IGH, Alfine, Rohloff, Sturmey Archer and frames/bikes built for them...

Srsly considering IGH again for my nature boy disc, what hub recs for short bikepacking trips?

Depends on what gear range you require, how deep your pockets are, what type of shifter you want:

Alfine 8: affordable and tough, grease lubed. You can use a J-Tek bar end shifter (£80), or now available Microshift bar end shifter BS-N08 for £50 from SJS Cycles. However no brifter/sti option now that Versa shifters are no longer available. Gear range 307%

Alfine 11: reasonably affordable, possibly not quite as robust as the 8, oil lubed, can use J-Tek bar end shifter (£100) or Microshift now are making a brifter/sti pair of levers for £200 (SJS Cycles sell these). Gear range 409% and weighs almost exactly the same as the 8 speed.

Shimano also make a Di2 version of the 11 speed, with STI lever option, but once you have bought all the bits and bobs it adds up to quite a lot and the hub is different so you cannot retro fit to a hub that was originally cable shift.

Rohloff Speedhub: oil lubed, bomb proof with excellent support from the manufacturer, 14 gears, 526% range but very expensive and no easy options for shifters with drops- various lash ups but nearly all based around a rotary shifter.

Avoid the Sturmey Archer 8 speed, they have never got this one to work reliably despite redesigns and it is very tall geared requiring a tiny chainring for a sensible gear range. However if you only need a limited range of gears their 5 and particularly their 3 speed hubs are much better and now available with disc compatibility for reasonable prices, bar end shifters available for both.

Using jones bars so normal shifters are fine. Im looking for reliable, not flash.

alfine 8 di2 was tempting but its not much cheaper than alfine 11 di2 and it all seems to end up very spenny when just comparing it to non di2.

maybe ill just get alfine 11..

Cable shift Alfine 8 is the sensible price option IMO unless you need the range of the Alfine 11.

With the Alfine 8 you can use a Nexus 8 revoshifter which is surprisingly good compared to the usual twist shifters, light and precise changes and you can go straight from 8th to 1st or vice versa in one quick movement or any position between. (But check which way the hub and shifter work, originally 1st gear was at max cable length, 8th with it fully tightened, but some of the Nexus 8 hubs now do the opposite, the original design had the cable running below the chainstay, the new version has it above like the Alfine 11 does.)

If I was considering spending as much as the Di2 options I would go straight to the Rohloff instead TBH...

ta, it seems smart, is there a guide somewhere on which bits you actually need? this shit is impossible

You can use ... or now available Microshift bar end shifter BS-N08 for £50 from SJS Cycles.

No no no! This shifter should never be recommended to anyone. Made my and @TM Day Ones pretty much unrideable.

I have a colleague with a huge amount of experience with hub gears, he says the alfine 11 is absolutely shite. Stick with the 8 speed of durability is important.

1x derailleur gears are nicer to ride and lighter.

I still (check my other posts) have an Alfine 8 wheel(set) and associated parts that I would be happy to part with (came off my pompetamine). Am assuming biking unto the weekend so communication may be patchy until then).

I was thinking that this would still probably be better than using a track dropout derailleur adapter though..

IMO the only bikes Alfine/nexus make sense for is neglected town bikes or winter / wet weather commuters.

However if you only need a limited range of gears their 5 and particularly their 3 speed hubs are much better...

Anyone know anything about Sturmey 4 speed hubs, new ones really. I have a colleague who is looking to put an igh in a track frame and wants as many gears as possible. The 5 speed RX-RF5 comes in a 125mm oln version but the 4 speed comes in 120mm so might be kinder on the frame. I presume the workings are quite different between the 4 and 5 speed hubs as the 4 speed is direct drive in the lowest gear whereas the 5 speed is direct drive in the middle gear.

For some reason sturmey archer was far more expensive in my head than alfine

Rohloff

Got a bike cheap because the nexus 3 speed hub was wrecked. Water ingress apparently. I haven't seen it yet but wondering if repair is possible and what is likely wrong with it?

Worst case scenario is replace the hub but will be expensive anyway so might go for alfine 8 or the sturmey 3 spd as I am not keen on the grip twist. Complicated slightly as hub needs to be centre lock disc.

Anyone fucked about inside a Rohloff or sent one for service?

Guy I work with has one that's circumnavigated the globe but had dubious maintenance regime.

The bike came did a trip through Africa a few years ago where the hub started skipping and has been sat in the garage since. He's currently rebuilding it and the hub was skipping badly in several (but not all) of the gears when I looked at it with him today.

We stripped it down to the point where we got the innards out and nothing looks broken. We were able to spin the mechanism and shift through all the gears and it all looked and felt pretty smooth. There was some play in several parts though. There was also very little oil in it (not sure how much there should be really?) and what was there was pretty manky.

I suggested a soak in degreaser and rebuild with new oil but I fear its wishful thinking that this will solve all the issues.

So, if anyone has done work inside these then I'd love to hear from you and also if you've had your Rohloff serviced etc, what was the process (and cost) like?

There was also very little oil in it (not sure how much there should be really?) and what was there was pretty manky.

The recommendation I have read is at least 25ml of oil inside the hubs.

Cheers, a lot less in this one.

Thing is, I've seen what the inside of motorbike engines and gear boxes look like when they've been run with insufficient lubrication, all metal filings and stuff, and this was not like that at all. The oil that was there was dirty for sure but really didn't feel like metal shavings.

I've been doing a bit more reading on forums and stuff and looks like Rohloff are dicks when it comes to selling spares. Some of what I read suggested that even authorised service centres will only swap the entire internal assembly and out of warranty that can be the best part of £1k.

At least SJS sell the gasket for the outer cover so we can put back what we undid today.

Thing about motorcycles engine is that the tolerance is much tighter, so even if you run less oil, it's still work, damaging but work (have to be as you're doing 80mph on it!).

But bicycle components, they don't really have that tight a tolerance, if you run less oil in the hubs, you and the bloke across the Beijing Strait will notice it.

Can anyone confirm what the chainline of a brand new Rohloff is?

It seems it used to be 54mm but with the introduction of splined sprockets, is now 57mm. Sound right?

@Scilly.Suffolk it depends on the carrier. The new splined carriers come in two formats, the S version (S for Slim) keeps the chainline at 54mm. The Non S is 57mm.
The non splined carrier or screw ons are 54mm

@M_V bit late to this but Dave Whittle at SJS has been trained to strip/rebuild Rohloffs by Rohloff.
He's the only person, as far as I know in the UK, who has been trained by Rohloff, obviously others can do it but he has access to every spare part and is quite quick.
I had fit a splined carrier to my hub when I f**cked up removing the sprocket.

I've got an email for him if you need it PM me.

Edit: I remembered there's a video on the thorn forum, in the R hub section, of an amateur hub strip/rebuild.

Thanks for that, very useful.

No mention on the Rohloff site, only found the option on Rose.

I don't suppose you know if the hub comes with a carrier? The Rohloff site suggests they do.

@Scilly.Suffolk no probs. If it's brand new hub then yes it'll come with a carrier and be the splined carrier BUT I don't know their policy on fitting the S and the Non S version. I guess it's an option like the axles and disc brake fitting etc so maybe coded in the product name.

SJS are pretty good even if you've not bought from them. Before I bought my 2nd hand hub I rang em and the guy talked me through how to test it on and off the bike so I didnt buy a dud.

It might be worth signing up to the Thorn forum as their section on Rohloffs is good.

Much obliged!

Yes, SJS and the Thorn forum are bookmarked from my research to date.

Considering they're famed for their simplicity from the end-user's point of view, there's a lot to get your head around from a mechanic's POV.

SJS and the Thorn forum are bookmarked from my research to date.

Just don't listen to this guy...

Noobs >>>>>>