UKC

researching cyclocross/ gravel bikes and genesis comes up with a shimano alfine equipped bike - anybody care to share their thoughts?
possible use for forest fire roads and touring.
thanks in advance for any comments

In reply to woppo:

I have a 29er hardtail alfine hub and love it. Have
Done trail centres and real off roading on it and never had any problems. Just started to skip a bit but think the cable needs replacing. Can't understand why the haven't caught on more. A bit strange to begin with.

In reply to woppo:

I've an Alfine 11 on my commuter/tourer, an On-One Pompetamine. It's not quite the fit and forget system that it could be, you have to keep on top of the cable tension but it's not a hard job, a case of aligning a dot and groove in a particular gear. Sometimes the gearing slips out of alignment from morning to evening if there's a big temperature difference. I get the occasional slipping gear no matter how well I've set the alignment. Oil change is straightforward once you have the kit - Shimano charge a fortune for what is basically a syringe and a bowl.

My commute is partly on canal tow path so I'd say your intended use is fine.

The bike feels a bit back-end heavy but that's because basically all the gearing is concentrated in one place whereas with a standard derailleur system is spread about the bike, it's slightly heavier overall. You have to ease off the power more than with derailleur systems when changing gear.

For commuting get a front wheel with a dynamo hub, no need to worry about charging batteries. Shimano recommend a chainring to sprocket ratio that I found to be too high, I hardly ever used the top three or four ratios so changed from an 18T to a 23T sprocket, worth working things out on Sheldon Brown's site.

I've done about 6000Km on the bike overall, just one new chain in that time.

In reply to woppo: this is a good thread. I'm going to watch this and add into it:

Vassago Fisticuff
Alfine 11
Versa shifters
Stans iron cross rims
Panaracer firecross 45mm tyres running tubeless
Hope v-twin brake system...

Any opinions? Would look at rohlhoff but the money! And the fact that you cant get sti shifters would mean engineering a solution. And whilst I could do that, and machine them myself, its a lot of trouble... I'd want to be doing roads and gravel fire roads/ tracks in the dolomites...

In reply to woppo:

I have an On-one Pompetimine with Alfine 8 hub and versa shifters. It's a great bike and I use it for touring and commuting. This includes forest roads and you will not be disappointed. Get the 39 tooth chain ring at the front. The west highlands feel tough with the 45!

In reply to beardy mike:

Building similar but gone for cx1 stans crest and juin tech r1s. Rolhoff was thought about, as was Alfine 11 with the Ultegra electronic shifter. Less FAFF won.

D

In reply to Dauphin: when you say less faff... Alfine?

In reply to beardy mike:

Having to get a wheel built up, conflicting reports about reliability, servicing when a hundred miles from anywhere. I like the idea, just went with CX1 instead. Where did you manage to get a fisticuff frame from? All out of stock...got a final one at discount a few months ago but not in my preferred colour.

D

In reply to Dauphin: oh dear god, don't say that! I haven't yet and was about to order one up! Charlie the bike onger still has them showing on his website but that may be total bollocks...

In reply to beardy mike:
Rohloff are expensive, agreed. But, if memory serves, when it is worn out (after, say, 20,000 miles or whatever) you can put it on the other way round and start again. Superb....

In reply to Siward:
trouble is they cost the same as a cheap bike! And you can't get sti shifters for drop bars for them...

In reply to woppo:


Dont do it, got two and will be relacing them with derailuers soon!

Like the idea but wouldnt get another alfine 11. Both leak oil even with new seals and properly adjusted, heavy, feel 'springy' and inefficient after a good 10spd set up. Both hubs have needed more maitenence than any derailuer setup I have had.

It would be a great system if developed but I would avoid the alfine 11.

In reply to woppo:

Hiya, I've got an Alfine 8 on a 29er MTB. As others have said it's not quite as FAFF free as you might anticipate. Just taking the wheel off and putting out back on again is a pain. It also concerns me that if the chain snaps you are in trouble as there is not enough extra length to rejoin it.

I've also got the cheapest Genesis X bike which I use loads for easy mountain biking. I'm glad that it doesn't have Alfine gears, which answers you question and makes me think perhaps I should sell my MTB!

Cheers, Ross.

In reply to woppo:

thanks for all your advice - just done a 'lumpy' 2 hours in the south lakes and feel like i need a 'triple'!!!!!!