Although I do long distance road biking and not off road, this chart https://audaxing.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/long-distance-ride-bike-fit-tips/ might be helpful

Rear knee pain is usually fixed by raising the saddle slightly

I have a spare table, I have a pillar drill, a load of tools, electricity. But my garage is full of OTHER PEOPLES MOTORBIKES so there is no room 🙁

Audax riders do it all night long
I love night riding[/url]
Mind you don’t ride off road much. The best night riding is either on deserted A Roads at 3am, (the Brecon bypass is a favourite) or tiny lanes that I know really well. You can see cars coming at you from a long way off. Riding at night has got a load easier in the last 7 or 8 years, lights are so much better.

My advice is don’t take the train, use up a day or so cycling from Den Haag up LF1 and then right a bit to Amsterdam.

You’ll see some interesting stuff and it’s so easy to cycle in the Netherlands that the family can do it. Even if they are 7 years old. Or a septuagenarian heavy smoker.

Look at the VVV maps to plan a route

Two years+ commuting over the Blackdown Hills to Taunton and back on the A38, 15 miles each way. So not much traffic except in Taunton itself.

Came off a few times on black ice first winter. Second winter had spike tyres

Came off one time too fast on a bend covered in shite, ripped my coat

Lots of near misses with cars but no collisions

You shouldn’t really ride wearing a Basque. But whatever turns you on I suppose

Depends how much room there is in your shed/garage

Currently, including all the families bikes there are 10 bikes in the garage

There’s room for plenty more

There’s no room for cars

I have an Alien RX and a newer Hexus
The Alien’s has various allen keys, a chain tool, slot/cross screwdrivers, one tyre lever, spoke keys and THE MOST USEFUL ONE a very sharp knife
The Hexus has a wider range of allen keys, a chainsplitter, t25 torx slot/cross screwdrivers, no knife but has two tyre levers
Both are about the same weight, approx 180g

I got my Ti road bike fixed by Vernon Barker
Pics here
http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/it-was-dead-but/
It’s not the neatest repair ever but I asked for it strong not pretty
I do fairish miles on the road bike and the repair is ok now since last xmas

My old commuter bike was a road bike with drops and a single speed.
It was single speed because the hanger got mashed

It is possibly easier avoiding potholes and death on a single speed on the road than on fixed.

On the minus side the freewheel is another bit to go wrong. I just used an old cassette hub with spacers and a single sprocket. A couple of times when it was v cold the freehub froze up and disengaged the drive.

I just bought one and put it on the commuter bike. It is only 24h and doesn’t look like it will last long. It says in the blurb that it should not be used off road.

It’s factory built and I will be tightening all the spokes up to a proper tension at the weekend. I would have done it last night but sadly ICBA. I got the wheel because I’m having trouble with the old alfine wheel I have on it at the moment.

The size of the wheel is 700c (normal road bike size) The rim width is 23.5mm so it only works with tyres larger than 28mm wide.

The hub gear box is externally a different design to a SG 501. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious way to disassemble it to remove the insides and oil dip them.

On the plus side it is cheap as chips, £120 from rose bikes posted and including a twist shifter with cable, sprocket, join kit, vertical drop out no-turn washers. The wheel has rim tape on it too.

servo – Member

Got mine last week from Lexs £104.99
Came in 2 days

I took a look at this website, found some MTB boots I’d like, went to order them and then the page where CC details were entered looked most odd. It didn’t get any CC details from me and an email has gone to the site owner

Get something classy and indestructible like my Cotic Roadrat Alfine with drops[/url]

mech hangers … are designed to fail

Woody

Designed to fail…….in what way ?[/quote]

they bend so the frame doesn’t

Same Story here[/url]. I am going to get it welded, probably by Enigma. However the thing is that if it cracks once like this it’s a sign that the tubing welds on the whole frame are somewhat dubious. So my best long distance frame is going to get downgraded to a single speed pub bike 🙂

I bought a Specialized road bike recently. In real life it doesn’t look too good but in photos it is ok[/url].

I am hoping that it’s dull black appearance will render it less steal-able

It rides ok though and that’s the main thing 😉

Cotic Roadrat 8 speed Alfine

If you want to know more about audaxes then one place to look is my blog

Audaxing Blog – Long distance cycling the easy way

On One never have anything you actually want in stock anyway, so it's irrelevant how much it costs.

Yes, getting used to that "hungry feeling" is a bit of a drag

It would be more of a drag to still weigh over 80kg for the long, hilly event I'm doing in the summer though

I switched from a SS to an Alfine for commuting on ( 15 miles each way in Devon ) because I figured it would be "easier" to grind up the hills in a lower gear when I felt under powered, and faster when I felt good.

What I have actually found is that it is easier on the bad days, and of course slower
But it isn't faster on the good days

I'm convinced that a single speed is faster than gears for commuting type riding

keppoch – Member
vorsprung,
What shifter are you using for the Alfine with drop handlebars?

I am using a normal Alfine trigger shifter, filed out to 24mm to fit on road bars

The latest on the drag after now 700km is that there is slightly less drag when in gear compared to new. It's true that the 5th gear (the direct drive one) seems more efficient

Note that I am on roads, with a commuter bike, tyres have minimal tread

I've got a new commuting bike with an Alfine to replace the old single speed. Only trouble is, it doesn't seem as fast.

Initially I thought I wasn't pushing as hard due to the set up of bars/seat/pedals not being quite right. But then I got the set up pretty good and it still wasn't doing the speed I'd expect, compared with the single speed.

The single speed has exactly the same tyres, same rims/spokes, same front hub, same length of crank, same saddle…I reused a lot of bits onto the new bike. New bike is maybe a little bit lighter and has a little bit lower drop handlebar position. But really I'd say except for the gears the bikes are as alike as a new and an old bike could be. And I went straight from the old bike to the new bike, the person riding is the same.
I'd expect that the Alfine's gears are slightly less efficient than the single speed. But this would be compensated for by having better gear rations. The single speed had a 66” gear and so on a shallow hill would probably be better. But on a shallow downhill It should be a different story. The 96” top gear on the Alfine is going to be easier to get up to terminal velocity. But I wasn't finding that. On downhills where the single speed would get to 40kph, the Alfine was struggling to do 32kph. On really big hills where most of the energy came from freewheeling the Alfine seemed fast. On the flat where the single speed was doing 30-35kph the Alfine was doing 25-30kph

On really steep climbs it's difficult to say what is faster but the lower gears on the Alfine are certainly easier

I did a google for this kind of Alfine drag thing and it seems that some people believe that the hub beds in and is faster after 1000 miles or so. The speculation is that this is due to the cogs wearing in inside the gearbox.

After 600km it seems a little bit less draggy, so I live in hope.