My beloved Merlin Malt 2 is now fully in the role of commuting bike and loving the use that it is getting, even more now that I have replaced the chain and rear cassette. But, winter is fast approaching and it has got me thinking about what to do next spring when the chain and cassette will need replacing.

An Alfine hub has always appealed to me because of the lack of bits I don’t use (front chain rings, etc), but can anyone advise on whether one will fit into my frame and what pitfalls there might be in a conversion? Also, are they really any good?

You’ll need a chain tensioner and Shimano recommend a full-length gear outer but other than that it’s really straightforward. The 8 speed is robust and more or less maintenance free, I can’t speak for the 11 speed. IME the shifting doesn’t match a well set up mech and there’s a bit of drag but I’d say it’s ideal for a commuter. Obviously fewer gears and a more limited range vs a 3×9 though.

That’s pretty much what I thought about range.

The Malt2 has Deore all the way through, so the mechs work well, but there is so much stop/start on the commute that I rarely if ever use the large chainring (and it is too flat for the small one) and the wear on the old cassette was all in the smaller half.

Thanks for the advice though!

8 speed Alfine Range is 307% or so similar to an 11:32 or 11:34 cassette.

Why not take the other chainrings off? That seems to be the problem you want to resolve.

My time with Alfine was fine but it’s no game-changer IMO. Punctures in particular are faffy

The other chainrings (front ones) are going to come off at some point, along with the mech and shifter, so I could keep the rear mech and cassette, but part of me has always been curious about the Alfine and how well it responds to bad weather.

Punctures _might_ be a deal breaker though, I can see why.

I run an Alfine 8 on my OnOne inbred Fat front rigid frankenbike.

Its great for winter and occasional bike packing.

Iv gone 3 winters without servicing the hub  (more of an experiment than laziness)- actually laziness is definitely a factor but for the cost of a new hub Id rather let it wear out…which it shows no sign of doing.

Before I had it on the Inbred I actually ran it on a Commensal Absolute Full susser – that was a mad bike but had a lot of plus points. Certainly the Alfine had no issues smashing through rock gardens!

I run the larger 22T Nexus sprocket combined with a 32 oval chaining. This gives me just enough gears to get up my steep local hills. Iv never found spinning out an issue going downhill – usually concentrating on the trail or having a rest.

The Inbred has slot dropouts which makes chain slack a none issue but no bother running a tensioner.

Tubeless and then don’t even worry about punctures

I used an Alfine for quite a while (8 speed) and loved it. Ran tubeless so very few punctures etc:

Range was fine, but jumps between gears were noticeable ( i adapted tho).

I ran it on a slidey drop-out bike, with round rings. So, it was silent and i didn’t touch it at all for 3 years muddy winter riding, didn’t even clean it. Amazing.

I have an alfine 11 for sale, you should buy it and become a convert.

Stupid new forum won’t let me post a proper link from my phone but it’s here… https://m.pinkbike.com/u/thepodge/buysell/