Steely Dan

i got my IGH bike from REI. the bike itself was a smoking deal, but i've never been too keen on the mechanical aptitude of the kids they have working in the bike shop there. perhaps that's just my own ageist bias, but never-the-less, IGH servicing does seem more complex and involved than your run of the mill brake and derailleur tune-up, and i'd like to find a wrench here in chicago who really knows what they're doing. i guess it's time to get on the phone and make some calls.

Sixty Fiver

I have... let me see... four SA AW equipped bicycles and enjoy them all very much.

Edmonton is as flat as you want it to be and although riding a three speed in and out of the river valley is not for the faint of heart riding through the main parts of the city with 3 speeds is fine and when they are geared right they can even handle some moderate hill climbing.

My winter bike has an AW with a generator (1964 AG model) and is a wonderful set up for our winters as it has continued to run smoothly over many seasons, is impervious to weather, and powers my lights to boot.

fietsbob

advantage to oil, it wets the whole inside..

I have an AW3 It gets a Squirt of Phil Tenacious down the indicator chain hole,
every once in a while, and the Grease on the axle bearings helps seal it in a Bit.

Rohloff has a natural slight weep past the seals, but since an oil refill,.annually ,
is only 25ml it is not much ..

mconlonx

Servicing the Nexus/Alfine hubs are not hard. Maybe a bit more complex than derailleur and brake tune, but not much harder than a traditional hub overhaul -- any shop that can't handle it just doesn't want to and might not be worth supporting... Since the gear unit comes out in a single piece, it's just a matter of dealing with the hub bearings and races, associated seals.

Steely Dan

back to the "some IGH's run sluggish in cold weather" theme, we had a warm front pass through chicago, and this morning it was about 62 degrees when i left home. i rode my afine 8 IGH foul-weather beast today because the afternoon forecast is calling for showers. the last couple of times i rode my foul-weather beast, morning temps were in the upper 30s/lower 40s.

i can't be 100% certain because i did have a gusty SW wind that varied between cross and tail, but with the temps being some 20+ degrees warmer this morning, my drive-train did seem peppier to me compared to my most recent rides on the bike in much chillier temps.

doing this oil bath thing might be more important than i had first suspected.


shimano does use an oil lubricant for its alfine 11, but the alfine 8 and the various nexus hubs get the stupid grease lubrication that drags in colder temps. for the love of god, WHY? why not start 'em all out with oil lubrication and forgo the cold-hindered grease altogether?

Sixty Fiver

I don't think the folks at Shimano realized how many people would be using their IGH hubs in such craptastic weather and have made some changes to their hubs to make them function better in extreme conditions.

Sixty Fiver

The internals are rather complicated so servicing that requires quite an investment in many small parts and it is time consuming... and time is money in a shop environment.

A simple overhaul is easy enough to do and does not require any kind of mad skills.

noglider 

Interesting. (And for the benefit of other folks, I have been on some of these rides with rhm.)

I have assumed until now that the relative lack of various ratios was OK for you because you're a stronger rider. But you might have a point, and I might test it out. I had an AW on a lightweight drop-bar bike only once, and I didn't keep it that way for long. Maybe if I tried one for longer, I would experience what you're describing. I find that on my Rudge, a heavy bike, I have to keep my cadence fairly steady, but that might only be because it's so heavy that it punishes me for pedaling extra fast or slow. I believe I am flexible with cadence, so maybe an AW would be OK for me for longer distances than I do on the Rudge.

By the sounds of it, the IGH's with more than 5 speeds aren't as maintenance-free as 3-speed hubs, so you have to weigh that against the advantages of IGH's with 3-5 speeds or against derailleurs.

And if I ever got an IGH with 5 or more speeds, it would be a Sturmey Archer, not a Shimano. I'm a bigot that way.

GamblerGORD53

I have been using a SA XL-FDD dyno and SA XL-RD5 this year, 2800 miles. It has 46T/18 ( 43.5 to 111.1 GI) and now a 180mm ENO crank ( HUGE benefit ) I totally agree that having grease inside them is stupid in any weather. After I put oil in it shifted way better. The wheel would spin at least twice as long under no load. I use 30w lawn mower oil with a dab of old motor conditioner/thickener and use synthetic grease on the bearings to seal the oil in. Oil leaking is a non-issue and an oil port is totally unnecessary. But I need to open and clean the brake side and to watch for grease squishing out, after 1000 miles or so.

Anybody who thinks any derailler/Vbrake drive train is life time more cheaper, more efficient, easier to use or less effort to clean/maintain than SA hubs is NUTS. I did 9 all day rides of 97 to 126 miles, with 55 lbs GVW. The faster I'm going, the more solid it feels and out-performs the 3x8 der. I wizzed it out at 44.63 mph twice on a short hill and without drops. After I get these parts on a custom frame, I will NEVER EVER go back to derailer CRAP. My wheels weigh 7 lbs apiece, but so what?? It only matters negatively 1% of the time. Any flyspeck of downslope it HELPS. The weight seems to help into the wind also.

I have tried the 8sp Shimanos at the LBS and they do feel very nice, but their non-disc brakes are a FAIL.
The biggest reason I got my SA5 was for the drum brakes. If I later need 7 low gears then it'll be a Rohloff disc.
They look easy to take apart but getting parts ?? My 5sp only shortcomming is the gear gap between 2/3 and a bit bewteen 3/4. For me about 13 and 19 mph. Maybe being forced to go faster isn't all bad. My gear range is certainly the equal of road tripples. My 50/11 never went 42 mph. My lowest gear ,30/30 , felt way to wizzy and so was mostly useless. I neither had or wanted a light bike. YMMV

Steely Dan

ummmmmmmm, the shimano alfine 8 and 11 are both disc brake compatible.

and i would know because my foul weather commuter runs an alfine 8 with hydraulic disc brakes.

TornadoCAN99

Had my Spot Brand ACME bike with 11spd Alfine IGH & CarbonBelt Drive now for 8 months. First IGH for me. Few months into it I had persistent delayed shifts and/or sudden shifts under load. Severtal trips to the shop for adjustments didn't seem to help. Now after more months, these incidents have nearly gone. I put it down to "bedding in" of the gearing and shifting mechanism. I do about 150-200 miles per month...city bike paths.

GamblerGORD53

@ steelydan ^^^ That is what I was saying .... buy the disc brake option.
I forgot to say that your 8sp is like mine + a lower mid-30s gear. So far, I don't miss it.

A niece of mine is now living in DT Chicago and loves it !!!! She got transfered from Kelowna BC, which is no slouch.

Steely Dan

with a 700x32 tire and 45T chainring and 20T cog, my gear inches with my alfine 8 are as follows:

1st - 32.0
2nd - 39.1
3rd - 45.4
4th - 51.7
5th - 60.8
6th - 74.3
7th - 86.2
8th - 98.1


being that i live in pancake flat chicago, i never go below gear 3. i use 3 as my starting gear. my cruising gear is generally 6 or 7 depending on wind direction. i will bump it up to 8 or down to 5 under really windy conditions. it works just fine for me.

fietsbob

R'off 559-47 wheel, 39:16

17.5

19.8

22.6

25.7

29.1

33.1

37.7

42.8

48.6

55.3

62.8

71.2

81.1

92.1

fietsbob

for My Bike Friday the 406-47, 50:15 is real similar.. 53:16 a bit lower

17.4

19.7

22.4

25.5

28.9

32.9

37.4

42.5

48.2

54.9

62.3

70.7

80.4

91.3

fietsbob

[obviously] I would suggest you ask that from the manufacturer,
Japan, Osaka's, Shimano US is in California.
they would have a answer, here it's speculation of outsiders.

El Duderino X

Commuting on an IGH (Shimano Alfine 8spd SG-s501, 20T on the rear & 44T on the front and a Hebie Chainglider to keep it clean) equipped bike is so very, absolutely, unequivocally, ridiculously slack.

Shifting at a stop. No problem. Shifting under load... probably should be avoided but still do-able just don't be surprised if your gear selection doesn't load.
Maintenance! Super slack! I jumped my chain three times (pre-Hebie Chainglider) in 24 months (and unlike kookaburra didn't have to loosen or remove anything to replace it, just threaded it back onto one chain ring then hooked into the other and rotated the pedals until all was good again in drivetrainland).

I'm commuting around Vancouver,ca. Some flats, lots of hills, traffic, rain, stop signs, red lights, logic-challenged pedestrians, er, jaywalkers...
The IGH just works so well, so complimentary, to this wet, hilly, urban environ. I won't change except to another IGH like an SG-700 or Rohloff.