Alfine 11 speed hubs can be bought here>, or spec your hub in a wheelbuild here>
If you want to keep your gears completely safe from knocks and grime there's only one way to go - a hub gear. Rohloff's Speedhub has long been the ultimate choice with 14 perfectly evenly-spaced gears, a fully sealed oil bath for smooth running, and legendary longevity. But at over £1000 for the hub alone it's too expensive for many people to justify and so Shimano's £200 8 speed Alfine has been a popular choice since it was released a couple of years ago.
Now there is a new 11 speed Alfine, twice the price of the 8 speed but with a spec list much closer to the Rohloff. It too runs in an oil bath, making it smoother and hopefully requiring even less servicing than the 8 speed version, and the gaps between the gears are very evenly spaced. It is almost exactly the same weight as the 8 speed (1669g) making it a little heavier overall than most derailleur gear systems, but only by a few hundred grams.
Fitting
We built a hub up on a NoTubes Crest rim with DT competition spokes and attached it to a Kona Chute hardtail to give it a good try-out on our local trails in Wharncliffe.
Fitting an Alfine hub does take a while, allow a couple of hours to get all the old bits off the bike and for deciphering the instructions. There is quite a bit of fiddling involved trying to get the sprocket onto the hub, and then getting the cable fitting at the hub lined up can take a while, but once it's all OK there shouldn't be much need to alter anything for a long time. Indexing the gears is easy thanks to the simple method of putting the shifter in the 6th gear position, and turning a barrel adjuster until two yellow marks align.
The ride
Cramming all the weight of a whole gear system into the rear hub makes a difference to how the bike handles, but it only takes a couple of rides to get used to. Mostly it's only noticeable when hopping over trail obstacles, it's easy to forget to lift the rear high enough until you become accustomed to manoevering your weight around differently.
The range of gears is impressive. I fitted an 18T sprocket with a 26/36 double ring at the front (the Alfine chain tensioner easily copes with the difference in chainring sizes) and the gearing range was fine for everything from steep climbs to downhill road sections. I would probably choose a 20T sprocket in future for a bit more at the low end, and certainly if it was being used with a 32T single ring as many people do. Shimano's Nexus sprockets are compatible with Alfine and there is more choice of sizes, up to 23 teeth. It's a shame to still need a chain tensioner but it's essential with standard vertical dropouts (and no eccentric bottom bracket).
There is no noticeable drag from the hub. The oil bath and carefully designed cogs seems to have removed the slight energy sapping feeling (probably imagined but psychologically draining) of the 8 speed version. It's impossible to tell for sure but I would say it feels no more draggy than a well set-up conventional derailleur system. It performs equally well in serious mud as in the dry.
Shifting
Shifting gear on the older 8-speed hubs is reliable but always requires easing right off on the pedals for anything to happen. This has been slicked-up and it's now possible to shift under moderate pressure in the direction of easier gears, where it matters most. The speed of shifting is impressive, with gear changes being instantaneous at the hub as soon as you press the lever - there is not the lag you get with conventional shifting as the chain works its way around the sprocket.
Overall
Hub gears are a bit of an acquired taste but for winter use especially they are a major step forward in the battle against bike cleaning. Not only that, but fitted to a bike with horizontal dropouts or an eccentric bottom bracket, accidental damage from rocks and sticks should be a thing of the past. The price is high but the quality of the hub and the increase in reliability justifies the cost.
Use our custom wheel builder online to order Alfine 11spds.
Note, if you're running a ratio less than 38:20 then you're exceeding Shimano's recommendations. This is the whole drag about the Alfine 11, you just can't get gearing low enough without voiding the warranty.
It was slightly annoying to risk killing a £200 Alfine 8 but at £400 it is a joke. You can import a Rohloff from Germany (Bike24.de) for around £700-800 and be sure you won't destroy it off road.
Posted on February 21, 2011 at 10:52 pm
If it was limited to 1.9 then the gears are maybe a touch too high. However I haven't seen any exact limits mentioned. In the instructions it says 'It is recommended that the gear ratio of the front chainring be set to approx. 1.9' before giving a few examples, one of which is slightly lower than 1.9 (eg 34/18). Since it's only an approximate recommendation, I doubt there would be a problem with say 32:20. Maybe my 26:18 is pushing it a bit though.
Either way there are no dire warnings about using lower ratios. A lot must depend on rider power and weight, ie a lighter rider, less powerful will get away with a lower ratio than a heavier, more powerful rider (who probably doesn't need such low gears).
Posted on February 22, 2011 at 10:14 am
I also have not seen or heard of any credible reference to any source that mentions a 'void warranty' for using lower gears. THis is a threat an arsehole bike mechanic used to make all the time in my home town... often just because a bike had been worked on by a shop he did not like :/
FWIW, I have an Alfine 8 that I have been riding for the last year with a 2:1 ratio, but occaisionally as low as 1.4:1 (multiple chainrings in front and I do the grimy-hand front shift when needed), and I ride in rough terrain. Oh, also - I weigh 19 stone. I have had no problems. I cannot imagine that the construction or design of the 11 speed is so much lower than the 8 speed that the average rider (I acknowledge that I am not the average rider) will have problems with lower gear ratios than 1.9.
One more thing - the shimano tech docs for the alfine 11 speed reccomend up to 23 tooth cogs, and 39 tooth chainring cranks are listed under the Alfine category on the web page... there is no mention anywhere that this combination (1.6:1) should be avaided.
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 5:11 pm