Genesis One Day Alfine

andy_from_embsay

i'm wondering whether this might be my ideal winter bike. Fat tyres for a bit of off-road action, hub gears for no maintenance, mudguards and rack mounts and disc brakes for reliable stopping.

Anyone actually got one? How does it go as a regular winter commuter?

Thanks

Monty Dog

Suggest you try one for a test ride - the Alfine hub and steel frame will probably add up to a fairly hefty beast so don't expect to fly up hills. If however your priority is reliability and low maintenance then there's little to go wrong.

Ride buddy has just built a 11 speed Alfine onto a titanium frame as his winter ride and he likes it - I'm sticking with my titanium-framed singlespeed CX with discs at present because it weighs a whole lot less and I enjoy the challenge of spinning like a loon at 30kph or grinding my way up offroad climbs.

godders1

Some people had issues with the brakes (which genesis weren’t too great at resolving by all accounts) so might be worth a BR/Google search on that issue (something to do with using Shimano rotors with Tektro brakes).

I had one of these in mind for a winter commuter but am going for the on one pompetamine versa instead (cos it’s a bit cheaper and because of the reported brake issue on the genesis).

andy_from_embsay

Thanks - me plus pies equals a fairly hefty beast too! I have a Dolan with some Pete Mathews wheels on at the moment which I use in winter, but as this will mainly be a 13 miles each way commuter weight isn't absolutely crucial. I'm hoping the new model will have sorted the brake issue (I'll be getting the 2012 model).

andy_from_embsay

Update - seems the 2012 model that i'm getting has different brakes - BB5s(?) which are the ones that people were retro fitting when the original ones didn't work.

godders1

Aah, assumed you were looking at current model, sorry (pretty sure no one will have got the new one yet). The 2012 model is a bit out of my price range! :shock:

andy_from_embsay

It's gone up by £100 but i'm getting it for the old price -£999.

godders1

andy_from_embsay wrote:

It's gone up by £100 but i'm getting it for the old price -£999.

I never realised they were doing a new Alfine 8 bike for 2012 (my comment on price was about the Alfine 11 model; RRP £1700 :shock: ).

Hmmm, with the brake issue fixed this might be back on my radar!

tigerben

Would be interested if anyone has any comments on the 'On one pompetamine versa' - as they are now doing it with the 11 spd Alfine hub.

Would be particularly interested in how well the BB7 disc brakes work with with shifters.

Don't particularly like the look of the frame - especially the rear stays - but coudl probably live with this as price appears good for the spec.

Apart from it being orange I prefer the Genesis day 1 - although I can only find this with the 8 spd hub - does anybody have a link for the 11 spd?

andy_from_embsay

http://road.cc/content/news/39332-first ... hifers-are

The 2012 8 speed has BB5 brakes and removeable cable guides so you can run it as single speed and costs £1100. I'm intrigued by this single speed thing - does this just mean remove the cable and run it in a single gear, or do you replace the wheel?

If the former, why not just not change gear?

Monty Dog

In response to earlier questions regarding BB7/BB5 brakes and road brake levers - these are specific version optimised for the cable pull of road levers and are proably the most powerful road brake available. I have some over 5 years old which still work fine.

In terms of running the Genesis Alfine as a single speed, I expect that you'll want to run a different rear wheel - it's way too heavy otherwise.

tigerben

Thanks for the link for the Genesis... pleased to see it is no longer orange. not cheap though.

Monty - thanks for the reassurance on the discs

andy_from_embsay

The 8 speed is still orange - the pic is the 11.

It is, however, a "different" orange...