Hub gear (nexus) problems?

[LondonCommuter]

I have a just over one year old Halfords Carrera Subway 8, with Shimano Nexus hub gears. I bought it on the promise of it being low maintenance but its been anything but. I've had numerous problems with the chain and got my third chain a few months ago. The gears have now destroyed themselves - I had problems changing gears, checked the cable and all seemed fine but the gears seem to have destroyed themselves. Anyone else had similar problems? I feel I've been unlucky as the nexus has a reputation for being reliable.

Anyway, the good news is that I've really got into cycling to work so will be buying a new bike

 

[mickle]

This deserves a bump.

 

[andyfromotley]

wow, if mickle cant help it really is knackered.

andy

 

[Archie]

I guess you didn't see my [post=291308]recent thread[/post] then!

If you haven't adjusted the gears alignment then give that a try. There's a window on the top of the hubs drive side which has two lines which should line up in 4th gear. If they don't use the barrel adjuster to change the alignment until they do.

Problems can start with water in the hub, so if your in the habit of giving the bike a hose down then don't. If the gears are still working you could get your LBS to service the hub. With new grease and bearings it should run much smoother. They're low maintenance in as much as there's no need to clean the gears like a derailleur, but they're not totally maintenance-free, as I've found.

 

[mickle]

Thankyou.

I just don't like internal hubs other than 3spd Stir-me Harchers with coaster brakes.

 

[LondonCommuter]

No I hadn't seen Archie's thread and, looking on the bright side, I seem to have been luckier in that I reckon I've done just over 3000 miles. Reading his account might have been amusing if it hadn't been so similar to my own. I initially seemed to lose fifth, then higher gears, but the crunching got worse and worse on the remaining 4 and I think I only just made it home.

My LBS reckons (on a visual inspection rather than disassembly) its a broken axle and needs replacement and think it would be about £170 parts and labour to fix. More than half the cost of the bike and given the problems I've had generally, I've decided to move on and buy something more like the last bike I had - nicked nearly 20 years ago - i.e. steel framed racer.

I rationalise this as the commuter bike has shown me its feasible for me to commute to work and got me hooked on cycling again and I can now enjoy a proper bike.

 

[fossyant]

Stick with external sprocket's then !

 

[mickle]

.....about £170 parts and labour to fix.

Jebus! Surely not. New hub (x), spokes (£20), rim (£30) and build (£25). How much are the complete hubs?

 

[Keith Oates]

It's worth contacting Shimano directly to see if they will help on the cost issue, 12 months is not long for a hub of that reputation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bazzadigz C+]

where do I start?

The Nexus Inter8 hub that comes with the Subway 8 is the premium & more expensive version. When i got mine about 3 years ago i used to have the chain slipping and scratching all the time. As the link above highlights you need to have the bike in 4th and aline the 2 yellow marks on the gearing, this fixed the problem for me. (halfords didnt even know how to fix it either)

The problem I now have was caused after i travelled back across London on a very wet day. the journey itself was ok (apart from getting soaked), the following day when I decided take the bike over too the local park I was free wheeling down a hill and I could hear a horrible grinding noise, i stopped adjusted the gears slightly and still the same noise. got the bike home, cleaned and geased the chain etc and still the same noise.

Now taken it down to the LBS who say that the hub itself could be knackered, if it requires a new bearings then im looking at £100 for a rebuild, if its the hub then im looking at £170 to repair. this makes me think that i could sell the bike for spares and buy another one. although the Subway itself has been relatively maintaince free, if something does go wrong (a pu******r say) it takes double the amount of time to fix. i'm torn on whether it should be another hubbed bike.

 

[Keith Oates]

<i'm torn on whether it should be another hubbed bike.>

A visit to SJS could be the best solution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jelly Mould]

I'm currently commuting on a bike with a 7-speed Nexus hub gear. I bought it in late 1997, used it daily for a couple of years, put it in a shed, and brought it back into use again about a year ago.

The first hub lasted a few weeks, and was replaced by the bike shop. The current one is still going - it's not always happy shifting into 2nd gear, and 5th sometimes slips if you change up into it, but not if you change down. As I spend most of my time either crawling up a hill in 1st or flying down the other side in 7th, this is not really a problem.

I've never carried out any maintenance on the hub apart from making sure it's adjusted correctly, so it's done pretty well really. I appreciate the lack of attention it requires, and also its ability to shift gears when at a standstill, which is useful in stop-start traffic. But if it broke, I'm not sure if I'd get another hub-gear. They're expensive, heavy, less efficient than the alternatives, make it hard to take the wheel off, require close attention to chain tension and when something does go seriously wrong far from home can leave you stuck...

 

[welshcyclist]

As you say, the good news is, you're really into cycling now...

I have a just over one year old Halfords Carrera Subway 8, with Shimano Nexus hub gears. I bought it on the promise of it being low maintenance but its been anything but. I've had numerous problems with the chain and got my third chain a few months ago. The gears have now destroyed themselves - I had problems changing gears, checked the cable and all seemed fine but the gears seem to have destroyed themselves. Anyone else had similar problems? I feel I've been unlucky as the nexus has a reputation for being reliable.

Anyway, the good news is that I've really got into cycling to work so will be buying a new bike

I have a Carrera Subway 8, and have experienced teething problems with the bike. The problem with the the Nexus 8 gears, only started with the 6 months service at Halfords, in the end they( Halfords ), replaced the back wheel completely, then I had a problem with punctures, even though the tyres were guaranteed with replacement, for any puncture in the first 12 months??? The truth is Halfords isn't your local bike shop, and it can't pretend to be, which it tries so hard to do, and in doing so tends to despoil the name of perfectly good bikes, like the Subway 8. Despite the early problems, caused by bad workmanship at Halfords, I persisted to commute with the Subay 8, and have achieved a good working relationship with the bike, it does the job.

However, I'm now commuting approx 39 miles roundtrip, and need to get something more in tune with that type of mileage, which is a mix of country/urban, but I have a great fondness for the Subway 8, which has got a bad name, I feel, simply because of the inexpertise of Halfords staff, which, I hasten to add, is not their fault. It is caused by Halfords itself, as an organisation, which puts sales first, above all else. How can a bike mechanic concentrate on your bike repair, when he/she is told they must attend to the sales desk at the same time????

Well that's my feeling with regard to the Subway 8, basically it's a great bike, even though it's been dissed on more than one forum, it took me to the next level of commuting, and I'm extremely grateful, and am still grateful in fact, because it'll be awhile before I can afford a replacement, that will take me to the next level again. Any suggestions???

 

[bikefettler]

I use a 1984 sturmey AW hub built into a 559mm mtn bike rim which I use for local shopping and have done since around 95 when the bike was built as an urban utility type bike ,I also used it with a loaded saddle bag to train for my LeJoG

 

[bikefettler]

Whoops !!! pressed the wrong key there what I was going to say was that with a drop of oil every so often it just goes and goes , not as efficient as a derailleur but so low maintenance it is amazing, performance and choice of gear = deraileur but long life and no fuss get a sturmey ,I`ll probably pass mine on in my will!!!!!