Alfine 8spd internal hub

I have a bike that I've been developing. The 28er. It is meant to be the fictional 'one bike'. A bike that can be used on road, off road, commute, full dirt. It will never exist as everyone should know, but a real bike geek will always dream of attainment.

The rise of the Alfine

Alfine is Shimano's high end cruiser parts group. 2009 brings this group to the USA. Along with it a nice internal 8spd disc hub.

The good

The hub itself is fantastic. It works impressively well. shifting under power, while coasting, while pedaling with only minor blips. I'm hoping figuring out the cable finesse will eliminate all of those.

The bad

Almost everything about the shifter sucks. You can't remove the display, it's low normal,

Gear Reduction

Gear Ratio Total Difference 3.07

Gear Ratio 1 0.527

Gear Ratio 2 0.644

Gear Ratio 3 0.748

Gear Ratio 4 0.851

Gear Ratio 5 1.0

Gear Ratio 6 1.223

Gear Ratio 7 1.419

Gear Ratio 8 1.615

Chainring & Sprocket Choice

I did my first ride as a commute to work. Golden Gate Bridge to Daly City. A perfect sample of San Francisco riding.

I had 32/16 primary gearing with the absolute worst tires for this test, 700x45c knobbies.

The gearing range was near perfect. For street use, I suspect that 34/16 will be really nice with 700x38 slicks, possibly taller.

I will test the 32/16 offroad this weekend.

Images