chico1st

I have noticed that I have never seen any long distance commuter bikes with IGH (I call long distance commuter a roady/cyclocross bike). Is there a reason why you never see bike with say drops and an IGH or is this just that people dont think there is a market for it?

DogBoy

While much more reliable, IGH bikes are heavier and more expensive, and if you want the gear range of a light, inexpensive derailleur bike, you really have no choice but a very expensive hub. I use an IGH for commuting (5 miles one way). I use a breezer Uptown 8 because I like the upright riding position to make it easier to see traffic. For my LD bikes, I go with derailleur systems. That's my $.02.

tjspiel

They're out there and you'll probably start to see more as time goes on. I would think touring bikes would be likely candidates before cyclocross and performance oriented road bikes.

Anyway the reason you don't see too many is I'm sure do to the extra weight, slower shifts/loss of efficiency (even if slight), and more limited gearing options since IGH equipped bikes typically have only a single chain ring.

Then there's the shifter problem. There are some options that work on drops but I don't know if there's anything equivalent to a brifter.

mconlonx

The reason you don't see drop bar IGH bikes out there is because until last year, there were no real elegant solutions for mounting the shifter on road drop bars

Twist and rapidfire shifters from all the companies marketing IGH hubs fit mtn diameter bars, not road bars, with their greater diameter. Harris Cyclery has a mtn diameter bar-end extension for use with twist shifters.

Last year, JTek produced a bar end shifter, and Dynamic released a brake/shifter unit... on their drop bar "performance" road bike. JTek went out of business, now back. Not sure of plans for further shifter production, but there are older units floating around out there. The new brifter is showing up on some bikes.

Plenty of flat bar IGH bikes out there. Many being used for commuting.

My primary commuter is build around a Nexus 8 hub--38 mi r/t commute; about 2800 mi in '09.

JeffS

+1

jeffpoulin

+2. If they made a Rohloff with a drop-bar shifter as elegant as brifters, I'd buy it. It wouldn't even have to be a brifter, but it would have to be something sleeker than a twist-grip.

kmcrawford111

The first bike I bought after starting regular commuting has an IGH, a Swobo Dixon. It's a nice bike, but since getting a road bike in the summer and getting used to it, I prefer road bikes for just moving on clean roads. I had only a MTB before this and didn't think I would like a road bike. I was dead wrong. It's been eye-opening, really. If the roads are clear, it's hard to pick the Dixon because the road bike is faster, easier to ride, and lighter. The Dixon is currently being used most of the time though, since I have studded tires that fit it. Shifting (gripshift) is also much easier with it when wearing heavier/two pairs of gloves, something I didn't think of until today. My road bike uses friction shifting!

For shorter commutes and poorer weather, an IGH startes to make more sense, IMO, but road bikes are generally the cat's ass.

rhm

I don't understand why Shimano, Sturmey Archer, et al haven't addressed this issue.

A twist grip shifter is actually very well suited to IGH generally; you can shift as many gears as you want in one fluid motion (and I do this all the time). The problem is mounting the twist grip shifter to any kind of drop bar. I've tried a couple of innovative ways of doing this, but so far I'm not ecstatic about the results. I'm trying to get a JTek shifter, but they're not available at the moment.

I can't imagine riding in heavy stop-and-go traffic with a derailleur; IGH shifting is just much better for that kind of thing. But I also use IGH's for long distance and touring riding.

tjspiel

Probably don't feel that there's enough of a demand for it yet.


In heavy stop and go traffic I'm not doing a ton of shifting and typically any gear I stop in is suitable for starting again. There are times when I leave myself in too high of a gear but I usually don't realize that until after started pedaling anyway.

TwoHeadsBrewing

I've got a Trek Soho with the IGH and I've done a few longer rides, but nothing over 35 miles yet. I plan on doing a 65 mile ride in the spring, and training on this bike up until that ride. My commute to work is just 7.5 round trip, but even on the longer rides I haven't felt any resistance. I can't imagine this bike not working just fine for longer rides...and some drop bars would help with the aero.

As I like to say, "I am the limiting factor in my cycling performance.". An extra 2% efficiency due to drivetrain changes might be nice, but losing that 20 pounds off my a$$ would do me more good.

RedWhiteandRed

I see you are in TO. I commute every day in Toronto on an IGH and really like it. Except that on the colder days the gears will fail to shift because something or other freezes stuck.

The ease of shifting (except in cold) is amazing and shifting at stoplights is very useful. Mine is the Alfine group with the hydraulic disk brakes and I really like those as well.

Also - I should say my daily rides are between 40 and 90kms.

Val

https://www.ecovelo.info/2010/01/03/s...-civia-bryant/ There you go.

AdamDZ

I had 4-speed IGH for two years, it failed. It was nice while it lasted. It was full of road crap and grinding. LBS deemed it unfixable due to labor costs. I went back to regular gears, at least I can fix them easily.

If my commute was near 100% heavy traffic I'd ride singlespeed.

Z.

TwoHeadsBrewing

Wow, very nice bike. I was thinking about a Trek Portland for a future upgrade...but now this will have to go in the running!

tjspiel

Can it take a 40mm tire? That would be a great winter/all round bike for me if I were to suddenly fall into $1800. Kind of a tank though at 30 lbs.

jeffpoulin

Very nice! Any Civia dealers in Europe?

knobster

Here's another one using the Versa shifters and IGH https://www.dynamicbicycles.com/synergy/road.php

JeffS

Because they also understand that noone REALLY wants this bike.


We'll see how the Civia does. I've already heard the whining about no generator hub though. And if it did have a hub, there would be whining about whether it was the right hub, or whether they put a light on it, and if it was the right light, and if there was a rear light, and if THAT was the right light, and on and on and on down the theoretical BF ideal commuter bike list.


New riders aren't going to buy the Bryant, and people that have been around a lot of different bikes aren't either because they will likely find something they don't like about it. That leaves a fairly narrow group that *thinks* they know what they want.

megalowmatt

Here's mine. I commute 10 miles round trip 3 days a week and built this up a couple months ago. Slick tires and a more stable rack are going on this week. As mentioned, the igh is a little heavy but I am happy with the results. Some think the shifter is cumbersome but I have no issues with it at the bar end.

chico1st

Wow, all of those bikes look awesome! And the bike is 1000$!!!
I am suprised at this as the versa shifters it uses are 229$
Also I really like that those twist shifter ends on your bike megalowmatt but why didnt you put them at the top... where the bar meets the stem?


I hear those of you who commute like crazy with your normal flat bar bikes but where I commute now there are lots of long stretches and wind (Burlington). And I would love to ride SS but there are too many massive hills here.

But aren't IGH supposed to be more immune to offensive material... 2 years isnt that long.

Rhodabike

I have bad knees, so that's actually the main thing that I really like about IGH's. I shift all the time on mine.

AdamDZ

That's what I though too They're too complex to maintain and repair. If I was riding in nice weather I'd get one again but I'm going to stick with regular gears for now, I just wipe them drivetrain after each messy ride.

A.

mtalinm

just saw a trek soho IGH for $700 (an '90, before the jacked up the price), so maybe soon I'll have a story for this thread

CB HI

I am thinking that you either mistyped 100$ or misread.

The bike is listed for $999.

chico1st

whoops edited