Alfine - 11 speed for 2011
Discussion
http://road.cc/content/news/13981-shimano-alfine-1...
Eleven speed, oil lubrication port and helical gears.
Eleven speed, oil lubrication port and helical gears.
mk1fan said:
It's lighter than the 8-spd
Shouldn't be hard, they weigh a fair bit! Combine that with my 29" rim and tyre and it's a bloody heavy wheel lol.Still love mine though. Interested to hear you've given yours a good bit of use on jumps, etc. I got worried about subjecting mine to too much abuse and rebuilt mine into a 29er bike (not the best bike for airborne moments!), buying another hardtail for sillier riding. Has yours been fine for jumping, etc I guess? What sort/size of jumping are we talking about?
I sold quite a few alfine equipped bikes when I was in the trade, they really are a good bit of kit.
As for the weight - yes thats a heavy hub, but take away the weight of a shifter, a cable run, 2 chainrings, a bunch of chain, a cassette, a front and rear derrailluer... and it makes sense.
The downside if the weight distribution and the heavy wheel.
What we need to see, is alfine mounted frame central in suspension frames, with the rear wheel running a small fixed cog - reducing hub complexity, and unsrung weight - and increasing rear wheel strength and also giving you easily changed final drive ratio. Exactly like a motorbike. See the 'g-boxx' concepts from a few years ago.
As for the weight - yes thats a heavy hub, but take away the weight of a shifter, a cable run, 2 chainrings, a bunch of chain, a cassette, a front and rear derrailluer... and it makes sense.
The downside if the weight distribution and the heavy wheel.
What we need to see, is alfine mounted frame central in suspension frames, with the rear wheel running a small fixed cog - reducing hub complexity, and unsrung weight - and increasing rear wheel strength and also giving you easily changed final drive ratio. Exactly like a motorbike. See the 'g-boxx' concepts from a few years ago.
R.P.M said:
How much abuse will the Alfine take? And how much less maintenance are they over a traditional set up i.e 2x9?
When the Alfine was first released, it was the first internal gear hub Shimano had produced that they would warranty for XC/trail use.Not jumping and massive full on stuff, but at least it meant you could get them mucky.
This was a clear signal of what they expected people to use it for - as was the fact it had a disc rotor mount fitted. It meant that manufacturers could start speccing them on XC mountain bikes.
They seem to hold up really well.
firstly you only have one shifter and cable run - a good thing.
Then you have the fact you can run a great big thick strong singlespeed/bmx style chain, not a flimsy 9 speed job. This lasts much better. Also your chainring and sprocket can be chunky to match, same story.
Cup and cone hubb bearings are never going to be as smooth as your favourite hope ti-glide. BUT they are dependable, VERY easily serviced and lubed and can be fixed jsut about anywhere in the world.
As for maintenance - setup is piss easy. Once setup, they work well. Unaffected by slop.
They will, however, require a re-build, but only after a LOT of miles.
I'd say they will be a bit cheaper/easier to maintain than say an XT derrailuer setup, but its more the case of having one, larger bill, every two years say, as opposed to replacing bits odd bits, chains, cassettes etc every few months like you tend to do with normal setups.
Range on the current models is slightly more than you get with a 11-32 cassette. Final drive obviously infinitely variable with your choice of sprocket/ring.
If you could do all your riding in the middle ring on your current bike, you'd be fine with an alfine.
I wouldnt use one on my proper, full on MTB (yet). However, for winter bikes, flattish towpath/trail riding, a second/hack bike, commuting, or a big adventure tour maybe, they are great.
The new one with increased range should be really impressive.
a11y_m said:
Has yours been fine for jumping, etc I guess? What sort/size of jumping are we talking about?
Well the hub has been fitted to my Cove Stiffee for 18-months. I'm 15-plus stone in my kit, not the smoothest of riders and hard on my kit.The rim split but the hub has been fine. I was doing 3-foot drops and jumps yesterday at Rogate but I've been doing similar things round the Welsh trail centres and Swinley for the last 18-months.
It was stripped and serviced just before it was out of warranty and all was sweet.
ETA: It's not my only bike though so it's not been in constant use.
Edited by mk1fan on Monday 8th February 15:00
There you go then.
The strip/service procedure is not even all that difficult or time consuming, it jsut requires a few specialist bits.
Shimano provide a special 'bath' into which the semi dis-assmbled bug is dunked to clean it, and another one to lube it.
There pretty tough bits of kit. Certainly in terms of the overall strength of the axle/shell theres nothing to worry about as mk1fan as proved.
The strip/service procedure is not even all that difficult or time consuming, it jsut requires a few specialist bits.
Shimano provide a special 'bath' into which the semi dis-assmbled bug is dunked to clean it, and another one to lube it.
There pretty tough bits of kit. Certainly in terms of the overall strength of the axle/shell theres nothing to worry about as mk1fan as proved.
FWIW, I've done a couple of thousand miles on my current Nexus 8 hub (worse than Alfine), which is on my Cargobike. Including my weight, I've had a couple of hundred kilos in it, and it's not gone pop despite grinding up hills and zero maintenance.
If the do a bar-end shifter, I'll be putting the new Alfine kit on a Singular Gryphon for next winter.
If the do a bar-end shifter, I'll be putting the new Alfine kit on a Singular Gryphon for next winter.
mk1fan said:
Well the hub has been fitted to my Cove Stiffee for 18-months. I'm 15-plus stone in my kit, not the smoothest of riders and hard on my kit.
The rim split but the hub has been fine. I was doing 3-foot drops and jumps yesterday at Rogate but I've been doing similar things round the Welsh trail centres and Swinley for the last 18-months.
It was stripped and serviced just before it was out of warranty and all was sweet.
ETA: It's not my only bike though so it's not been in constant use.
Thanks, good to know that now. Might've meant I'd have stuck with my previous 26"-wheeled frame if I'd been confident in jumping with the Alfine.The rim split but the hub has been fine. I was doing 3-foot drops and jumps yesterday at Rogate but I've been doing similar things round the Welsh trail centres and Swinley for the last 18-months.
It was stripped and serviced just before it was out of warranty and all was sweet.
ETA: It's not my only bike though so it's not been in constant use.
Edited by mk1fan on Monday 8th February 15:00
Agree with comments above about the 8-speed version not being quite able to fully replace an MTB for me - the range is good but isn't quite enough for me. Like others it's not my only bike either, but out of my 3 MTBs it's the one I use most often by a long way. And as demonstrated in the pics above, it comes into it's own at this time of year.
I was looking to use a contained hub for my current full sus bike. I was looking at the older 8 speed alfine and the rohloff speedhub. The speedhub was my prefered option due to its fantastic life expectancy and 14 speeds. The reason I didnt do it was due to weight of the unit. It would ruin the reaction of the rear suspension on a full sus bike. I wasnt convinced an Alfine could handle All mountain riding... not convinced most mechs can either!
Mentioned elsewhere but how about an alfine-11 on the back and a Hammerschmidt on the front, could this work if retro fitted?
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/truvativs-ne...
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/truvativs-ne...
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