Reading about a bit the Description on the IO seems to suggests the Alfine hub produces the equivalent of an 11-38t cassette in terms of gearing range, I also found the Alfine group’s own crankset which is apparently available in either 39 or 45 tooth flavours, suggesting shimano haven’t quite gotten their heads away from the higher geared Nexus tow path pootling application with Alfine, despite what a lot of people are using it for…
My guess would be (and it is a guess) that one of the mid range gears (4th or 5th ) is 1:1 so whatever your “input gearing” ratio; 32/20, 32/23, 39/28, 45/30? You will actually be running this gear in the middle of your range with the alfine and your range is basically +/– 3-4 steps this ratio either side, maybe ~20% a step?
I’m currently using a 32/22 chainset with an 11-28t 8speed cassette I was mulling over switching to a 36/22 chainset with an 11-32 cassette to give me a wider gearing range (currently it ranges from ~ 75-20 “Gear inches” with the changes I’m considering I’d get ~ 85-18 Gear inches, and a bit less “ratio replication” assuming I’ve calculated correctly) as it is I spend 95% of my time in the “mid” ring and run out of gears on the flat/road, and use the granny if I’m faced with a nasty climb as the top 4 sprockets are my get out of jail climbing gears, I like having at least a couple of easy gears in reserve, and I could live without a massivly Grr gear but wouldn’t want to be any worse off than my current 11-32 top ratio…
I know you’ll never get the range of a double or triple x8/9 speed but just how far off of producing a similar gearing spead would an Alfine be? In terms of ultimate top and bottom end gearing? I presume if you want a get out of jail climbing gear you have to sacrifice the taller gears and vice-versa, but is it a massive amount?
Should I even be considering the alfine instead of yet another 2×8 setup or am I the “wrong sort” of rider?