I had to lie down in a darkened room...

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Sittingduck

Legendary Member
Location
Somewhere flat
:laugh:
 
Love my Rohloff equipped expedition bike. 14 gears, very little maintenance - doesn't freeze up like my road or mountain bike in winter. 1st chain only lasted 9,000 miles on it though :sad: but it was a £4.49 chain so can't expect much from that can I? Had to replace the sprocket & chain ring at the same time... compare that to my road bike - 3rd chain & replaced cassette and only covered 3,000 miles on it...

Punctures - no issues changing a puncture - put bike into 14th gear, undo 1 "screw" by hand & detach external black box, and wheel is off as normal - so undo brakes and skewer and it is off.
Heavy - well don't really notice it to be honest, bike is steel anyhow.
Gears - can change the range by changing the sprocket & chainring according to terrain - and ratios are spot on for me.
Ideally needs an oil change every 5,000km - hardly a hardship at 25ml of oil for oil change and takes 15 mins.
Pro's - I can change gear stationary and it happens immediately. That is worth its weight in gold.
Con's - still not so sure about the eccentric bottom bracket, but time will tell. I have only had it a couple of years now.

I'm sold on them - won't part with my tourer unless I can no longer cycle...
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
I've been thinking about a N360 continuously variable hub gear. Only drawback I can see is a slight efficiency penalty. The range of gears isn't quite as great as my present dérailleur setup but I don't think it'll worry me, I'd lose a tiny amount at the bottom. There's also a quick release option to make puncture repairs and tyre changing easy.

It's a lot cheaper than Rohloff with lower maintenance needs, but with a small power loss.
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
I've a mixture(hub & derailluer gears) on one bike.

Sram Dualdrive? For the uninitiated - regular derailluer e.g 8 speed with a 3 speed hub to replace a triple chainring up front with a single one, gives a full 24 etc speed all in the rear wheel.

Nice idea for a leggy long range folder where you don't need lots of extra cogs getting in the way but can't stretch to a Rohloff. It is still a costly option when they go wrong though, my Birdy Blue one has recently given up the ghost and the bike is sadly in bits in the shed for the forseeable future now.
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
So they're heavy - only if you're planning on carrying it everywhere, look weird no, smooth clean lines and no mud or clattering chainlines and a problem if you get a puncture on the rear not at all, I can change a rear puncture on my Alfine bike in the same time as unhitching a rim braked derailleur bike, either with or without unhooking the one single nut it takes to disengage the gear cable removing the rear wheel totally. Thanks but I'll stick to a normal road bike for all riding - Winter commuting or otherwise :thumbsup:

each to their own, enjoy your choice :smile:
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
Bikes don't need to have as many gears as the marketing men tell us. Hub gears work well in practice and if anyone wants to laugh at my Sturmey 3 speed equipped road bike, they are welcome, I'm not the one who needs a rigorous chain cleaning regime in the winter and my 1/8" chain will outlast any ten speed chain several times over.
Bikes don't need as many gears as you tell us. My single speed bike.... And so on. :smile:
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
Two words - winter commuting.

Two more words, fixed gear save yourself a grand
 

Ian A

Über Member
I have a hub geared disk brake commuter costing 400 new in 2005. Trek navigator. Shimano nexus 7 speed hub. Great for mixed surfaces and all year commuting. Mudguards help. Heavy bike but I don't mind effort. I used to ride nine miles each way on it including muddy canal, cobbles a park and plenty of road. Still use it but for a two mike commute now and trips to the shops sometimes.
 

Ian A

Über Member
I was riding along today, first outing on the Day One Alfine in ages, then what is described here in the video at 7 minutes in happened to me
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGks14goow0#t=412


I had to pedal 3 miles home in bottom gear, spinning out like crazy at about 8mph.

Kind of dented my enthusiasm for it. Hopefully it's as simple as the video says it is to fix.


I got stuck in the bottom gear on my a hone. LBS fixed it as part of a service. He was more interested in seeing it as he hadn't serviced one of those before.
 

Shut Up Legs

Down Under Member
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the extra weight of hub gears partly offset by the weight saving of not having derailleur and cassette?
 
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