Problems with my alfine in deep snow…

The Alfine is not universally great:
The jumps between gears are quite big.
There is a shifting delay, and you can't gear change under heavy load.
The weight is noticable, but you'll adjust in time, esp. off camber stuff.
There is a bit of drag.

However, there are so many positives, these are just minor niggles really. I will seriously consider putting one on the full sus when the drivetrain is knackered. That might be a while though since I'm exclusively riding the P7 😉

just for a balanced discussion

positives in no order at all

low maintaince
ablitiy to shift gears without pedaling I find this very usefull
niche
usefull range of gears ,,
symetrical wheel build wide flange
will still shift even in the muddiest conditions

BURN THE HERETIC!

nah, I agree – I've two bikes, one's a summer FS with derailuers and it's definitly faster and lighter. But summer has been a bit thin on the ground for the last 3 years.

Then I have my winter mud plugger with the alfine – it's not as fast and it's a bit more limited but the reliability is just outstanding, the only thing that needs sorting are the Pace forks (Nipper brokes my glasses just before Xmas so they had to go on the back burner) in a year of riding, Full length outers on BB7's, the chain is a rust free commuter beast and it all trundles along on UST. I do think the ability to change gears without having to peddle is a massive advantage, spesh if you get stuck in the snow say – and I don't think I've ever shifted in any set up under a heavy load except on a demo bike that had flappy shifter things and I got way confuzzled.

It's my pedal mashing riding style Sacclades – have broken lots of chains 🙂 I will say again that tubeless is good with an Alfine, because you don't want to be faffing with punctures. Here is a pic of mine today:

avdave2 – Member

it's just a pity that it involves having a frame specifically designed to allow you to use one.
there is a way around this if your a confident engineer…

thought this was pretty neat…

That's a great link coastkid. I don't think I'll get the hacksaw out just yet but if I keep the frame I have I'm going to want to get disk mounts fitted at some point which would be the ideal time to get an s&s coupler fitted as well.

Update on the alfines first ride today, on some of the points others have mentioned i didn't really notice the weight on the back end,there is a slight shifting delay but i did not find this a problem, also as mentioned you cannot shift under heavy load but then i never do this with a derailuer setup.
I did find it good that you can shift when stationary but the main thing i need to get used to is the backward shifter as i am used to SRAM triggers, all in all very good and should only take 15 to 20 mins to swap back to SS

Since the OP I’ve given the EBB a tweak once, oiled the chain 3x and had the bike washed at Bonty24/12.

And it’s still shifting perfectly…