My wife’s Breezer Uptown has an 8 spd Nexus redband. The shifter is not /that/ horrible, I mean, it’s a gripshifter, and you either put up with them or hate them, but it totally works fine and has that sexy little gear indicator window. Whoopie!
Advantages of IGH in general:
No derailleur to get fouled by road crap. Especially important in climates where there is frequent foul weather (snow/rain/ice/etc).
Doesn’t need as much maintenance in general as a derailleur system. Pretty much can oil it at regular service intervals and call it a day.
Can be shifted anytime, while stopped, coasting or whatever. Always goes into the correct gear, no f’in around with the chain skipping sprockets or anything.
As I understand it, the Alfine has higher level internal components that are smoother, lower drag, etc. than the Nexus 8 Red Band, and same with the Red Band versus the standard Nexus 8. I.e. Alfine > Nexus Red Band > Nexus Standard.
Theoretically there is some small (and probably completely irrelevant) increased drag with the IGH versus derailleur, but I think if you’re worried about that, you’re not likely to be as interested in the other benefits of IGH.
If your bike has horizontal drops (presumably it does since you mention running it fixed) you won’t need a tensioner for the IGH. You setup the chain tension the same way as regular, and if you run a same/very close sized cog on the IGH it should swap very easily with your fixed wheel (you’ll have to figure out what to do with the shifter when you’re running that wheel, however).
HTH, I am not an expert but I at least have one in the house. An IGH, I mean, not an expert.
Those are exactly the advantages I want, and I’m a little amazed that there’s no big disadvantages (maybe except for being fucked if there’s a problem with the hub when I’m abroad). For riding with a load it’ll be so nice to not have to downshift before a stop.
I don’t plan on changing wheels often. With a double up front and a flip-flop (double free/double fixed) behind it should be fine for city riding and even light touring. The IGH is mostly for trips where I’ll either have heavy loads or unforeseeable inclines. Hmm, maybe I need that wheel carrier that was on some classy steed in another thread. That was great.
Still tempted by the S3X, but it not being in existence throws a wrench into that desire. I wouldn’t need two wheels at all. Still curious: how forgiving is it for chainline; enough to let me run a double or even a triple up front? Anyway, trying to turn the S3X into a viable touring hub may be as stupid as it would be great.
Oh, speaking of Darwin, evolution has totally forsaken IGH shifters:
nothing wrong with rohloff’s. looks pretty badass to me.
anything that you’re gonna want to run a double or triple on your not going to want to have fixed, trust me. FG is not good or enjoyable in the long run.
Better, but not badass. Anyway, I can’t afford the Rohloff hub.
But Sheeellldon diiit iiit. Nah, I understand and I’m just trying to exhaust the thought of the S3X on an all-purpose wheel so I don’t think of it again.
I did some kiddie trailer towing with my FG Cross Check. While climbing even the smallest of grades with the trailer and two kids was pretty much soul crushing, even with the 42x16 gearing I was running, the ability to do resistance braking was pretty cool.
I don’t know if the S3X (lamest product name evar) is rated for load carrying as opposed to just general FG jackassery, but it might be a way. Not sure how easy it’d be to sort all that out with a double or triple up front though… I’d think you’d have to adjust the wheel position every time you wanted to shift gears (oh joy) and you’d only have one setting with optimal chainline, maybe two if the S3X is flip/floppable (don’t think so?)
If you’re going to have 2 rings you might as well have a front derailleur and a tensioner. Then you might as well say fuck this noise and mount a proper RD instead of the tensioner.
So I’d try and find a geared hub that gives enough range, or build a traditional FD-RD setup.
Yea, didn’t mean to send the thread off track. I was just curious about the feasibility of a double up front; the S3X was just fun to think about. The Alfine 8 looks like a safe bet. $200 isn’t bad and it seems to have a good reputation.
I had the Shimano 7 speed internal hub, with the trigger shifter and drum brakes. I hated the drum brake. The shifting worked flawlessly. I mounted the trigger right next to the stem on drop bars. It worked well. (80s Univega frame)
The wheel was heavy and made the bike feels a little heavy when lifting the whole bike up, but it actually rode pretty zippy. I miss that set-up.
