Alfine 8spd internal hub

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Revision as of 21:16, 21 November 2008 by Pvd (talk | contribs) (The bad)
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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, it doesn't have 2 way triggers, the look is just gross.

A drop bar hydro STI lever would rule, I'd also like to know if other 8spd STI levers will work with the system.

The hub is heavy. It's weigh in the rear is odd since I am not used to this.

I will be doing more testing to see about seals and offroad performance.

Weight

The Alfine system added 3 lbs 8oz to the single speed bike weight. While a bit much for pure perfomance, it is in range for someone looking for a bombproof clean drivetrain with good performance.

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

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Alfine8.jpg