Hub gears for commuting ??

laughingontheinside

Hi there, newbie question. Anyone use Nexus hub gears for their commute ? After looking at various bikes for my impending commute I have started to think that hub gears could be the best bet. My ride into work will be five miles each way consisting of mostly regenerated railway line, I know, I'm so lucky The bikes on the short list are the Kona Bike 38/16 with 3 speed hub and the GT Traffic 2.0 42/22 with 8 speed hub. How would these gear ratios suit my commute and which way do the gears change e.g. using the Kona 38/16 would the other 3 speeds be harder or easier ? Hope this makes sense and isn't a stupid question, I'm used to riding a 27 speed mountain bike !!! Many thanks for your replies.

mattv

With the 3speed hub, you will have a low gear almost as easy as the low gear in an 8speed, and the same with the high gears being slightly lower in the 3 speed over the 8.
BUT I would recommend against the shimano nexus 8speed. These hubs are very good, if a little heavy, for a while. However, the water sealing is not as good as it could be, so water and the inevitable grime that hubs gather work their way into the workings of the hub and cause havoc. They appear to last around 2 years of commuting. I had a look inside one of these 8speeds once, they are very complex! Only real solution is to get a new hub, around £160-180, and pay your local wheelbuilder to lace it into your rim .If you can, go for the Alfine instead, much better water sealing and better internals apparently.
In your riding, assuming the non-railway riding is not up mountains, the 3 speed would be more than adequate.

The Rookie

Railway lines are flat, so a three will be fine on that (I had a 3 when I was 13 and could climb a 1:3 hill, but it was MUCH easier to walk to be honest!), do you have any hills at either end? Gear spacing is quite wide on a 3, but as has been poinetd out the nexus need lots of TLC while the 3's are pretty bombproof.

Simon

Chiggy

Here's a three speed bike for an 8 mile commute across East Birmingham.

20" wheels, 46 chainring to a 20 tooth Sprocket.

Middle (1:1) is 47" ( well, it is a ladies shopper bike ).
Top is 63", which pushes it 14.8 mph at 80 rpm.
Low is 35". 34 x 26 on a 700C wheeled bike.

I had a Carerra Subway 8 a few years ago. The Sprocket had the same mounting pattern as a Sturmey.

lae

^ yep you can swap Shimano and SA sprockets, I think.


Anyway.


My winter bike is hub-geared. Sturmey Archer AW3 (from the 60s, I had one lying around) built into a Mavic Open Sport rim. 22t sprocket and 42t chainset gives:
High gear - 68" (for the flat, I'm using cyclocross tyres so this'll be a little higher when the slush clears and I fit road tyres and a 44t or 46t ring)
Middle gear (i.e. direct drive) 51" (hill)
Low gear 38" (steep hill)

I think it's great - I see roadies and people on BSOs with their rear deraillers clanging about and making horrible gritty noises because of the bad weather, but mine is really very quiet (the only thing quieter is a fixed-gear) and very easy to clean (just wipe it down and occasionally drip some oil in it). Plus if I slip on the ice I won't destroy the derailler or hanger. I can get up any hill in my area and still barrel along on the flat. It makes a nice distinctive reassuring freewheel noise too. 8 speeds would be great, but a)it adds even more weight and b) it adds cost (which is mainly what put me off)

Chiggy

frinkmakesyouthink wrote:

^ yep you can swap Shimano and SA sprockets, I think.


Anyway.


My winter bike is hub-geared. Sturmey Archer AW3 (from the 60s, I had one lying around) built into a Mavic Open Sport rim. 22t sprocket and 42t chainset gives:
High gear - 68" (for the flat, I'm using cyclocross tyres so this'll be a little higher when the slush clears and I fit road tyres and a 44t or 46t ring)
Middle gear (i.e. direct drive) 51" (hill)
Low gear 38" (steep hill)

I think it's great - I see roadies and people on BSOs with their rear deraillers clanging about and making horrible gritty noises because of the bad weather, but mine is really very quiet (the only thing quieter is a fixed-gear) and very easy to clean (just wipe it down and occasionally drip some oil in it). Plus if I slip on the ice I won't destroy the derailler or hanger. I can get up any hill in my area and still barrel along on the flat. It makes a nice distinctive reassuring freewheel noise too. 8 speeds would be great, but a)it adds even more weight and b) it adds cost (which is mainly what put me off)

And this is how it should be.

SA set Middle as 'direct' so a 2:1 ratio with a 26" tyre equalled J.K. Starley's Safety Rover.

I've got another SA bike. A 26 x 1 3/8" bike. It has a 46 ring and 24 sprocket. After looking in the old sales brochures for High Bikes, my size would have been 50".

MichaelW

I have used Alfine for about 3 years of 2x6miles in all weather. It is really good. In winter there is no mucking around with cleaning the rear derailleur.
Wheel changes are a bit slower but not that difficult. There is a technique to removing the cable from the hub which is pretty easy once you get the hang. No adjustment needed.

asprilla

Love my Alfine, but I do find that it sticks a bit in the worst of weather, frequently restricting me to the top 4 gears. I think it's just grit getting in the cabling, even though I'm using enclosed cables.

ndru

I have 5 speed SA hub - super happy with it. Maintenance free, silent and shifting when stopped - super useful in city.

Clarion

In a slight twist, I'm using a Sturmey Archer S3X, which suits me perfectly for commuting.

Ideally, I'd want a Rohloff or iMotion hub gear on my tourer, which often doubles as a commuter, especially in bad weather. Unfortunately, it has vertical dropouts. The new Alfine sounds pretty cool.

beverick

ndru wrote:

I have 5 speed SA hub - super happy with it. Maintenance free, silent and shifting when stopped - super useful in city.

It's urban myth that hub gears are maintenance free.

SA state that "During a major service the hub greases should be replenished or replaced, especially for internal hub transmission parts. Please contact your SA dealer who is equipped to carry this out."

They don't say how frequently a 'major service' should be done though.

Shimano say that their hubs should be maintained every two years or 5000 km.

Bob

ndru

They are maintenance free in comparison to a derailleur which needs to be cleaned every month or even more often. Then oiled and adjusted.

lae

I drip a little medium weight gearbox oil into my SA hub every fortnight or so. Maybe the modern ones run on grease, but my one from the 60s has always been run on oil (so the old chap who I bought the bike, off of which I pinched the hub, said, and he'd had it since new) and it's as good as the day it was made.

Besides, they aren't hard to strip down and re-grease anyway. There are guides on the internet. Yeah, it's more difficult than taking a derailler apart, but it's not like you need to do it regularly.

snailracer

The SRAM T3 has a bulletproof reputation, and is commonly found on European rental bikes.

MichaelW

During this recent exeptionally cold weather my Alfine has been sticking in one gear only at temps below -10C. Fortunately it was set to 3rd gear which is good for a bit of up and down.

I imagine that this issue would dissapear if you use an oil dip lube method for the hub internals. The original grease is designed for no-maintenance operation and must get too thick to operate at low temps.