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Deleted member 4366
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Because they're crap as far as ebikes are concerned. I would have thought that was obvious. If they were any good, everybody would have them.
IGH gears vs. derailleur
- Thread starter Kuhneye
- Start date
How so d8?
I changed from a 7-speed 11-34 Shimano MegaRange to an Alfine 8
I can now at a junction or emergency stop quickly move from 1 to 8 in a matter of seconds and away we go - never with a derailleur.
Chain line, Chain drops? Never with the Alfine, it`s straight.
Gear changes up, same as driving an automatic car, the other way pause pedals for a second.
Regular derailleur adjustment and tuning? Err, what`s that??!! Line up two yellow dots and you`re finished.
And another thing i noticed, it`s silent, and i mean zero noise.
What`s not to like?
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Deleted member 4366
Guest
What you gain when you're stationary, you lose when you're pedalling with power, and a crank-drive bike is like pedalling with power. Maybe if you're stopping every couple of minutes, like city riding, the balance could swing in favour of the hub gears, but for hilly country riding, it's no contest.
Extra drag is meanless with ebike unless you regularly ride above 15mph assist cutoff.
I moved to my Genesis /Alfine 11 MTB because I cant change gear with a damaged left hand and in that sense it was perfect, I considered an ebike conversion but as it never ran trouble free I thought the extra stress of a motor would only make things worse.
It is possible to have both.
My Moulton TSR27 combines a Sram Dual drive (3 speed) with a 9 speed derailleur. This offers a huge gear range and also the ease of changing gears while stationary. Bit of a swine for punctures on the rear wheel though but it does work well with the ARCC innovations assist.
My Moulton TSR27 combines a Sram Dual drive (3 speed) with a 9 speed derailleur. This offers a huge gear range and also the ease of changing gears while stationary. Bit of a swine for punctures on the rear wheel though but it does work well with the ARCC innovations assist.
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I like IGH too.
The main consideration is low maintenance.
Yes, you pay a little more when you buy the bike but that will be soon forgotten, the bug bear later is really maintenance.
IGHs reduce maintenance.
Less dirty chain, less wear on the drivetrain, no noise in gearshift.
That's alone is worth a lot more than the extra money and weight.
For about town utility use and commuting my preference is IGH every time, even for heavy work. I ran a Lafree with an SRAM P5 gear hub for four years hauling huge trailer loads before it failed. Then bought a new gear hub discounted for £98 and swapped the whole insert to get rolling trouble free again.
Sold that bike at over 6000 miles with the original chain and sprockets still fine, and the new owner used it for well over a year before selling it on again.
That sort of life from 1/8" chain and sprockets wouldn't be possible from 3/32" derailleur chain and sprockets doing such high load work.
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Sold that bike at over 6000 miles with the original chain and sprockets still fine, and the new owner used it for well over a year before selling it on again.
That sort of life from 1/8" chain and sprockets wouldn't be possible from 3/32" derailleur chain and sprockets doing such high load work.
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Deleted member 4366
Guest
Sounds like the answer is "IGH are only suitable for certain types of e-bike".
An IGH can't be fitted with a rear hub drive, as they both occupy the same space.
Most IGH are unsuitable for crank drive since they don't cope well with the torque (though I'm not sure how a derailleur chain manages).
That leaves front hub drive bikes. On these IGH can perform well and are very suitable for the kind of work front hub drive bikes are good for (general commuting / city).
An IGH can't be fitted with a rear hub drive, as they both occupy the same space.
Most IGH are unsuitable for crank drive since they don't cope well with the torque (though I'm not sure how a derailleur chain manages).
That leaves front hub drive bikes. On these IGH can perform well and are very suitable for the kind of work front hub drive bikes are good for (general commuting / city).
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Deleted member 4366
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Well, you know what to do then: Fit them to all your bikes. They should then sell in thousands.
I use IGH in a few of my bikes for years, the result is very good.
My latest folding bike has carbon belt and IGH.
As it has been pointed out, IGH excludes rear hub motor, so its use is really limited to CD bikes.
I will test them soon on my Krieger and Santana CD bikes fitted with gear sensors.
If the result is good, I will of course use them a lot more.
If Woosh do end up doing a Kreiger/Bali/Big Bear (Front hub motor is ok with IGH of course) with a decent hub gear (Shimano 8? Sturmey 5??), reckon I'd be on the next train to Southend 
As an aside, it baffles me why no-one ever uses 3/16" chain for CD bikes with a hub gear. It would surely be ideal for the purpose - or am I missing something?
As an aside, it baffles me why no-one ever uses 3/16" chain for CD bikes with a hub gear. It would surely be ideal for the purpose - or am I missing something?
I would say that it depends on the hub. My Alfine 8-speed is the best hub I have had, whereas the Nexus 7-speed I had in the 90s was awful. The Sturmey 8-speed is really only suitable for folding bikes because of the silly choice of direct drive. The SRAM/Sachs Spectro P7 is good, but hard to get hold of over here. I wouldn't consider anything less than 7-speed. (Although I have run a FWD Ridgeback with a 2-speed SRAM Automatix & that was rather good.)
Once you get into Alfine 11-speed, let alone a Rohlhoff, you're into serious money.
Another advantage of IGHs is the ability to change gearing ratios relatively easily and cheaply by swapping rear sprockets. Nexus/SRAM/Sturmey hubs all use the same sprockets that can be bought for £3. Alfines use a proprietary sprocket, but it's still cheaper than swapping the front chainwheel.
Once you get into Alfine 11-speed, let alone a Rohlhoff, you're into serious money.
Another advantage of IGHs is the ability to change gearing ratios relatively easily and cheaply by swapping rear sprockets. Nexus/SRAM/Sturmey hubs all use the same sprockets that can be bought for £3. Alfines use a proprietary sprocket, but it's still cheaper than swapping the front chainwheel.
It would be ideal, but I suppose they view the hub gear as the limiting factor and 1/8" chain is already easily good enough to match most hub gear lives on a CD e-bike.
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Weight.If Woosh do end up doing a Kreiger/Bali/Big Bear (Front hub motor is ok with IGH of course) with a decent hub gear (Shimano 8? Sturmey 5??), reckon I'd be on the next train to Southend
As an aside, it baffles me why no-one ever uses 3/16" chain for CD bikes with a hub gear. It would surely be ideal for the purpose - or am I missing something?
Lots of misinformation about chains for internal gear hubs.
Shimano recommend a 'narrow' chain- 3/32", as does Rohloff.
It lasts for thousands of miles, so there's no point in fitting anything heavier, although an 1/8" chain will work.
http://bikeshed.johnhoogstrate.nl/bicycle/drivetrain/shimano_alfine_inter_11/#compatible-chains
But that was a later change by Shimano. Traditionally hub gear bikes always had 1/8" chain and sprockets until recently. I'm certain the reason for the change was simply to make it easier for Shimano to only make chainwheels and chainrings in one width.
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