Alfine Hub Gears

[Banjo]

Day dreaming about n plus 1 and I am seriously considering a Hub gear bike as my next one.
The straight chain line and simplicity appeals to me . Not sure how to compare gear inches , I very much like to spin up hills rather than grind.

Primarilly for long days on tarmac roads but with limited off road ability.

Its also likely to have 32c tyres and disc brakes, Space and eyelets for full mudguards and pannier rack for light touring/audaxing.

Open minded about frame material.Want something that doesn't feel dead but has a bit of zing if you know what I mean.

Without selling the children does such a steed exist for around 1.5 k ?

 

[davidphilips]

Consider second hand from ebay theres often a few hub geared bikes that would be very expensive like the thorn bikes with there 14 speed rohloff hub?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thorn-Nom...924708?hash=item361a25e3a4:g:4eQAAOSwXY5ZO7yP

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The Alfine will have a range of ratios. Multiply those by the size of your rear wheel times the ratio of your front chain ring and rear sprocket to get gear inches for each gear.

 

[Pale Rider]

My Alfine 11 had the widest range of the Alfine hubs, but lacked a spinning first gear, albeit top was good for 25/30mph at a modest cadence.

As you may know, you can tinker with the gears fairly easily by changing the cogs, but that moves the entire range downwards so you may find yourself spinning out in top.

A better solution would be a Rohloff hub geared bike, which has close to the range of a mountain triple.

There are other advantages to the Rohloff in terms of durability and reliability.

It's internally indexed, so no messing around with cable tension - Alfines can be frustratingly fussy in that regard.

A Rohloff wheel is best part of a grand, and bikes with a Rohloff tend to be about twice that.

Someone might be able to point you towards a Rohloff bike that isn't above your price pain threshold.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Open minded about frame material.Want something that doesn't feel dead but has a bit of zing if you know what I mean.

Nope, we have no idea what you mean.

 

[mjr]

It exists but you may get a better deal if you import one. Check who will service it or whether it seems OK to DIY. Part of my preference for three speeds is that I'm more confident that I can work on it. If you're near Cambridge, Bicycle Ambulance offer servicing.

To compare gearing, http://gear-calculator.com may help.