Gears Maintenance

leecasey

Hi, I'm new to cycling. I am currently in the market for a bike and swaying between one with tiagra and another with an alfine hub (8 speed).

I dont want to be tinkering with my gears every week as I have no idea what I'm doing and if I'm honest I have no real interest in doing so. Am I better off going for the Alfine hub or is the maintenance minimal? (ill be riding around 5 miles per day, towpath and road.)

MattyyP

At 5 miles a day whatever you run the maintenance will be minimal, as long as it is setup correctly.


Just an add on - I wouldn't be spending money an an internal hub gear setup for 5 miles a day unless you have money to burn... At 5 miles a day I would say it's not worth spending that much on the drivetrain at all, save some pennies for a rainy day.

simon_masterson

MattyyP wrote:

At 5 miles a day whatever you run the maintenance will be minimal, as long as it is setup correctly.

You would hope this to be true, but nevertheless of the two I would suggest the derailleur option. Perhaps it's because I'm uninitated with hub gearing, but wheel removal is more complicated (some cursory reading suggests), and few things are simpler than a derailleur. Derailleur gearing also gives you access to different cassettes, and more gears is generally better for road cycling (speaking as the owner of two 5-speed bicycles )

Bar crash damage (or otherwise getting bent or worse) and serious neglect, if the derailleur is kept clean and lubricated, and cassette/freewheel, chain, chainrings and gear cables are changed appropriately and kept clean and lubricated, and indexing is maintained (if you use indexed gears, of course), your transmission should be very reliable. It's never that easy in practice, obviously.