[Boatsie]

I bought an Avanti Blade 3*9 speed. Lovely bike. Frame triangles suit me.
Anyway.. Wanted a fixie to learn technique.
Bought another Avanti Blade. Avanti Blade8. Same triangles, rear axle with a horizontal feed instead of a vertical feed. Didn’t realize about axle widths, chain.. Kept as is.
Now riding two near same frames..
The derailer feels faster when serviced. I prefer that bike during dry rides. It’s less effort to maintain a same speed. However. The cog ratios are different. A preferred route of mine is a constant shallow down gradient of 20+km and that girl top cogs via 52-11
However, the hub gear bike doesn’t need cleaning after stormy rides, it just stays serviced. Today I noticed a creak sound. Having been ridden all year, all weather, I know that my laziness of chain lube (currently middle of year, last lube was last year) could be rectified tomorrow and fixed within 5 minutes. Clear, clean, wax, done.
So although slightly slower when both are serviced, because it basically services itself it remains a consistent reliable machine in terms of known road speeds per effort upon pedals applied. Cogs don’t wear much neither, comparable to a single speed. Internals? I ain’t worried.. If she ever blows it’s simpler than a derailer. Flip it out and plug a new one in.

Pros of hub gear… Simple. Single chain length. Ideal if Bafang crank or similar electric machine assistance was to be applied. Weather proof. Reliable. Doesn’t require maintenance (very minimal) . As easy as a BMX.

Pros of derailer. Weight distribution. Performance gains. Familiarity regarding many peoples uses of. Rear tyre changing if ever needed.

Hub gears make a good work horse.. Shopping, Heavy work tools, etc.
Race bikes have derailers hence they are faster but require maintenance. Both above are pretty minimal.

Topic

[Boatsie]

My whoops. Hangers gunking
My whoops. Hangers gunking probably reduce force or reverse torque the system more so than cassette.
Anyway.. Hub speeds remain consistent in awesome weather.. 🙂 and they’re great in summer.
I like it doing its job.. Very reliable multi ratios.

[Boatsie]

ktache wrote:

ktache wrote:

Just enjoying… The shifting will not be as affected by the filth

I hope the advantages are really there and I’m not just imagining them.

And the gripshift style shifter takes a bit of getting used to.

My 8 speed isn’t affected by the filth, I believe the advantages are there and I like the gripshift..
Mine’s a Nexus 8 speed. I tend to use speeds 1 (steep climb) 2-5 (about to climb) but mostly 6 and 7. 6 and 7 feel near identical but fine tune to suit the wind pushed. Doesn’t always engage into 7 but because I can’t feel the difference easily on calm days I flick it up to 8 and back to 7 quickly. Only adjustment I’ve made in about 3 years was a once of cable adjustment and that was child’s play easy.. Turned 1 screw until an easy to see marker lined up visually.

I’m computer dumb and don’t know how to quote your text Adam yet my vague lack of memory thinks I agree with cassettes vs hub gearbox regarding longer distances and even the shorter ones. There is transmission loss but because the gearbox is kept clean housed inside the hub, it remains consistently same with regards to torque per riders effort and therefore is outstanding in nasty weather.
Yet when the weather clears I’ll be on a similar bike with a cassette because during better days that is a lesser effort bike to me. Direct pull on the torqued axle. More efficient drive but not so when the chain’s all gunked up and counter torquing driving torque. Single speeds/cogs don’t have bigger cogs next to them.
It’s an absolute pleasure to ride a hub gearbox bike on a road in a storm. Ratios to push and climb, jacket and pants to cruise along toastie.
They’re great in summer too but that season of year I’d prefer cassettes

[alexb]

I’ve been running an 8 speed

I’ve been running an 8 speed Alfine-hubbed bike a for a few years now as my commuting bike.

I love it, it’s fast and bullet-proof. Servicing is as simple as cleaning and lubricating the chain and replacing the disc pads every now and then.

I have replaced the rear sprocket and chain a few times and they’re so cheap I always keep a complete spare in stock. I’ve also worn out and replaced the chainring and used the opportunity to fine-tune the gearing a bit to allow me to keep in a better gearing window for most of my ride. It was too low geared when I bought it.

For longer, day rides the best bike is a 30 speed audax bike. It’s definitely the better bike for that purpose, but it’s amazing how bad it is as a commuter. With 8 speeds I really only use 4 ratios most of the time.

Finding those same effective ratios on the audax bike requires loads more gear changes, so I find myself changing gear constantly which is not much fun in traffic. Out on the open road, being able to fine-tune the gear ratio to match the road conditions (to cope with headwinds, slow uphills, tiredness etc.) means that having 30 speeds with relatively small differences in gear ratios definitely makes sense.

I would never opt for 1×11 for the long distance bike, but 8 speed hub gears really hit the sweet spot for city commuting.

[ktache]

Just enjoying my new Rohloff

Just enjoying my new Rohloff build, it’s very good.  The benefits will become more relevant as the weather gets worse.  The shifting will not be as affected by the filth and the chain is much less flexible hopefully allowing in less grit, maybe, so perhaps less of the nasty grinding sound at the end of a long and filthy ride.

The chain is much higher off the ground too, I am convinced that that bottom jockey was sometimes being dragged through the mire.

The cleaning process is so much easier, 2 single cogs and a chain, rather than chain, 2 jockeys, 3 front cogs and 8 or 9 rear, lots of flossing and repeated wiping with proper cleanliness only coming with a full strip down.

Hopefully part replacement will be eventually less costly, that no option single cog has one price and no options apart from number of teeth.  No £80-£130 8 or 9 speed cassettes for me on this one and those are relatively cheap compared to the quality 11 or 12 speeds out there.

These are some of the reasons why I dipped my toe into the hub gear thing, I hope the advantages are really there and I’m not just imagining them.

There is somewhat less engagement as some of the best rear hubs, it is a little bit noisy in some gears at the moment, though this may become quieter and it is a bit heavy with all the weight being at the back.  And the gripshift style shifter takes a bit of getting used to.

[Boatsie]

http://www.betterbybicycle
http://www.betterbybicycle.com/2016/11/are-internal-gear-hub-bikes-secret-to.html?m=1

If I didn’t have a hub speed I wouldn’t buy 1 yet having bought 1 I wouldn’t sell it. Any weather, almost no maintenance.

Yet.. Because our government is fantastic and our roads are supreme.. This hanging a handle barbag would be my ideal cross city commuter.

https://lynskeyperformance.com/pro-gr-gravel-bike-sram/

[Author]

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