Hub geared tourer - On-one pomp versa 11, Dawes Nomad, roll my own or something else?

As I mentioned after my trip to Plymouth last year, I'm planning on getting a geared tourer. I'm enamoured with the idea of a hub geared bike, on the basis that the main disadvantage, a small weight penalty, isn't going to be a huge issue on what will already be a heavy and heavily loaded bike.

At the bike show last week I saw one of these, [a pompetamine Versa 11

](http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOPOMPETVERSA11/on_one_pompetamine_versa_11_speed_pro)

Which seemed suitable, but the only review I've found of it is very negative indeed. In particular, it's not explicitly sold as a tourer, has quite a short wheelbase. Once I'd added racks, mudguards and a decent saddle it would end up being £1,400, which then isn't looking so good compared to...

[

A Dawes Nomad](http://www.dawescycles.com/p-404-nomad-700c.aspx). Now this is more of an explicitly touring/treking bike, and has (good) racks, mudguards etc included, but has one rather obvious difference - it's got flat bars. I'm aware there's a school of thought that this is better for touring, and it probably is when the going gets rough. My other reservation is that I can't find any reviews or much user experience with this bike. On the plus side all I'd need to add to this is a saddle, so it would total £1,100 (bike is widely available for just over a grand).

The third option I've considered is building or having built something to my prefered spec, probably around a surly crosscheck, but the problem here is that the alfine 11 and versa shifters are difficult to get at decent prices, so the total cost would end up being £1,500.

So does anyone have any experience with either of those OTPs, or a similar build? Or any other suggestions?

Genesis Day One Alfine 11?
http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/cross/day-01/day-01-alfine-11

Genesis Day One Alfine 11?
http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/cross/day-01/day-01-alfine-11

Nice but out of my budget I think, at least £1400 just for the bike

Nice but out of my budget I think, at least £1400 just for the bike

But you get what you pay for, the Day One is far superior to both of those and well worth the extra

the day one is extremely bad value

the dawes would be acceptable with hydro discs

you should expect something like this
rohloff speedhub, hydraulic rim brakes, generator hub, full light set, rack
£1400

http://www.re-cycle.nl/merken/diamant.htm

or a lower spec version with nexus 8 but with belt for ~1000
http://www.lucky-bike.de/.cms/18-1-3439?search=

If you want a practical bike forget the hipster brands.

Pfft what d'you need discs for, doing full speed long descents on a heavily loaded tourer is hilarious.

ETA how on earth are they still selling a rohloff equipped bike at that price?

those have hydro rim brakes. best of both worlds you get good braking and the traditional rim wear.
look for last years models.

you dont need discs but if you are going to spend that amount of money you should get a bit
more than a basic frame with some generic chinese OEM shit on it.

£1100 with alfine 8 or £1500 with alfine 11
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Images/Models/Original/71451.jpg

My old boss had a Dawes Nomad, he did a couple of heavy loaded month long tours on it & commuted to work everyday on it & had no probs, real nice bike. I would steer away from anything with an aluminum frame personally if you plan on any big tours. Those Diamant's look bloody awful IMHO but would probably be fine if your not off anywhere too remote. Discs are great but probably overkill in most on road situations, a quality & well set up pair of Vs will stop a fully loaded tourer no problem. Go with the Dawes & you wont be disappointed.

The advantages of disc's are modulation, and the ability to function in muddy, snowy etc conditions. Basically allowing you to go alot faster, as you have a little more control over the decceleration. They also allow for lighter rims.

Not things you really need for touring. If you dent your braking surface on your rim, its not a disaster. It is if you dent a disc that no longer goes through the caliper.

Rim brakes are easier to access on a loaded bike too.

Vs for the win.

Im speccing up a rohloff equipped crosscheck at the moment... preparing to have the budget blown out of the water.

They take racks and stuff.

Yeah, if this was unlimited budget, obviously it would be a rohloff'd van nicholas pioneer, or some custom 953 build from one of the old school framebuilders... maybe in a few years. I'm going to try out the Nomad at Evans tomorrow and see if it's as good value as it looks on paper. Thanks for all the suggestions chaps.

test ride them first, give it a good test ride, if you're coming from a derailleur background, you might not like the indirect feel of the internal hubs, it feel quite spongy in comparison to a good derailleur set-up.

Also Alfine 11 are excellent budget internal hubs (compare to a Rohloff), it got a great decent gear range, close ratios, and shift brilliantly (with the rapidfire shifter).

In the end despite the Alfine 11 hubs being reliable, trustworthy and tough (I used it to haul 120kg worth of equipment on the trailer), I didn't like the feel of it.

The other thing you could do is tour again with a 65GI instead of a massive 72GI (when loaded, feel like 85GI).

You didn't specify what kind of touring you want to do, from the sound of it, you want a light touring bicycle that'll put a smile on your face during a descent while being able to handle moderate load.

Civia Bryant belt drive alfine 8* light tourer/commuter, £1200-1300, also have provision for both disc or rim brakes.

*given that it's 2012, I'm sure Civia will released one with the 11, there's also a derailleur-equipped version too.

I had an interesting conversation with Rob English about the two Alfines. His customers that have the 11 speeds have all complained that the shifting has repeatedly gone out of adjustment, and even when they line up the little dots it still goes out after a while.
His own bike on the other hand has the eight speed and he said he's done thousands of winter miles now on it without a single problem.
He said that if you can manage with only eight gears, at this moment he would still recommend the eight speed alfine over anything but a Rohloff.
I know it's personal opinion at the end of the day, but it was good to hear his opinions on the subject.

You didn't specify what kind of touring you want to do, from the sound of it, you want a light touring bicycle that'll put a smile on your face during a descent while being able to handle moderate load.

I'm planning on doing camping touring this year, so pretty heavyweight (plus of course my fat arse)

The other thing you could do is tour again with a 65GI instead of a massive 72GI (when loaded, feel like 85GI).

Yeah, 72GI was clearly a mistake, but I don't think even 60GI would have been low enough - I'm certainly going geared for this bike, one way or another.

test ride them first, give it a good test ride, if you're coming from a derailleur background, you might not like the indirect feel of the internal hubs, it feel quite spongy in comparison to a good derailleur set-up.

Also Alfine 11 are excellent budget internal hubs (compare to a Rohloff), it got a great decent gear range, close ratios, and shift brilliantly (with the rapidfire shifter).

In the end despite the Alfine 11 hubs being reliable, trustworthy and tough (I used it to haul 120kg worth of equipment on the trailer), I didn't like the feel of it.

I'll take the nomad on a proper test ride to see if it's to my liking, but I've got on well with hub geared bikes I've tried in the past so I'm optimistic. I'm glad to hear yours took such a heavy workload.

I had an interesting conversation with Rob English about the two Alfines. His customers that have the 11 speeds have all complained that the shifting has repeatedly gone out of adjustment, and even when they line up the little dots it still goes out after a while.
His own bike on the other hand has the eight speed and he said he's done thousands of winter miles now on it without a single problem.
He said that if you can manage with only eight gears, at this moment he would still recommend the eight speed alfine over anything but a Rohloff.
I know it's personal opinion at the end of the day, but it was good to hear his opinions on the subject.

I've read similar things from MTB'rs, and Fatbikers. These guys tend to run a far lower GI than the hub is intended for. Yet the A8 seems to cope well.

Would'nt surprise me if the latest Nexus 8 hubs had the Alfine 8 guts in them, now that alfinw has gone to 11.

Took the Nomad for a fairly decent test ride this morning - from Evans Waterloo to Camden, up Haverstock Hill, down through Hampstead Heath, up Swains Lane and then back down West Hill. I figured this route would include the longest climb and steepest climb in the area, and plus some light offroading and fast descents.

The bike handled all of it really well. The lowest gear was low enough to get me (125kg lol) up Swains without getting out of the saddle. It felt extremely stable on the descents, and had no trouble with wet gravel or London's famous potholes. The Alfine 11 was perfect, shifted really cleanly every time even under load.

Clearly the riding position (very upright), weight (nearly 15kg with both racks) and tyres mean it's not going to be the fastest bike around but for what I have in mind that's not a problem. Plus the weight isn't as bad as it sounds if you compare it against, the van nicholas pioneer rohloff I mentioned earlier: that's £3,000 and still weighs nearly 13kg similarly configured.

Anyway, I'm buying it. Picking it up on Monday once the racks turn up, so I should be coming to Souths on it.

Sound good, can't wait to see it.

By the way, may have carradice super c panniers for sales after deciding to bikepack instead...

I've read similar things from MTB'rs, and Fatbikers. These guys tend to run a far lower GI than the hub is intended for. Yet the A8 seems to cope well.

Would'nt surprise me if the latest Nexus 8 hubs had the Alfine 8 guts in them, now that alfinw has gone to 11.

The only differences I was aware of was the alfine 8's roller clutch and its insane 135 oln + tapered axle. Iirc the red band Nexus had the roller clutch, so was effectively a 130mm Alfine.