Advice needed - hub gears and Sheffield hills

LauraMM

Hello

I got a bike through the CycleBoost scheme (a Ridgeback Speed) in October and it's been really fantastic for getting me back on my bike after not riding since being a child. In fact, I've enjoyed it so much that I'm thinking about upgrading my bike. I'm really tempted by getting a bike with hub gears (possibly the Marin Farifax SC4 Belt), but have heard mixed things about how well they can cope with hills. I live in Sheffield and only cycle 3 miles each way, but have a steep downhill ride to work, and a uphill ride on the way home - a typical Sheffield commute!

I've spoken to a couple of people with hub gears who say they have had no problems in Sheffield, and others who say that a hub gear bike would be a bad idea due to not having enough gears to get up the hill. I really like the idea of hub gears due to the low maintenance and being able to change gear while stationary, but I don't want to find that I don't have enough gears.

Does anyone have any experience of hilly commutes using hub gears? I only ever cycle in the city so don't need to worry about any other terrain. Any advice would be much appreciated.

fenix

Hub gears definitely can work for you - but it depends on a lot of things.
What weight you're taking
How fit you are
How steep/long the hill is
What effort you propose to put into the climb
What chainring and sprockets you use
How many gears your system has

That marin has 8 gears so I'd have thought it could work out really well.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

My old Saracen Pylon8 had an Alfine hub gear with 38T chainring and 19T sprocket IIRC, I could get up the ~0.5 mile ~5% hill home ok in ~3rd gear, but not as quick as I could on my road bikes with lighter wheels.