I’m looking at getting a new bike on C2W. Price limit is £1k.
I was thinking about a new commuter; hub gears, hydraulic disks, guards, rack etc. But my current bike (old skool Reynold frame tourer) has plenty of life in it. Anyway, what I really want is a CX bike for commuting in nice weather (5 flat miles each way) and something that could handle some local road to bridleway rides from my front door. Probably 30-40 miles into the Howardian Hills (small hills but reasonably steep in places) with 25-30% off road.
Anyway, I’ve seen this:

I’m not sure whether it’s a great compromise or would fulfill neither role satisfactorily. Has anyone for any experience of it? My thoughts are I
Could easily convert it into a low maintenance commuter by sticking guard and a rack on it should I want to. My concern is over the range of the Alfine 8. Would I be able to get up steep hills? What is a reasonable cruising speed? (is 18-20 mph achievable at a reasonable cadence). Does anyone have an experience of this or similar? Thanks.

linky

My old Saracen Pylon8 had a 38T chainring and an Alfine 8 hub gear (19T sprocket IIRC), it had plenty at the low end, it was going downhill where I had to learn to coast at the time (but 20+ mph was easily doable).

IIRC, my Pylon8 was ~14Kg with a Recon Race fork replacing the default rigid. Its biggest weakness was that I could really feel that weight when trying to hammer it up hills.

The hub gear itself is a mixed curse, great for maintenance/longivity; great to be able to change gears while stationary; but at the cost of a very weighty hub.

If you’re not too bothered about hammering it, the compromise might be worth it. But if you like to hammer it, even part of the time, I would choose the Arkose X 2017 instead.

I have a Genesis day one alfine as a commuter. As above pretty much bombproof maintenance wise, but it’s a pain in the rear if you puncture. Heavy back end but you don’t really notice it. Mine has a 40 up front, and there’s only a couple of times I’ve really needed a lower gears. What shifter does it run? The verso drop bar shifters on mine are a bit hit and miss sometimes.

Thanks for the info. It has Microshift BS-M10 bar-end shifters (apparently), no idea what they’re like. I’d happily sacrifice STI for proper hydraulic brakes.
Realistically it’s going to be used far more for commuting than anything else, so the Alfine should be ok.
The best dilemma is size. I’m 6’1″ so bang on the overlap between L and XL. Might have to have a trip to Evans over Easter and see if they’ve got any other Arkose to sit on before I pull the trigger.

What scheme are you on, if it’s C2W then you won’t be getting a bike from evens

Cyclescheme – so Evans is included. Hopefully so is the 10% free accessories