Alfine Hub: 8 speed vs 11 speed

[outlash]

Gotcha, thanks . Changing the subject slightly, how do people get the chain tensioned correctly? My Day One has screws in the rear dropouts that are a great idea but are a bit fiddly to use as you can only really use them with an allen key. A thumb 'bit' (not sure of the exact term!) would be much better.


Tony.

 

[Pale Rider]

Gotcha, thanks . Changing the subject slightly, how do people get the chain tensioned correctly? My Day One has screws in the rear dropouts that are a great idea but are a bit fiddly to use as you can only really use them with an allen key. A thumb 'bit' (not sure of the exact term!) would be much better.


Tony.

@outlash

Depending on the bike, it may be possible to fit a chain tensioner.

The one in this pic is a Shimano Alfine and is widely available for about £15.

It's a bicycle, so nothing is straightforward.

I had to file a tiny crescent out of the mounting plate to get it to clear the drop out.

Once fitted, it does sort any tension - or length - problems.

Nothing so stop you routing the chain around the underside of the tensioner wheel, giving even more adjustment.

 

[outlash]

I've seen those and I'm sure they do the job but I like the clean lines the Alfine hub gives you. Here's the drop outs on my Day One. As you can see the screws that keep the hub in the right place are not long enough and not easy to use either so I'm looking for some longer thumbscrews to try and sort it. A bigger chainring should help bringing the hub towards the frame too.

Tony.

 

[Pale Rider]

I've seen those and I'm sure they do the job but I like the clean lines the Alfine hub gives you. Here's the drop outs on my Day One. As you can see the screws that keep the hub in the right place are not long enough and not easy to use either so I'm looking for some longer thumbscrews to try and sort it. A bigger chainring should help bringing the hub towards the frame too.

Tony.

Presumably with rearward facing dropouts you need to be able to slacken the chain sufficiently to unmount the chain when you want to get the wheel off.

Worth thinking about if you are changing the chain ring or sprocket.

 

[outlash]

Hence the thumbscrews I have planned. They're just plain M5 bolts in there and they're not the easiest to undo. I've taken the back wheel off a couple of times and while it's a bit of a faff, it's not brain surgery. Ask me again when I'm on the side of muddy road needing to fix a puncture....

Tony.

 

[Pale Rider]

Hence the thumbscrews I have planned. They're just plain M5 bolts in there and they're not the easiest to undo. I've taken the back wheel off a couple of times and while it's a bit of a faff, it's not brain surgery. Ask me again when I'm on the side of muddy road needing to fix a puncture....

Tony.

Similar with my bike.

To be fair to Shimano, releasing the gear cable is easy enough, but I then have to pull part of the outer away from its mounting bracket on the chain stay.

I carry a 15mm spanner for the axle nuts, but the chain tensioner falls off when they are undone and I could do with three hands to put everything back together.

No rear punctures as yet, hope I never get one.

 

[outlash]

Me & you both! My Day One came with Continental contact tyres which look like the touring/commuting type but I'm thinking of adding slime to the tubes as backup. Of course this would make an already heavy bike even heavier...


Tony.

 

[outlash]

[QUOTE 3559814, member: 259"]As the owner of two Shimano hub geared bikes (Nexus 8 and Alfine 11), you loosen the wheel hub nuts, give the wheel a bit of a shove backwards, make sure it's straight, and tighten the wheel again.[/QUOTE]

That's what I have been doing but after about an hour, the wheel slips back down the dropouts as far as the screws which aren't quite long enough and I don't want to overtighten the nuts as that could be an expensive fix.

Tony.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

My Cannondale street ultra manages the chain tension for its Alfine 8 with an eccentric bottom bracket.

 

[Pale Rider]

That's what I have been doing but after about an hour, the wheel slips back down the dropouts as far as the screws which aren't quite long enough and I don't want to overtighten the nuts as that could be an expensive fix.

Tony.

Strange you should say that, I've had problems with the axle nuts loosening, despite giving them a good graunch with a full length spanner.

I've thought about fitting a locking or spring washer, but I shouldn't have to do that as the fixing is factory spec as it is.

This being a bicycle, I am also wary of solving one problem and creating another.

Irrationally, I've never liked dome nuts.

They look nice, and common sense tells me they should work the same as ordinary nuts, but I wonder if they do.

 

[outlash]

This being a bicycle, I am also wary of solving one problem and creating another.

This pretty much sums it up for me . Every time I've bought a bike, I've accepted you have to modify it in some way to make it 'yours'.


Tony.