Buying 1st Hybrid - Internal Hub or "Normal"?

Ailsabob

I'm looking to get off my lardy backside and get a hybrid bike. It will predominately be used evenings and weekends. Fairly gentle stuff - road, path, etc. Will also use occasionally for commuting (c.8 miles each way).

So, a couple of questions:

1. What are people's thoughts on bikes with the Nexus 8 hub. Do the pros (reduced maintenance) outweigh the cons (fewer gears to select from, and slightly increased weight?).

2. Some of the models I have been looking at are Specialised Globe Vienna 4, Giant Escape R8, GT Transeo Ltd, and DIamond Back Quantum NEX.

Most of them in the £475 neck of the wooods, although the DIamond Back is significantly cheaper (c.£350). Any views as to the best of the bunch, or indeed, ones to avoid?

Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

supersonic

The hub gears are nicely weather proofed, but you get a larger range of gers with a double derailer set up.

markp2

I am looking at the same issue. My Hytrail has got through 3 x chain, cassette and chainwheel sets in about 6000 miles of all weather riding.
I want to go a stage further and get belt drive to replace the chain as well.
I believe the Shimano Alfine unit is rather better than the Nexus. Longer lasting and more efficient apparently ( but more expensive).

landrew

Depends on the type of riding you do and personal preference..

A deralier potentially has a greater range and smaller steps in between which helps to keep a consitent pedalling cadence.

Hub gears are fantastic where you have to start and stop a lot as you do can change gear after you have stopped. They are also very smooth at shifting.

If you go for hub gears I suggest you try to get the Alfine rather than the Nexus if you can as the shifting is better and I have heard that they are more reliable.

jinnan_tonnix

My bike had a Nexus 3 speed. My experience wasn't too good. It didn't last much more than 1,500 miles before the bearings disintegrated. They're an absolute sod to service. I did try, but gave up when I downloaded the service manual.

I was keen to use a hub gear as it seemed to be ideally maintenance free, but it turned out to be more trouble than it's worth. In the end, I converted the bike to single speed.

Anyway, I bought a second hand Subway 2 with regular derailleurs and, to be honest, I much prefer them. They're dead simple, easy to adjust and, most importantly, a doddle to service and fix / replace. You can also choose your ratios by changing your cassette.

Perhaps a good quality hub gear would be better, but from my personal experience, I wouldn't bother with geared hubs.

bikesr4riding

I've recently got myself a Cannondale Bad Boy 8 with an 8 speed Alfine hub. So far I can thoroughly recommend it. I've written a brief review of it here along with a load of pretty pictures of it.

If this is a bit on the pricey side then I know Ridgeback also make a similar offering using a Nexus, which pre-dates the Alfine and is apparently not quite as slick/relaible from the accounts I've read.

On the weight issue, this doesn't bother me in the slightest. The bike is already quite wippet like, so the extra weight at the back tames the beast a little, which is a good thing IMO.

I'm sure I remember a few previous posts around this subject, so probably worth a search.

Good luck finding the one that suits.

Ailsabob

Thanks for the advice, everyone.
I think for reasons of cost, and choice, I'm moving away from the idea of an internal/integral hub.
Based on the reading I've done, I'm off to my LBS store today to check a few models out, including:

Marin Larksupr
Trek 7.3
Fuji Absolute 2.0
Giant CRS 2.5
Specialized Globe Vinenna 3

Any of these particularly stand out?

Cheers,
Ailsabob