Shimano Alfine sprocket advice needed

DanielCoffey

I would appreciate some advice on what front and rear sprocket sizes I should be looking at for a Shimano Alfine on a bike with 700x38c tyres in a moderately hilly town (Edinburgh).

I will be using the bike in town as a Utility bike and am aware that 5th gear is the 1:1 gear that I should be aiming to use as often as the gradients permit. I will not be travelling great distances on it. Most of my route is on slight inclines with one long climb and one short but steep bastard of a hill with traffic lights at both top and bottom. I was previously riding fixed on 40/16 which I am now finding a little low as my fitness has increased over the past year.

Thanks for any relevant advice.

Daniel.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/internal.html

Throw some details into the calculator, using the nexus 8 gear hub. If you know what gear inches work for your route already from another bike, play about with the chainring/sprocket sizes to find what ought to work.

My Pylon8 came with a 38T chainring and 19T sprocket. I often find 5th is a bit too easy for the flatter bits of my old commute, but sometimes 6th can be too much of a slog. I might get round to buying/fitting a 17T sprocket, giving me a high-50s gear inch for 5th.

Effectively, that would lose my current 1st gear (very rarely used up ~10% hills) and give me a higher 8th, so I could spin out at a higher speed down the hills.