anyone using them for marathon events – solos etc

Thanks in advance

The Nexus hub was designed for commuters, the Alfine is the MTB version of it. There were a couple of threads on here when the snow was about praising their lack of clogging. Might be worth a search.

Have a look here[/url]

generally mine has had most use as a commuter along muddy canal tracks, but i did do MM2009 with no problems at all (29er alfined slot dropout scandal)

running a nexus sprocket (either 18 or 20) to get a better chainline

compared to a SS, then yes the weight is noticeable – just depends if you really care about it

Good timing. I used mine at the strathpuffer.

Are they any good / reliable as I believe they were designed for commuter bikes?

only had mine 3 months but no reliability issues and very few / none reported. I spoke to Ben @ kinetics who sells a few – he has seen no failures even with them being used on tandems.

the nexus is the commuter hub. The alfine is rated for MTBs

Is the weight noticeable?

to me – when you pick the bike up yes. In riding – no. I can bunny hop it as badly as I can any bike. Teh overall weigh increase is not much – its the distribution that is very different

What ratios do you run?

32 / 18 as stock. I ran 22 / 18 at the puffer. Going to 32 / 16 for commuting

Anyone running 32f x 23r with a Nexus sproket?

It has been done and should be no problem. IIRC thats the lowest recommended gearing

Anyone using them for marathon events – solos etc

Quite a few alfines at the puffer – mainly on Genesis IO IDs like mine. Used as hire bikes a lot – the Hub at GT uses them and are on their second batch. I ain't a real racer tho.

Anyone running 32f x 23r with a Nexus sproket?

Yep I am on a 29er. No problems with it.
Well apart from the fact that I'm not that keen on it performance wise.

Had one on my 29er set up for commuting-34/18 with the sprocket turned round for better chainline (remove the guide).No problems reliability wise,you have off back off a LOT to change gear and its not so much the overall weight but the fact its hung right off the back of the bike.You cant flick the back end over stuff too easily-a few people who got them suffered loads of pinch flats till they adjusted.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Probably a numpty question, but Jeremy, when you say you ran 22×18 do you mean you did 22 (f) & 18 (r)

If so, what crankset are you running and how did you do it. From my understanding, if I was to do this with an XT crankset, I would have to run the 22 ring in the granny position. Does this not screw up the chainline?

Is this easier than doing the 32 x23 thing I mentioned above, which you do remember correctly, is the recommended lowest combination?

Is it easy to change the sprocket?

For sitting spinning your way through long rides Alfines are brill. But for point and squirt, dodging the trees in the woods riding they don't have the crisp pickup of a singlespeed. That's why I have two rear wheels for that bike and can swap them and fit the shifter in 15 minutes or so.

hi

yes 22 front 18 rear. 22 on the granny ring position. Chainline that few mm out but I used a 9 spd chain and no issues. You can reverse the dished rear sprocket to get perfect chainline

Raceface crankset

32 / 23 would be better – you can get perfect chainline easily and 22/ 18 is ridiculously low. Think granny 1-9 with a conventional set up – I was spinning out at 15 mph or less. Being old and slow and riding the puffer I wanted really low gears.

changing the sprocket is fairly easy. remove the shifter mechanism – which just unclips and remove a big circlip and the sprocket just comes off.

Thanks. This sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Bike is being built for 24 hr solos. Like you I need to be able to have quite a bit of flexibility over gearing.

I'm built for comfort rather than speed but I go for ages… He he

The beauty of the alfine for the 24 hr solos is that you have no mech to break or go out of alignment – faff free riding.

I've had mine about four months now and think it's great – I got fed up with skipping gears and chainsuck during the muddy months! I use it to convert my SS for winter use. I've had no problems so far. I iniatally ran 32/16 but have now changed it to 32/18 which is much better in the claggy conditions. A mate runs a Scandal 29er with 32/23 and is very pleased with it. I don't really notice the weight when riding it, but it does feel heavy when you pick it up.

Are they any good / reliable as I believe they were designed for commuter bikes?

Mrs F's slot dropout InBred has had one since late 2007, ridden most days sometimes on sometimes off road, and it's been flawless. We had it serviced by the very good LBS summer 09, but having taken it to pieces they said it didn't need it, just regreased, put back together and charged next to nothing.

Is the weight noticeable?

As other people have said, yes when you pick the bike up, and the weight is all at the back, but it's not a big deal riding it. I'd have one instead of my 1×9 derailleur Summer Season if I had a frame and the money.

What ratios do you run?

Mrs F runs 32/18 happily, but a friend who rides mostly on road has just swapped to 32/16 with a Nexus cog, and I think is going to want 34 or 36 at the front.

The Alfine will outlive several derailleur drivetrains if you like riding in typical UK mucky conditions.

I love mine. Very reliable and apart from a quick cable tension adjust I haven't touched it. I run an 18 on the back and 26/36 upfront with an alfine tensioner and a 9spd chain.

How easy is it to service the alfine?

(Just had a few people with nexus hubs breaking from winter commutes!)

Some say expensive or difficult to do?

I like mine. But it is weighty. I notice it on dips. The back wheel seems to 'suck' into the ground. Also the weight is postioned out the back which moves the centre of gravity back. I countered this with a set of Fox 36's.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bike-pictures-from-today

And you can see the weight difference between my Alfine'd and Geared HT's. The forks and tyres are a few pounds heavier on the Alfine'd bike but the other components are similar in weight. There's still an 8lbs difference in weight.

Servicing is easy. Strip the gubbins out of the shell ( a few circlips and stuff) and the gear cluster comes out. It is then soaked in oil, drained and reassembled.

NO way is an alfine 8lbs heavier. I would guestimate that compared to a 1×9 its a lb or two heavier

has anyone tried a gearbox bike with an Alfine, similar to the GBoxx idea with the Rolhoff?

rockitman,
try searching again. as an example:
=http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/search.php?search=alfine+inbred&advanced=1&exact=1&posts=1&highlight=1&users=0&located=0&forums[]=0&maxcount=100&age=999999&direction=0&sort=date

TandemJeremy – Member
NO way is an alfine 8lbs heavier. I would guestimate that compared to a 1×9 its a lb or two heavier

If the derailleur system was built to the same life expectancy as the Alfine it would weigh much more.

Thanks for info TJ.

Haven't stripped an Alfine model yet.

has anyone tried a gearbox bike with an Alfine, similar to the GBoxx idea with the Rolhoff?

I've tried a Hammerschmidt/Alfine combo… it feels (and is) quite heavy, but the gear range is good and I didn't mind the slight drag when the front is in 'overdrive' ('big ring' equivalent). Have dropped the Alfine for now to save some weight and am running a single 16T on the back… so a 2-speed setup 🙂

TandemJeremy – Member

NO way is an alfine 8lbs heavier. I would guestimate that compared to a 1×9 its a lb or two heavier

If you read the whole sentence you'll see that I qualified the heavier items between the bikes.

I was surprised by the difference. The forks and tyres may account for 4.5lbs. The component spec difference is at most a 1lbs but the rest is the Alfine.

The forks and tyres are a few pounds heavier on the Alfine'd bike but the other components are similar in weight. There's still an 8lbs difference in weight.

Either that's really badly worded or your scales are really bad.

So your trying to say the alfine weighs 5-6lb?

My whole bike is 32lb (minus 1/4 ounce) and the only light thing on there is the RC41F. THe rest is all clysedale to go with the rider, you'd have to be getting a heavyweight FS to beat mine. When riding I don't notice any weight penatly anywhere.

Edit – Ah you qualified yourself. So your saying the alfine weighs about 3.5lb… which is what it weighs… then the shifters and cables would cancel out. Your 8lb statement was very misleading.

So your trying to say the alfine weighs 5-6lb?

cough* Who's the sad git that weighed his Alfine hub before building it up into a wheel to go on his bike *cough…

ME! 😆

Mine was 1668g unadorned. Which is what, just over 3.5lb iirc…

Weight difference between a derrailleur system and Alfine setup… Hmmm… Well, if you're running full XTR I think you'd probably gain 2lb or more, but if it's Deore or SLX, or even XT kit you're running, you're only going to gain 1 to 1.5lb overall.

Noticable? In a dead lift of the bike yes… When out riding? Really, it is only very slightly noticable that all that weight is in one place. Certainly my bike doesn't feel that rear heavy that it's unbalanced when its wheels leave the ground or anything.

Gear ratio wise, I was running 32×20 on my 29er, but have just bought a 22T Nexus sprocket and had a 34T chainring lying about so they've both gone on. This will only lower the gearing very slightly, approx 3% overall, but I'm hoping it will suit me. The 32×20 on a 29er at least (10% larger rolling radius on the wheels) was just slightly too tall for me… I may even end up dropping a tooth on the front perhaps and fitting a 33T ring, but the 34T is what I had lying about and the 32T ring that came off was way past its throw away date…

If you want an Alfine gearing calculator Spreadsheet that I knocked up (this applies to anyone), then email me (email is in my profile)… It's all singing, all dancing etc, and will tell you all about your overall ratios, gain ratios, gear inches, mph etc in all of the gears and for any wheel size and gearing combination.

And performance wise, well only done maybe a dozen rides on mine so far, so not quite as well placed to comment as some, but not had a single issue yet. Yes, it's a bit slower under shifting to an easier gear than a derrailleur setup (you have to back off slightly), but otherwise it's great. With my current gearing my 1st gear is the equivalent to a 22×27 derrailleur setup, and my top gear is equivalent to 32×12. So I can climb most hills without getting off and walking, and I only spin out above 20mph on the road in top.

Personally, I can't recommend them highly enough. I know a few people with them now, and everybody raves about them. It's pretty much a case of singlespeed simplicity, but with the added bonus of 8 gears rather than one. Sure, it's a bit heavier, but if you're not racing will that matter? In fact, speaking of racing, there's a guy in the US that posts on MTBR forum a lot that to prove a point, took his Alfined 29er out on one XC race instead of his normal race bike. He won funnily enough!

Oh, and the Alfine is/was a godsend through the snow and the mud. Haven't washed my bike once since I got it (about 2 months ago), gave it a mild brush down yesterday just to get the worst of the crap off prior to fitting different sprockets and a new chain. Everything just works! I was getting fed up of spending nearly as much time cleaning the drivetrains on my other bikes as I was riding them through the mud, I gave the Alfine a go. Now I doubt any of my other bikes will get a look in until the ground firms up somewhat!

I've had mine on for a bit over a year now – on a Scandal. No probs at all.

Did the Kielder 100 on it and it was submerged at least three times but still absolutely fine. The advantage of being able to change gear without pedalling is surprisingly useful, especially when on a course like that when it's hard to anticipate sudden changes in direction/gradient.

I've not noticed the weight but then the Scandal was very light to begin with. The gear ratios are a bit more spread out than a derailleur, more like 8 singlespeeds slung together so that's how I ride it. I've got 34/20 which suits me fine on a 29er.

How much are you looking at for an Alfine set-up?

£200 or a bit more depending.

Hub is currently £154 at CRC, cheapest I've seen

Shifter is £27 from CRC

Cog is £5-8, shop around

Fitting kit generally £10

So about £200, plus the cost of a rim, spokes and getting the wheel built…

Or hang around on ebay looking for a bargain, you may or may not be lucky. Have seen a whole setup (including built wheel) for for as little as £125, or as much as £225 on ebay…

Another question – What kind of chain / chainrings do you run? Do your run singlespeed chains? Do you need a chain tensioner if not slot dropout?

Thanks

I am running unramped chainrings and a nine speed chain – purely so that I can use the same sram links and keep everything compatible with my other bikes. Singlespeed chain might be better considered in isolation. You need some method of adjusting the chain, EBB, slot dropouts or a tensioner

rode one yesterday on a fifty k loop on a scandal 29er borrowed from a mate and i thought it was awful, very clunky, having to back off the power loads when trying to climb and the gear ratio's weren't right for me.
i'll be sticking with a regular mech , casette, shifters, etc.

my mates bike has gripshift which i also found really uncomfortable, can you run a normal trigger shifter?

Yes you can run a rapidfire shifter, Alfine is usually supplied this way. I reckon he was running a Nexus shifter on his bike.

correct, he's using a nexus shifter

Would that be why it was so clunky?

no the shifter worked fine but it was just really uncomfortable for me(i feel like i have rsi a day later in my thumb and wrist, which is why i was asking about rapidfire shifters), it was the hub itself that gave the cluncky feel and sound when changing gear ratio.

to me, i felt it was just a poormans rohloff, which i accept there is around a £1000 difference.

Out on interest exactly how much abuse would you think an Alfine capable of withstanding.

Fed up on having no working gears on my DH bike…

If we dare ask what's the conclusion of the 'premier' only comparison between the Alfine and Rolly?

MAG SPOILER! Alfine vs Rohloff (Premier Content)