Hi All,
I’m in the process of saving up for a new bike and its main use will be on my daily all weathers, all year around 25 mile round trip commute.
Some of the bikes that I’ve been considering include the Shimano Alfine 8 Internal Gear Hub. I apologise because I appreciate that this is the fixed / single speed forum but I do have a question about running a bike as a single speed.
One bike that I’ve considered is the Genesis Day One Alfine 8 which includes a Shimano 8 speed IGH. However having read a some feedback about it I have some doubts about the Alfine IGH’s ability to survive a UK winter what with all the salty water that will get thrown at it. Because of my worries about the Alfine 8’s durability this has made me think that it’s perhaps not a suitable bike for my daily commute over winter.
Despite this I have ridden a bike with an Alfine 8 and I quite liked it. This has got me wondering if I could buy this bike and run it in two different configurations at different times of the year depending on the weather. For the months when it’s cold and the roads are covered in salt I’d run it as a single speed and then when it’s warmed up and the salt has had a chance to wash away I’d revert to using the Alfine 8.
I’m not sure whether this is the most logical or straightforward thought process to be thinking about when considering a new bike and maybe lots of people would think that this is a nonsense idea. However aside from whether it’s a nonsense idea or whether it makes financial sense is it technically possible to do without too much hassle?
My thought would be to have two sets of wheels. One being the standard wheels that the bike comes with and that takes care of the Alfine 8 set up.
Then when winter comes my idea (and this is where I need help/advice to see if my though process is feasible or utter rubbish) is to put on new wheels with a single speed hub.
For example could you get wheels built up using a White Industries Standard ENO hub and a White Industries ENO Freewheel?
My plan would be to leave everything else the same chainset, bottom bracket etc.. Also although I appreciate that this wouldn’t be an elegant solution for a single speed but I’d plan on leaving the barend shifter in place so that it’s ready for when the Alfine 8 goes back on in summer so as to save having to remove the bar tape. This also left me thinking that I’d have a gear cable not connected to anything along the chainstay and so I’d need to think of some way in which you could secure this in place and protect it from the elements over winter.
I understand that the Genesis Day One Alfine 8 already has horizontal dropouts and so this is why I’d hoped that the above might in some way be possible?
This is separate from the single speed issue but when getting the wheels built I’d plan on getting a dynamo hub on the front wheel so that I could run dynamo lights over the winter.
I appreciate that this might seem a bit of a crazy idea & maybe people would say it’s ridiculous and don’t do it but I’d be really grateful for any thoughts on whether it’s technically possible or not.
Also if it is possible but people have alternative suggestions of other single speed hubs and freewheels that I could use that will be great.
Thanks for any help & advice.
John
I’m in the process of saving up for a new bike and its main use will be on my daily all weathers, all year around 25 mile round trip commute.
Some of the bikes that I’ve been considering include the Shimano Alfine 8 Internal Gear Hub. I apologise because I appreciate that this is the fixed / single speed forum but I do have a question about running a bike as a single speed.
One bike that I’ve considered is the Genesis Day One Alfine 8 which includes a Shimano 8 speed IGH. However having read a some feedback about it I have some doubts about the Alfine IGH’s ability to survive a UK winter what with all the salty water that will get thrown at it. Because of my worries about the Alfine 8’s durability this has made me think that it’s perhaps not a suitable bike for my daily commute over winter.
Despite this I have ridden a bike with an Alfine 8 and I quite liked it. This has got me wondering if I could buy this bike and run it in two different configurations at different times of the year depending on the weather. For the months when it’s cold and the roads are covered in salt I’d run it as a single speed and then when it’s warmed up and the salt has had a chance to wash away I’d revert to using the Alfine 8.
I’m not sure whether this is the most logical or straightforward thought process to be thinking about when considering a new bike and maybe lots of people would think that this is a nonsense idea. However aside from whether it’s a nonsense idea or whether it makes financial sense is it technically possible to do without too much hassle?
My thought would be to have two sets of wheels. One being the standard wheels that the bike comes with and that takes care of the Alfine 8 set up.
Then when winter comes my idea (and this is where I need help/advice to see if my though process is feasible or utter rubbish) is to put on new wheels with a single speed hub.
For example could you get wheels built up using a White Industries Standard ENO hub and a White Industries ENO Freewheel?
My plan would be to leave everything else the same chainset, bottom bracket etc.. Also although I appreciate that this wouldn’t be an elegant solution for a single speed but I’d plan on leaving the barend shifter in place so that it’s ready for when the Alfine 8 goes back on in summer so as to save having to remove the bar tape. This also left me thinking that I’d have a gear cable not connected to anything along the chainstay and so I’d need to think of some way in which you could secure this in place and protect it from the elements over winter.
I understand that the Genesis Day One Alfine 8 already has horizontal dropouts and so this is why I’d hoped that the above might in some way be possible?
This is separate from the single speed issue but when getting the wheels built I’d plan on getting a dynamo hub on the front wheel so that I could run dynamo lights over the winter.
I appreciate that this might seem a bit of a crazy idea & maybe people would say it’s ridiculous and don’t do it but I’d be really grateful for any thoughts on whether it’s technically possible or not.
Also if it is possible but people have alternative suggestions of other single speed hubs and freewheels that I could use that will be great.
Thanks for any help & advice.
John