[BrandonNorCal]

I would really appreciate if someone near Annadel would let me have a quick spin on their Shimano Nexus or Alfine equipped bike. I would just like to try one out "in the flesh" on a short climb for maybe 5 minutes before I buy one. I am 5'9 and 200 lbs but am a pretty chilled out rider. No jumps or anything at all. I would just like to check out the gear ratios. Thanks.

Brandon

 

[Fast Eddy]

Try one, but I wouldn't recommend it for off-road riding. It might last a year. Why not just get a singlespeed?

 

[BrandonNorCal]

I'm currently riding a dinglespeed. It's my only bike. I'm starting to ride it to and from trails and around town as well. I'm realizing that for an all around bike it's not really the gears that is the devil. What I don't have use for is deralliers. I've been reading up on the Alfine hub and it seems like it has been approved for xc use. I'll bet that the way I ride It would last for awhile.

 

[presslab]

I'm waiting for the Hammerschmidt, the two speed geared crank set from SRAM; they say it'll be out in Fall. I plan to put it on my singlespeed to make it a more rounded bike.

The Alfine Inter-8 has about a 300% spread, pretty much the same as a 34-11 cassette.

You have just a front derailleur now? I'd take a rear derailleur over a front any day. My other bike has a 6 speed cassette with a X9 derailleur, it works good.

 

[BrandonNorCal]

I don't have any derailleur now. I have a two chainrings and a single speed hub with two sprockets. One wet for the street then when I get to the trail I loosen the back tire up move the chain over to the other set then ride for a couple of hours then when it's time to go home I loosen the rear tire again and switch it back.

I really don't mind and all that stuff is neither here nor there I just want to see how the Alfine hub shifts and feel the ratios. I like the idea of a nice internal geared hub and I'm not droppin the cheddar for a rolhoff unless someday I find a broken one to rebuild.

Brandon

 

[g-funk]

I have a sweet 1961 sturmey archer 3 speed with a 23t cog that has had some annadel use. you are welcome to try it. it will make you appreciate whatever you have much more.

 

[fatdave]

hammerschmidt sounds cool...

I'm waiting for the Hammerschmidt, the two speed geared crank set from SRAM; they say it'll be out in Fall. I plan to put it on my singlespeed to make it a more rounded bike.

But, does it change gears in the front without changing the chain length? If so, it is very cool, but I think you may still need a chain tensioner. I couldn't find much info on this thing, unfortunately.

 

[Fast Eddy]

But, does it change gears in the front without changing the chain length?

It has planetary gears inside the bottom bracket, so it has 1:1 and either underdrive or overdrive. Schlumpf has had this on the market for years.

https://www.schlumpf.ch/antriebe_engl.htm

For street riding to the trail you'd probably want the 1.5:1 setup. You kick the button on one side or the other to shift.

I had a SS setup with two front rings and two quick-links so I could easily remove a section of chain. As I remember it was a 34t and a 42t and I would remove two full links. Google fixmeup for a gear/chainstay length calculator. This setup beats any of these geary setups by many benjamins. If your SS has vertical dropouts of some kind, shifting can be done in 30 sec with no tools.

The Alfine does, indeed, seem to be geared toward XC riding with the disc setup. (pun intended) I'll bet they're hard to find for a reason though.