Alfine 11 with hydraulic brakes

crackles2005

Hi all,
I've tried hard to find my ultimate commuter. I recon it has to be an alfine 11 with good quality bydraulic brakes. Is there anything other than the Cube Editor that ticks this box? Also, my local bike shop says that Cube instruct their agents not to discount, or risk loosing their agency. I recon this is price fixing & illegal. Comments please? Do you know where I could get a Cube Editor for under £1259?!
Cheers :-)
Crackles

Pep

I too was looking for a commuter with Alfine and disc break.

Ghost TR 5200
http://www.ghost-bikes.com/bikes-2012/b ... 00-alfine/
here the only one I could find in the UK, cost 1199GPB
http://www.hotlines-uk.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=83113

rubertoe

Not quite what your looking for, have you conisdered this.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBO ... ne_8_speed

redhanded

LBS built me a Cotic Roadrat with Alfine 11 and hydraulic brakes... see here for photo:


Cotic doesn't seem to have many Roadrat frames in stock, but you could email them to ask if they are getting more in.

On-one used to sell a complete build of a Pompetamine with Alfine 11 and hydraulic brakes but they don't seem to do this any more, however you could just get the frame and find a LBS to do the build.
http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/frames/pompetamine

However a word of caution about the Alfine 11 - mine leaked oil and it needed to go back to the distributors to get fixed. I know someone else who had the same thing happen to an Alfine 11 - twice - and this was a different bike, different shop. If you google alfine oil leak you will see numerous reports of this happening, and I don't know if it is a fundamental design flaw, if there is a dodgy batch out there, or some other reason.

Despite the hassle with the Alfine, overall I'm very pleased with the bike. I find the Roadrat really nippy and great fun to commute through traffic.

crackles2005

Thanks so much all for your thoughts. The Ghost & One One are 8 speed. For what its worth, On One use shimano 24spoke wheels! I can promise you (through bitter experience) that they are no stronger than a wafer thin mint. They will build a 11speed but the spec would be well short of the cube editor for similar cash. A custom build is a nice idea indeed. How much would this route cost? It still seems that there is little in the way of an alfine 11 equiped quality hybrid out there. A gap in the market perhaps? The Cannondale Bad Boy 0 looks like a worthy contender but I cant see anyone who stocks them or lists s price for them! What a curious, curious thing :-)

jimmypippa

The Genesis Fortitude Adventure has mechanical discs (Avid BB7) but has an Alfine 11-speed
http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain/fortitude/fortitude-adventure

redhanded

crackles2005 wrote:

Thanks so much all for your thoughts. The Ghost & One One are 8 speed. For what its worth, On One use shimano 24spoke wheels! I can promise you (through bitter experience) that they are no stronger than a wafer thin mint. They will build a 11speed but the spec would be well short of the cube editor for similar cash. A custom build is a nice idea indeed. How much would this route cost? It still seems that there is little in the way of an alfine 11 equiped quality hybrid out there. A gap in the market perhaps? The Cannondale Bad Boy 0 looks like a worthy contender but I cant see anyone who stocks them or lists s price for them! What a curious, curious thing :-)

Commuter bikes are generally spec'd for the £1000 cycle to work limit and an Alfine 11 plus hydraulic discs will blow that easily

Specialized do a bike with an Alfine 11 but I think it is for the US market only, The Cannondale model may be the same.
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/ ... urceeleven

A small UK manufacturer called Milk Bikes http://www.milkbikes.com do a bike with an Alfine 11. Charge also used to do an Alfine 11 bike although I think they only do an 8 now.

Getting a bike custom built is unlikely to be cheaper than an off the shelf bike unless you are transferring a number of components from an existing bike. With a custom build you are buying components singly while the big bike manufacturers are buying them by the container load.

However going throught the process of deciding the bike spec. can be very enjoyable with a knowledgeable and helpful LBS.

DrLex

Redhanded makes a good point about budgets - inclusion of Alfine 11 will blow a £1K budget, especially with good quality hydraulic disks. The Cotic Roadrat/Alfine build looks a good choice for a flat bar; if you'll accept mechanical disks and a drop-bar, how about the Genesis Day One Alfine 11? I'd planned on getting one, but lead time & price led to me buying a s/h year-old flat-bar Pompetamine Alfine 11 for under half the price, which has been a terrific winter commuter with hub dynamo.

The Rookie

I'd just look at getting a good single speed (or A8)/hydro and then putting in the Alfine11 wheel, so long as it has cable routing of course!

MichaelW

Think about chain tensioning with disc brakes.
The best method is sliding vertical dropouts.
Eccentric bottom bracket can work OK but some are better than other.
Horizontal or track ends also move the disc in the caliper. Roadrat provide sliding brake mounts but you need to adjust this at intervals.
Spring-loaded tensioners are strictly for retrofitting to an existing frame. Anyone who sells one on a new bike should be taken out and shot so it hurts.
If you want to fit rack and mudguards, think about the rear brake position. Chainstay mounts are compatible with normal racks.
If you want to convert a singlespeed, make sure it has a suitable cable run.

hubgearfan

crackles2005 wrote:

It still seems that there is little in the way of an alfine 11 equiped quality hybrid out there. A gap in the market perhaps? The Cannondale Bad Boy 0 looks like a worthy contender but I cant see anyone who stocks them or lists s price for them! What a curious, curious thing :-)

same with the Charge Mixer 11 - especially the silver one (a real looker IMO); either that or I'm looking in the wrong places. Seems to be the case with a lot of bikes - you see all the lovely stuff on the net, whatever, but it's no-can-do as far as the importer/LBS is concerned and you can take it or leave it.

redhanded

I don't think Charge are doing the Mixer 11 anymore (although maybe some of their dealers still have stock)

As I mentioned, combination of Alfine 11 + hydraulic discs adds up to a reasonably hefty price tab for a product that is probably a bit too niche for most bike manufacturers.

BelgianBeerGeek

I was also looking for one of these sort of bikes a while ago, and Rose bikes do a really nice looking one. They class it as a tourer and it was a bit of a dreadnought, with dynamo lighting, suspension seat post etc. The sort of bike you could ride around the world or pop to the shops on. It was about £1200 with the Alfine 11, which I thought was astonishing value. Then this year's prices came out and it's nearer £1500

So now I have decided to scale back a bit, and I think an On-One Pompetamine 8 speed will be purchased soon.

rubertoe

What about this?

jedster

I've got a pompetamine alfilne versa 11 (drop bar). Didn't know On-one had stopped doing them but if you give them a call they might well sort something out for you or supply a bike ex rear wheel and shifters etc.
Think I paid £1100 for my complete bike (might have been £1200).
A few comments:
very happy with it, works really well as an all-weather low maintenance commuter
It came with cable discs (BB7s) and they are plenty good enough - wouldnt bother with hydraulics (and I have a mountain bike with big hydraulic discs so I can compare). The versa drop bar shifters only work with cables but you may be happy with a flat bar.
My alfine 11 has been faultless, just need to tighten the cable adjusters every now and again. Lube the chain when it gets noisy.
Haven't attempted to service it but the bike goes to the LBS once a year for an overhaul - can't remember if they touched it last time.
My bike came with quite strong wheels built by on-one on alfine hubs (not the Shimano 24 spoke wheels ones mentioned above). Also came with a shimano alfine dyno hub which was great because I would have had to buy a hub dyno wheel otherwise (totally sold on dyno lighting for commuting).
HTH

ride_whenever

I'd personally get an alfine 8, having both the 8 seems much less sticky in the extreme gears.

Svenley

Have any of you chaps checked out to Tout Terrain Chiyoda?
Hasn't got the skinny tube loveliness of the roadrat but options of Alfine 8 & 11 and also Rolhoff. Not only that but chain or belt drive options too.
Would be interested to find out if anyone has ridden one? Has good reviews in German bike mags but would like to hear it for the horses mouth.
Only downside spec-wise for me would be no bosses for rear rack.

t4tomo

I would testify that mechancial BB7s rae a decent option, compare well with Shimano Hydrolic discs on my MTB and easy to set up and adjust - have them on a tandem where you need some decent stopping power.

machineage

I've been looking too - and found this which is now available in the UK

http://avantibikes.com/nz/bikes/path/urban-road/inc-3