Alfine vs Derailleur
- Thread starter Moodyman
- Start date
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Other consideration about hub gears.
How easy is it to get the wheel out, fix a puncture and get the wheel back in, IN THE RAIN?
Fixing punctures in the rain is no joy on any bike, but how many cable connections do you need to worry about, and is it a 'fool proof' chain tension installation?
How easy is it to get the wheel out, fix a puncture and get the wheel back in, IN THE RAIN?
Fixing punctures in the rain is no joy on any bike, but how many cable connections do you need to worry about, and is it a 'fool proof' chain tension installation?
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
Ranger said:
We had a discussion about it with someone close to Cotic a bit ago on Twitter, the outcome was that yes, it does - there are pics floating about on the interweb showing the necessary braze ons &c
I'll ask around & see if I can find the info again.
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
That's what I'm thinking.Jezston said:
And tbh, I'm thinking it a little too much. I don't need it, but by golly I want it...
Howard
Senior Member
jimboalee said:
Did this the other day - it's as straight forward as in the dry. If you want to know what you have to do, check out my video. You only have to worry about one cable connection and as far as I know don't have to consider chain tension - but then again I have an eccentric BB and discs.
Always found when fixing punctures the most time consuming bit is finding the damn hole and removing whatever caused it; Alfine will add about a minute to the whole process compared to a standard or single speed set up so it's no deal breaker in my opinion. Or you could just buy Marathon Plus and forget about it
OP
OP
Moodyman
Legendary Member
Been on the Sheldon website and done the gear conversion. The Alfine with 45T at the front and 19 at the back offers a high gear of 104 inches and a low gear of 33 inches.
This is marginally worse than my derailleur high off 113 and my low of 24 (have 26 inch wheels). But as I never use my lowest and very rarely use the high, I think the Alfine will be fine.
Still salivating over the Cotic Roadrat but none of their northern dealers accept the Halfords C2W vouchers. Did consider buying the frame outright and getting the LBS (which does accept the vouchers) to build it up with Alfine, but that would negate the savings of the C2W.
Kona's Dr Fine it is. Not a complete steel bike but has Kona's highly regarded P2 fork.
This is marginally worse than my derailleur high off 113 and my low of 24 (have 26 inch wheels). But as I never use my lowest and very rarely use the high, I think the Alfine will be fine.
Still salivating over the Cotic Roadrat but none of their northern dealers accept the Halfords C2W vouchers. Did consider buying the frame outright and getting the LBS (which does accept the vouchers) to build it up with Alfine, but that would negate the savings of the C2W.
Kona's Dr Fine it is. Not a complete steel bike but has Kona's highly regarded P2 fork.
simon a r
New Member
- Location
- Huddersfield.
My experiance with bikes and gear systems is rather basic and very limited, but I picked up a new bike on Thursday that has a Shimano Alfine, 8 speed, to replace my current commuting bike which had 21 speed gear on 28/34/48T chainset. So far I've only manged two runs to and from work at the end of this week, and a it of a longer run out this morning to throw the new bike at some of the local hills. So far all is well, the Alfine is preforming very well, if not better than the prevoius sytem I had on the old bike, I'm rather taken by it.
mcb2080
Senior Member
- Location
- East Kilbride
I have a ridgeback nemesis, have had it for close to two years, in all that time I have never had a problem with the alfine gear hub, I have probably covered close to 2000 miles.
I would defo recommend the schwalbe marathon plus as I have never had a problem with them whilst commuting, in saying that I also have schwalbe marathon supremes, which have covered about 300 miles and also never had any issues with these either.
I got the supremes as I thought the plus where a little bit heavy but all in all, I reckon there is only about 1mph difference in favour of the supremes tyres.
As for going back to derailers, nope not for me. I was thinking of going for the ridgeback flight 04 as it also has alfine but now that the 11 gear alfine is coming soon, I will hold off to see what my next commuter bike will be.
I would defo recommend the schwalbe marathon plus as I have never had a problem with them whilst commuting, in saying that I also have schwalbe marathon supremes, which have covered about 300 miles and also never had any issues with these either.
I got the supremes as I thought the plus where a little bit heavy but all in all, I reckon there is only about 1mph difference in favour of the supremes tyres.
As for going back to derailers, nope not for me. I was thinking of going for the ridgeback flight 04 as it also has alfine but now that the 11 gear alfine is coming soon, I will hold off to see what my next commuter bike will be.
I use an Alfine Hub on my commuter bike, a derailleur on my racing bike (a compact).
I have a greater gear range on the racing bile (11-28 cassette) on both the low and the high end - seems suitable for purpose as most of my routes are hilly.
The Alfine hub will spin out on some descents and might get me out of my saddle on a high grade hill. On the same routes I do on the racing bike I notice it but it's no big deal.
The biggest single benefit from the Alfine is maintenance. Rainy west coast of Scotland. The less cleaning I have to do the better. I reckon for commuting the Alfine is great.
Some bad experiences - 9 out of 10 gear changes are smooth but I get noisy ones. I had my first hub swapped out on warrenty due to a broken cog after about 2500 miles. And it is a bit heavier than a cassette.
I have a greater gear range on the racing bile (11-28 cassette) on both the low and the high end - seems suitable for purpose as most of my routes are hilly.
The Alfine hub will spin out on some descents and might get me out of my saddle on a high grade hill. On the same routes I do on the racing bike I notice it but it's no big deal.
The biggest single benefit from the Alfine is maintenance. Rainy west coast of Scotland. The less cleaning I have to do the better. I reckon for commuting the Alfine is great.
Some bad experiences - 9 out of 10 gear changes are smooth but I get noisy ones. I had my first hub swapped out on warrenty due to a broken cog after about 2500 miles. And it is a bit heavier than a cassette.
Giving this a bump as I've been thinking about this more. Wonder if anyone might be able to answer the following?
1. Are there any other bikes out there with hub gears and drop handlebars? Seems only one company makes the drop shifters for alfine (on the aforementioned Road Rat), but is there anything else? Even with different hubs with less gears, or different shifters?
2. Don't seem to see much other than the 7-11 speed Alfine and Rohloff hubs out there these days, but is there anyone else making hubs? Even just 3-5 speed hubs? Been thinking that a 5-speed might be enough for me.
3. For those who have gone from Cassette-Derailleur gears to hubs, have you found the hubs weigh significantly more?
1. Are there any other bikes out there with hub gears and drop handlebars? Seems only one company makes the drop shifters for alfine (on the aforementioned Road Rat), but is there anything else? Even with different hubs with less gears, or different shifters?
2. Don't seem to see much other than the 7-11 speed Alfine and Rohloff hubs out there these days, but is there anyone else making hubs? Even just 3-5 speed hubs? Been thinking that a 5-speed might be enough for me.
3. For those who have gone from Cassette-Derailleur gears to hubs, have you found the hubs weigh significantly more?
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
1. There is a company in the US making a bar end shifter for hub gear. I thought you could get it from SJS, can't find it quickly....
2. SRAM, Shimano, Sturmey-Archer.... There's all sorts. My boss just set his new bike up with a SRAM 3-speed and a Schlumpf Speed drive BB gear, to give himself 6 speeds.
3. I have hub on my winter hack, derailleur on the summer one. It's hard to compare because the winter bike is just heavier all round - chunkier wheels and tyres, hub brakes, more clothes/fat on me
, etc. I don't imagine I would notice much though. The biggest difference is remembering to alter shifting tactics for the derailleur - making sure I'm in a low gear to pull away before I stop at lights and so on, instead of stop, click, click, ready to go.
2. SRAM, Shimano, Sturmey-Archer.... There's all sorts. My boss just set his new bike up with a SRAM 3-speed and a Schlumpf Speed drive BB gear, to give himself 6 speeds.
3. I have hub on my winter hack, derailleur on the summer one. It's hard to compare because the winter bike is just heavier all round - chunkier wheels and tyres, hub brakes, more clothes/fat on me
, etc. I don't imagine I would notice much though. The biggest difference is remembering to alter shifting tactics for the derailleur - making sure I'm in a low gear to pull away before I stop at lights and so on, instead of stop, click, click, ready to go.
Chrisc
Guru
- Location
- Huddersfield
Not an Alfine but my dutch bike has a 7 speed nexus ranging from 32 to 80" bit low at the top end but for pootling around and hill climbing in my bit of the Pennines it's fine. I love the ease of gear changes and set up.