Shimino Nexus 8 sp. internal hub-opinions

Gary Askwith · June 2007

How reliable are these 8 speed hubs then?

After a winters riding on/off road my deraillers, chain and cassette are usually shagged out and long before then they are sticky, clicking & grinding [:(!]
Revolution do a courier nexus for œ350...apart from highish gearing can anyone forecast any probs with using one as a winter hack?

Economic Growth; as dead as a Yangtze River dolphin....

Down the Road · June 2007

Nexus 8 v heavy requires a lot of tunig to keep the gears running. You will get to know your mechanic well.

Why not buy something with decent derrailer gears and keep it clean.

Dale 1 · June 2007

Hi Gary,
I too am interested in forumers opinions on this subject, as i have been looking into a Nexus Hub equipped commuter for some time.
I fancy a Focus Wasgo from wiggle, (sorry, dont know how to post the link)from my research it's ideal for my needs.
From the research i've done so far on the Nexus 8 Hub,they seem to be pretty reliable, although do appear to be difficult to service yourself and is best left to a specialist mechanic who is familiar with these hubs, however servicing intervals are few and far between, once a year should suffice as they are a pretty robust piece of kit. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable who actually owns/rides one will come along shortly with some good advice/information ect.For more information on the hub itself, check out www.sheldonbrown.com/nexus
In reply to Down the roads post, keeping the gears 'tuned' is relatively straight forward, it's basically just a matter of putting the selector in gear 4 and twiddling the little adjuster at the hub end clockwise/anti-clockwise until the red lines line up.
A friend of a friend has one and he got an instruction booklet explaining all this in detail when he got his bike, and states it's an easy thing to do.
Hope this is of help, and it'll be interesting to see the thoughts of owner/riders on this subject.

Cheers Dale.

PaulRide · June 2007

I've had one for a while (on a Trek 7400) and my main gripe is the weight. This has finally driven me to replacing it with a much lighter Sturmey Archer drum brake hub with a single freewheel.

I had also failed to keep it tuned and ended up mashing up some of the gears by riding with it out of adjustment. I'd also not want to rely on an annual service, as there are few places with the ability to services these. I think All Saints Cycles in London W11 can do it, but suspect that your average LBS would struggle.

Looking back, if I really needed multiple gears I think I would have been better off with a derailleur set-up and face up to a bit more regular maintenance and cleaning.

Unknown · June 2007

Nexus hubs need regular servicing to carry on functioning happily. You had better have a Nexus-aware mechanic in your LBS if you buy one...

There was a (rather acrimonious!) thread about this on the CTC forum a while ago.

Whereas the Sachs/SRAM Spectro S7 on MsM's utility bike has benn going happily for 2 years without any attention. It is also a lot easier to remove and refit a Spectro wheel than a Nexus wheel. How about an S7 and a chain tensioner? The cheapest source may be www.ebay.de (under "sram spectro 7").

Here's one, still going cheap [:)]

Uncle Mort · June 2007

Hi Gary

I have a premium nexus 8 speed on a specialized hybrid bike. It's done almost 9000km so far and hasn't been serviced more than once. I've had no problems with it at all.

My LBS mechanic said that its predecessor the Nexus 7 was awful though and required regular servicing and regreasing.

I think on balance they're good value if you get one pre-installed on a bike, you get the premium version (lighter, smoother and apparently more reliable), and you have a bit of luck. It's a bit of a fiddle taking the wheel off the first couple of times you do it, but it's no big deal after.

I'm very happy with this one and I've had good value out of it. Hub gears are great for commuters. As has been said, it's a bit heavy.

When it dies it'll be replaced by a Rohloff as I now have secure parking at work!

__________________
In his mid forties and still unusual

Uncle Mort · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dale 1
For more information on the hub itself, check out www.sheldonbrown.com/nexus
In reply to Down the roads post, keeping the gears 'tuned' is relatively straight forward, it's basically just a matter of putting the selector in gear 4 and twiddling the little adjuster at the hub end clockwise/anti-clockwise until the red lines line up.
A friend of a friend has one and he got an instruction booklet explaining all this in detail when he got his bike, and states it's an easy thing to do.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yeah, that's right. But you only need to adjust a week or so after changing the gear cable IME.

__________________
In his mid forties and still unusual

Gary Askwith · June 2007

Thanks to all who kindly replied [:)]....a mixed verdict then...the maintanance side would negate the reasons (money and time)for considering one I guess and i had not considered the greater weight over the back end
Ho Hum have to resign myself to more GT40 sessions....I do hammer my bikes off road so I wonder how they stand up to the battering?

Economic Growth; as dead as a Yangtze River dolphin....

Unknown · June 2007

Well this would be my plan: nice light hardtail frame, disc brakes, good hubs and pedals filled with waterproof grease, sealed bearing headset... and cheap transmission components, 8-speed and square taper for preference. Invest in chain wear measuring thing. Just hose the whole thing down whenever it gets muddy.

Budget to (e.g.) replace chain when stretched 1/16" in 1 foot, cassette every 3 chains; bottom bracket, chainset and derailleurs every year. Lay in stock of parts and ride without worry [:)]

Gary Askwith · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by NickM

Well this would be my plan: nice light hardtail frame, disc brakes, good hubs and pedals filled with waterproof grease, sealed bearing headset... and cheap transmission components, 8-speed and square taper for preference. Invest in chain wear measuring thing. Just hose the whole thing down whenever it gets muddy.

Budget to (e.g.) replace chain when stretched 1/16" in 1 foot, cassette every 3 chains; bottom bracket, chainset and derailleurs every year. Lay in stock of parts and ride without worry [:)]

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Cheers Nick[:)]
Co-incidently my winter bike is a nice light steel GT timberline MTB... shot rockshoc pogo-stick replaced by Kona P2 rigid fork 8 speed acera cheapo shifters & front mech, deore rear, tried a deore and LX front mech but wore out faster than the far cheaper Acera- not impressed!
Square taper BB & Acera chainset been no bother...have my doubts about disc brakes fine when new but they can be more trouble than v-brakes long term...my other GT avalanche/merlin cross breed MTB and my Bros Merlin have been cursed by crappy hydraulic fade/wear/leaks( magura julie[:(!]) and of couse they are heavier, like I said we hammer these bikes...3 ugly options of doing a lot more cleaning, take it easy, or lay off the 'clarts'[}:)][;)]

Economic Growth; as dead as a Yangtze River dolphin....

Tall Jon · June 2007

Go singlespeed for the winter

Unknown · June 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Gary Askwith

...have my doubts about disc brakes fine when new but they can be more trouble than v-brakes long term...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Ah, I only have experience of Avid cable-operated discs - and have been entirely happy with them, once the rather squealy OE pads were replaced with EBC green ones (from the CTC shop).

Whereas I was constantly messing about with rim brakes on mountain bikes, and (more importantly for a low-maintenance steed) they seem to eat your rims in no time.

Shimino Nexus 8 sp. internal hub-opinions

Comments

Categories