shimano alfine 11 gear hub

bg13

hello all,

i have previously asked for advice on which 29er i should get, keep getting drawn to the on one web site and their bikes, have seen they offer a few of their bikes with the above mentioned alfine hub, does anyone have any opinions/experience of these hub gears, any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

tom_howard

I'm running a nexus 8 hub gear mechanism in my GT, and the shifting is really good, though I have to remember the shifter (alfine 8 ) is the other way round (thumb to go up the gears(faster), forefinger to do down (slower)) You really dont feel the shifts, only that its harder to pedal/the bike gets faster! Plus not having to be pedalling to change gear is ace, to the point of missing it when you ride a bike that cant do it!

is it better than a mech/cassette? well theres no mech to break, no crunching gears ang meakes the bike look 'cleaner'. i cant comment on how having the gears in the wheel affect the handling due to the increase in rolling weight (mines not what you'd call a conventional setup) of the rear wheel

Watch out for servicing costs though, its easy to do, just dip it in oil for 90 seconds, dry it off and your done! only problem is the oil into which you dip is £90 a litre :shock:

bg13

thanks Tom for the shout, really like the idea of losing the front mech, rear mech and cassette, do you have enough gear range to make the uphills ok?

I think i have almost convinced myself that it is "the future" but shall keep reading.

tom_howard

Look at my gt in my sig, thats the bike its on, how well do you think it copes uphill (or how often I even try)

Joking aside, the gears are quite wide (mines only an 8 speed though) and it seems that there is a fair jump in ratios between 4,5 and 6, more so than 1 thru 4 and 6 to 8. Guessing having 11 would eliminate that and maybe give a wider range?

Another thought, if you're a bit of a bike tart (and I am!) the options for upgrading (even for durability reasons, not just shiny ones) beyond Alfine are currently limited or non existant and its real purpose was for commuters that dont have to put up with all the cack MTBs do, so more research on that may be needed.

John Moore

Ask me again in 2 to 6 months...

I'm having an 11 speed Alfine hub fitted to my 29er Singuar Swift next week to use throughout the winter

tripleacc

John Moore wrote:

Ask me again in 2 to 6 months...

I'm having an 11 speed Alfine hub fitted to my 29er Singuar Swift next week to use throughout the winter

interesting setup, i will look in the future for your review!
i'm thinking to buy a similar bike for this winter but i've some doubt related on alfine long term reliability for a climbing use. Some user has a feedback on this?

John Moore

Where do you live? Couldn't you single speed it for the winter to see if you like the Singular?

Then fit the hub afterwards?

Mine's 1 x 9 for the next few days

tripleacc

John Moore wrote:

Where do you live? Couldn't you single speed it for the winter to see if you like the Singular?

Then fit the hub afterwards?

naaaaaah i like hills climbing, ss isn't a good solution

bg13

tom,

just seen your GT and i now know what you mean!

@ john, hope it goes ok, will look for a review from you in the future.