Don't worry, I have a lot more videos on bicycle gearboxes and belt drivetrains for you to watch! 🤌🏻 Rohloff hub vs Pinion gearbox --- kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jcWYq5eHntO9pas.html Belts are the best drivetrain available! --- kzfaq.info/get/bejne/brl7mLRnp5i5hJ8.html Effigear Mimic Transmission --- kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fJZoladzsJ25Z3U.html Shaft drive bicycle drivetrains --- kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m8-df6ycr8eydoE.html

I love my Alfine - as an all-weather commuter it has not let me down. And as for its longevity, I got 10 years / 20,000 km out of my first one, with no internal maintenance at all.

This is possibly the most competent technical video I've ever seen. Amazing. 10/10

Great video! You pretty much nailed it. The Alfine 8 is the one I've been using on my touring bike for 10 years now, in SE Asia. I use it every day, and with heavy luggage. It has NEVER failed me. There is however a problem with maintenance and repair, since very few shops here know how to service them, and parts like the gear changer and rear sprocket have to be ordered from abroad. Here is a tip: I've found an expert repair guy in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at "Saigon Bike Shop", Mr Van. He re-built my wheel after a crash three years ago, and at the same time took the hub apart and re-greased it. Excellent! I especially prefer the 8-speed over the 11-speed, because of it's reliability and flawless performance over many years.

I had no idea. It's great to learn that this technology has evolved & is probably more pop than ever. I was heavy into the Shimano three speed back in the day. I am referring to 1977 to '81 & beyond. I collected a whole bunch of hubs after I had one apart and figured out what made it tick. Local bike shop was able to get replacement parts as well. Those were the days. I also inspired a good friend of mine to become an enthusiast. "Oh your hub". 😃😁😂

I really want to thank you for the amount of time you take out of your life to make these videos. Things like this hub put me right to sleep if I read about them. You talking about them is so much easier. You are not a salesman at a store, you actually ride all over fuck and back, which is invaluable to me when you speak about these products. You never ever "pimp" anything, leaving us to make up our minds based on the info you have given us. Thank you so much.

I say Alfine has done pretty well when it's comparable to a hub almost 7 times it's price

Wow! 8 & 11 gears. I remember when my 3 speed hub was the bee's knees. Then I went to 10 speed derailleur. That was a huge step up. But it wasn't very crash proof. Still you could limp home.... unless the derailleur went into the spokes.....one became adept at respoking. Love it!

A much appreciated video. I'm a bike shop manager and I'll be recommending several of my customers watch it and quit doubting me when I tell them that the Alfine will work fine for them.

One thing to consider; Alfine use standard centerlock brake discs. Rohloff needs special brake discs, made for it.

Hubs are a no brainer for commuter bikes, if the budget allows. I'm never going back to chain for city bikes.

That max torque rating really does matter... learned that lesson many times. I build ultra-light motorbikes as a hobby (think

Riding an alfine 8 for over a year now, 15k km so far, I'm loving it. I will one day propably go for a rohloff for extra gear range, but alfine is a beast for the price. Love the indepth, informative and objective video, cheers!

Outstanding video, Alee. Sincere thanks for sharing your wisdom. I've had an Alfine 8 for a couple of years and am very pleased with it so far. I do feel after watching this video that at one point I left the bike a little too long in need of a gear cable adjustment. Hopefully it didn't damage the hub too much. At the moment it's fine.

i love alfine hubs i used one on for a mountain bike for three years without servicing and ran a pretty low gear and would constantly kick my pedals to do mountain bike things as well as intentionally trying to make it fail it definitely became sloppier in gear lash but i never had an internal failure. the largest issue i had during that time was breaking cable ends on the hub side due to chunky mud getting into the cable management section of the hub. eventually i sheared the cog on the outside but the internals were fine.

Thank you for this great video. I'm on my second 8 speed Alfine hub. The first one got submerged and froze up. After seeing your video, I would consider the 11 Speed Di2 because of the increased range and the precision shifting. Also, I really appreciated your perspective on maintenance.

very extensive overview, thank you very much! Have been researching Alfine and Rohloff a bit, but haven't found an overview like yours!

I ran since about 11 years the Alfine 8 as a daily commuter, since 9 years (when I moved from Europe) through rough Montreal winters. All problems I ever had were due to cabeling (frozen slush...), and I am on my 2nd shifter, the first broke last autumn. Love it! Now, my new bike (built all by myself, a Soma Wolverine) got an Alfine 11 Di2. Less problems in winter! I still had some gear slipping in winter, but much less trouble then with the cable, now with the warm weather it went back to normal without me doing anything. Maybe the temp change had changed some tolerances and I might need to look for a best working "winter calibration". And yes, Di2 allows me to use drop bar hydro levers! I hide the Di2 battery inside the fork steerer, with the Shimano/Pro special stems which allow this... Now at around 3k km. Love the Alfine! Ah, and the cargo bike runs a Nexus 8, so technically I have 3 of those hubs. Before that, I used most of my live old 3 gear internal hubs, so I new I love IGHs in the city!

I learn so much every time you release a new instructional or review video, Alee - thank you for your very professionally-produced content! I rode an Alfine 8-speed for a couple of years (on a Cotic Roadrat) and reduced the gearing to below 20" without any noticeable issues - but I only weigh 65kg. Very helpful table you have provided for recommended low gearing dependent on body weight. I recently took possession of a brand new Rohloff-equipped fully rigid adventure bike, which I love. I was given the opportunity to have it with a used Rohloff (about 1,000 miles), which was a cost saving and also meant it had already been run in somewhat. I often wish I had kept the Alfine-equipped Roadrat as a grocery-getter, and your video only confirms how daft I was to sell it on!

I’ve stumbled across so really good videos on KZfaq recently. This was genuinely informative, thank you!

Nice comparison video. Thanks. My first decent tour with the 11 speed Alfine/Di2 system was from Canada to Mexico along the US Pacific Coast. Not a single problem with it. I've learned it does leak more oil when not laid down. Always upright seems to lessen the oil leakage. Using the Rohloff Oil Change kit works well on it yearly and it's fine for long distances with very light loads.

I thought I knew a lot about bikes until I saw this brilliant presentation about internal hubs. I was living in the old 3-speed world, now I'll be on the lookout for one of these Shimano hub bikes.

You've produced the best assessment of bike gearing that I can recall, and I've done very extensive research on this subject for decades. Note that I've designed & built various bicycle transmissions since hybridizing a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed with a 15-speed derailleur for (likely) the first 45-speed in 1963! My other systems include: a 67-speed, an 81-speed, a 378-speed, a rolling-traction CVT, a ratcheting CVT, and a ratcheting IVT, all as functioning prototypes (except the IVT needed re-design for bike mounting). Decades of pedaling my 200+ pounds up & down steep slopes in the Santa Cruz Mountains made this a mission for me! Recent trends toward serious enduro, downhill and EMTB riding have pushed the market into pricing that now justifies my revival of my IVT invention (see my YT channel), reconfigured for front-mount and 1kW+ power throughput. Concerns about efficiency, torque, power & durability that you highlight here have been my longstanding priorities; so I'm redesigning my 'SIVAT' to fit with intense attention to all component specs; by far, the most difficult project of my engineering career! My goal is to create a bike transmission worthy of both the MTB/EMTB enthusiasts *and* long-distance cross-country riders, flavored accordingly. As for your excellent analysis, I'm compelled to correct you on your use of the term 'gear-ratio'. It's a common mistake that we use the term 'low-gears' for steep ascents; the 'gear-ratio' is an engineering term that is input *speed* divided by output *speed* in RPM; so gear-ratio actually means the *inverse* of the colloquial use, i.e., steep climbs need *high* gear ratios! BTW, my SIVAT has an infinitely high-gear-ratio limit that no uphill will defeat! It may seem counter-intuitive that such intense mechanical advantage won't break parts, but both some mechanical wizardry and an intrinsic fail-safe will accomplish that with smooth efficiency! *This* time, I mean business! Wish me luck!

An experienced and professional cyclist presenting the different internal shifting clutches. Amazing knowledge! Thank you for your content! 👍

Great video, thanks. I really appreciate reviews/commentaries that finish with an actual conclusion rather than "they're all great, go with what you like!" You gave very specific context to where you think each hub shines and why, very informative!

I have a folding Dahon bike that I used to ride through London. It has an 8 speed derailleur and a 3 speed Shimano hub. I loved it because it has the flexibility of an overall wide range but the best aspect was the instant ratio change from the hub. Moreso if there was a requirement to stop suddenly, a flick of the hub selector while stationary would give a starting gear, maybe not optimal depending on where the chain was on the rear cassette but always something that you could start with. Unlike a full derailleur where you need to be moving to drop gears. That alone made it awesome in unpredictable traffic.

WOW... I had no idea who advanced bicycle technology has come in the past 45 years. These are really neat, especially the short moment you covered the E-bike or electric bicycle conversion set up. This was a very well put together video, exceptionally great pictures and cut-away drawings to help me understand what you were explaining with the planetary gear sets. Really clever stuff, now I want one, just to try it. I actually want to buy a regular bicycle with the derailer system, and run that for a while, get used to how that feels, then change it over to one of these (the cheaper unit to start with) and compare. I am actually rev'd up having seen this stuff.. I am shopping for a bicycle, "Doctor's orders" to get my heart stronger, and upon being overwhelmed in the on-line sales dept area, I thought i best get educated upon what all is out there, and more over, WHAT NOT TO GET. I suppose that is trauma from when I was a child, and a lessor quality bike frame snapped at the neck area welds, at a fairly high speed, (for me that is) approx 10 to 15 mph, and was slightly down hill. The resulting injury's messed me up pretty good, in fact, the hospital assumed I was hit and run over by a car. broken clavicle, sternum departed from the whole right side of rib cage, right and left side broken ribs, neck and back issues, 300 plus stitches in my body, 14 months of physical therapy. So, I would like to by something a wee bit safer then a cheap Sear & Roebuck Chinese built hobby hazard. Thank you for putting the effort into this wonderfully informative video. If I am required to get a bicycle, might as well get something that intrigues me. Thank you.

Thanks a bunch. Every thing, Presentation, Information, Graphics & your experience were all award wining.

Amazingly informative. You answered every question I had about internal gears and using these with electric motors. You also answered the hill climbing chore I have with my 7-speed Brilliant L-Train.

Great video and I have to agree with everything you've said here. I live where it's pretty flat (Chicago, Illinois USA), and I've come to LOVE the Alfine 8 speed hubs. I used them on all of my bikes for a while, having the SG-S7001 model on a couple bikes, and an older (low normal shifting), SG-S501 which I used on a cargo bike paired with a Bafang BBSHD mid-drive motor. My greatest advice to anyone purchasing a newer Alfine 8 speed hub would be to open it up, pack it marine grade grease, and inject some Phil Wood Tenacious Oil to prevent water infiltration. I had one Alfine 8 pack it in in less than six months because water got inside and the resulting grit/wear turned the bearing races into a pitted (probably unrepairable), mess. I also own a Rohloff and NEVER thought I'd spend $1500 on a geared hub, but I was building a recumbent tandem trike which got the BBSHD motor from my old cargo bike. The Rohloff is the ONLY geared hub that can withstand the torque input of two riders and a mid-drive motor. That being said, it's a great piece of engineering but it's certainly WAY more noisy than my Alfine hubs. I've had derailleur drivetrains for over 35+ years of riding and when I tried out geared hubs a few years ago I decided I was NEVER going back. Lower maintenance, less noise, and far greater durability and no worries about bent derailleur hangers or destroyed derailleurs.

The efficiency comparison has to take into account the gear you’re in. In gear 11 on a Rohloff the hub is locked up and so there is no power lost in the hub- its as efficient as a fixie- as efficient as any bike drive train can be. There’s probably an equivalent for other hubs. When you set up your bike you ensure that the gearage inches- distance travelled per crank revolution, allows you to cruise in gear 11 most of the time.

Everything very well explained. Thank you so much for your time and work in order to make this video and illustrate me.

I love your videos. I'm new to internal hubs and I've learned so much from you. Thanks and all the best.

This is a great video and good coverage of the topic. I've been using the 11 speed on a long john cargo bike and over torquing it. I think it was 2014 or 2015 when I did it. And I used it a LOT (like 5-6 trips a day often) carrying kids and lots of overloading cargo for about 5 years. Since then I only use it sporadically. It has held up fine. I was always scared about breaking it with the torque because I did that with a 2009 Sturmey Archer 8 sp (broke it) But the shimano has held up much better. I was slipping gears at one point and was worried I had broke it but actually it was just worn chain and cogs, replaced that and fixed. I only did the oil once, because it is a bit intimidating when you haven't done a lot of IG overhauls and also when you need to use it daily. When i did I took it all apart convinced i would find wear from riding it a lot with dirty cables. It was actually pretty clean inside and still well lubricated. I chose to go cheap and use a car transmission oil which ended up being a lot thinner and leaking more, but it still has worked fine. Also i live in a very hilly place and I can't stand the high gear ratios that most people tolerate, I need to spin on hills and will always build bikes that way. For reference, my brand new schwalbe marathon tires were wearing out on the sidewalls from the heavy loads when my kids got big, in only 1-2months. I had to switch to marathon plus. But the hub never complained. So my advice is that I think it could be fine for most touring, maybe not around the globe but that is a special case. However, I do think your price comparison is a big unfair. I've never bought or sold a rohloff but I think they come fairly complete. In contrast Shimano makes their price seem artificially low by making the shifter and cog and cable parts all as extra costs. When I bought it it was about $>900CAD even though the hub by itself was $5~600. I don't think it's fair to compare if rohloff is including a shifter. I think the 2 cable setup of rohloff deserves some brief mention. Also, I like the many sweet pictures of English frames. I met that guy in 2009. Glad to see he is doing so well. Great bikes. Thanks for the video

Great video, one instantly gets the feeling that you really know what you're talking about. Honest pro's and con's for all 3 systems made me sure to stay with my bike as is. The 8 speed version is not sufficient, 11 gears with that ratio sound great but the failure chance frightens me and the roloff is clearly out of budget.

Fascinating, educational and detailed video. I knew nothing about these, having been a D- man for 50 yrs. Your teaching cadence and explanations are beyond good. I learnt a lot. Thank you very much.

The amount of quality info in this video just amazes me! Thank you for your contribution and over the top content!

Just some additional information: My wife rides an e-bike with a Rohloff hub combined with an electronic(!) shifter and a belt drive. Maybe you overlooked this combination. The torque of the motor is automatically reduced for a fraction of a second during shifting to enable smoother gear shifting (via CAN bus). After a stop (i.e. at a traffic light) the hub switches automatically to a certain gear. Overall she is very happy with this setup. Fun fact: Rohloff resides in the village where I was born…

We have three bikes with Alfine 8 Di2 with Steps 6000, for like 6-7 years. They are simply fantastic. The electric shifting is very fast, zero maintenance, very precise.

Unbelievable video. Never seen your channel before and internal hubs are not even something I'm looking in to. Yet felt compelled to comment and praise. Just a well thought out, logical and unbiased video. Chapeau.

Outstanding review!! One of the clearest and most data-filled reviews I've ever seen -- for any product!

You forgot to mention the fact that there are a lot more people using alfine than rohloff and that most people using alfine have no idea how to maintain or use a bicycle properly an that increases the quantity of people complaining about alfine failure

Such a great video! I now finally undestood what actually happens within such drivetrains. Thanks.

Thank you for a really clear intro to internal gear hubs and the relative benefts of the Shimano versus Rohlhof systems.

This is the best hub review video I've seen. The only remaining question I had, was input on the hub would compare to a gearbox, but it appears you linked to a video on exactly that. Excellent work.

Great breakdown of issues and advantages making for a very useful video. Thank you for illuminating a dark spot in my bike gear knowledge. Critical point about the hill climbing ratios of the Rohloff vs the Alfine hubs points out one is great for flat land riding with small hills and the other is hands down better for touring. Good Job!

Love your channel Sir. One thing you missed out...you can buy an Alfine chain tensioner (looks like a rear derailleur with a short cage and jockey wheels but with no mechanism) and then use a front derailleur and double chain ring...obviously giving you a massively increased gear range.

The video I was looking forward to! Many thanks for this in depth review!

You make the most thorough and informative videos, thank you very much.

We have made 35'000 km on a tandem with Nexus/Alfine 8. Now we are approaching 20'000km with a standard 3x9 XT drivetrain. Since the availability of the 3x9 groups is going to be an issue (or even a big problem for tandems with a left-hand side timing chain setup), we will probably consider an electronic Alfine 11 in a few years.

Great video! I'm a tall heavy rider who prefers low gears so I'd probably be pushing the limitations of the Shimano hubs. My next touring bicycle will be one with a Rohloff hub.

A pleasure to watch a video from such a knowledgeable person. Thanks!

Great video! Everything explained thoroughly, very nice work of a real enthusiast, thank you.

Ive got an 8 speed Shimano on my 20 year old Giant courier bike with never a service . Still changes like it always has, smoothly , its just a nexus too , I would like to put an 11 speed Alfina hub on my Trek Checkpoint gravel bike which really only gets paddock use not mud as I use it just to ride to the beach on quiet back roads and small trails

That was a great sumup of the Shimano Alfine range. I myself am a big fan of the 11 speed hub and I used it for some rather extensive touring (Japan and New zealand). I'm aware of the limited gear range issue, but I worked around it by using a double chainring in the front (32-44 I believe). That way I could stay on the big ring most of the time and not worry about torque at all. If the hills got steeper I'd use the small ring and just concentrate on smooth torque output and not any sprint attempts :) What wore down is the shifter from microshift.. This was the only way to combine dropbard with the alfine 11 back then. By now I switched to DI2.. this allows for the use of original shimano shifters and also hydraulic brakes, which is a whole different feeling :) One note.. when flying, always carry some spare oil as the pressure difference combined with the bike lying down usually makes the oil leak quite a bit.. Sadly the automatic shifting feature only works with the alfine 8 and 5 DI2, not the 11-speed.. I suspect this is due to the torque issues... Nevertheless.. great video!

Top presentation, and super service for the cycling community. Bravo!

What a great vid !!! Your explanations and examples are so lucid that you must have been a teacher at some time. For myself, I'm more familiar with the Nexus/Inter series of hubs, so it's nice to see info on the Alfine hubs and their specs. I'm also glad to see that Shimano is edging into the 21st century with the oil bath on the Alfine 11. Hopefully they will expand the oil bath technology into the 8 speed soon.

I had an Alfine 8 fail on me in Bolivia in 2016...switched back to derailleur gearing. the Alfine was super sensitive to cable adjustments to the point that i started cleaning and relubricating the cable every couple weeks of touring. I was running a lower than recommended gear ratio...but as you point out, you kind of have to in order to make the hub work for touring. I definitely would recommend the hub for a city bike or around town bike, especially as it seems both versions have gotten durability improvements since I had mine.

I’m glad to see the return of gearhubs. I had a 5-speed hub in the early 70’s.

Have never tried internal hubs and now am seriously thinking of getting one once I've decided to fully restore my old 3X 90's bike. Super informative! Tops!

I was riding Sturmey Archer hubs in the sixties. Easy changes and so smooth.

I have a shimano Alfine 8 speed on my commuterbike (that has to stand outside everyday), it came on a Decathlon Elops 920 speed, awesome value for money, I do wish it had a belt drive but I guess that would hike up the price a lot. I haven't had any problems with it and as it stands outside everyday it sees a lot of rain/cold/heat/... I clean it about once every 4-6 months.

I have a Nexus 8. It works pretty well, but the trigger shifters don't allow downshift-dumping as one can do with a derailleur drivetrain, and the twist-shifters that do allow downshift-dumping are known for being less accurate. Also, I wish it were fully sealed so oil wouldn't leak out past the hub bearings when the bike is laid-down on its side. I know Nexus hubs are supposed to be greased, not oiled, but lots of people run oil instead because it protects against rust and doesn't gum-up. Alfine hubs are fully sealed, but they aren't compatible with the roller brakes on my bike. As for the lack of ultra-low climbing gears, I fixed that by pairing it with a 2-speed crankset with 42t and 26t chainrings. Granny-gear on my bike is quite useful.

CYCLINGABOUT Thanks for your video! Your presentation was great!

Very thorough review. I appreciate your attention to detail and presentation

A really excellent and very helpful presentation - it's just a tad unfortunate that it leaves me, as a heavier rider with significant hills in every direction in an awkward position - but at least I'm no longer tempted by thoughts of cobbling together a super low range hybrid set up - and that's a load of tears saved! Thanks - specifically for laying out the rider weight issues so clearly. I doubt I would ever have gotten around to that.

I put a Shimano 7-speed hub on my wife's bike. It already had a double chainring on the crank, so we added a chain tensioner to pick up the slack in the smaller chainring. This gave us a decent gear range but maintained the simplicity of a hub in the back.

Using Alfine 8gear hub with di2 schifting in urban setting. Its simply the best schifting I experienced so far. Makes for a super comfortabele ride. Thanx for the video's!

Your videos are excellent. They give us all the information we'd want in a calm and efficient way, and are very good at answering the questions that people would redially ask. Well done. I've learned a lot.

I first saw the Shimano gear hubs in Japan in the late 90s and I've always been interested in building a touring bike around a geared hub. Ideally I'd combine the hub with the belt drivetrain.

I've had a Rohloff hub on my bikes for the past 20 years. Over 20 years that is only £50 a year (assuming you stick with the same hub - I did get the electronic shifting Rohloff and sold my old one with my last upgrade, so this is Rohloss #2 - or #3 if you count the one on my wife's bike). But £1000 is a hell of a steep ask upfront especially as the bikes that take them also end up being on the premium end, so maybe if I was coming at it green, Alfine would be my first choice. Now, if would feel like a step backward, so it's Rohloff for life, I guess.

My 8 speed Alfine is 17k kilometres old, had no servicing and presented zero issues. Im only on my second set of sprockets and 4th chain. I will neve use anything else. Excellent video.

Awesome. So glad I came across your channel. I want to get back into cycling and will be going through your content to do such.

Man I wish Shimano would come up with a touring hub. I really can't give up a single gear inch of my detailer Setup but i really want a belt drive too.

My Nexus 8 has held up pretty well for more than 30.000 km. The grease has been changed regularly. After some repairs over the last years it now seems to be on the way out. According to my mechanic the Nexus hubs are built for 20000 km and wear is visible on the teeth. The noise and vibrations have significantly increased over the last months. Overall, I still am pretty impressed.

I loved that you posted screenshots from Universal Cycles! I live about 3 miles from the main store.

Thank you for a very informative and in depth explanation of the two hubs.

This is a great an very informative video. I generally agree with everything you said. I have a number of bikes, all are used in urban environment. My favourite for a stroll is the one with a nexus 3 speed hub. (Except when I want to go fast...) The biggest issue with hubs is that is not so easy to inspect it. When you have a derailleur and cassette you can very easy check the condition

I had a single-speed Cannondale urban bike a few years ago, and added an Alfine hub purchased secondhand. A bit of fiddling with the eccentric bottom bracket and I was up and running. Terrific upgrade, although the reversed shifter action took a little getting used to.

So much good info and so entertaining. I was given a nexus 8 bike and was wondering about reliability. You've relieved my fears. Next it gets a belt!

I remember my mother's old 3 speed bike, I was amazed seeing how it was an internal hub gear system instead of the normal derailleur system you see on multi gear bikes. It lasted from the early 70s to 2003 when the first gear broke, but 2nd and 3rd gear still worked fine.

I've been using a Rohloff mated to a Bafang 1000W BBSHD since 2018. Gets the job done and hasn't failed me yet on my Catrike Expedition. However, I'd definitely now looking into an Alfine as a secondary IGH solution for my Dahon Speed D7. I think blowing $1800 on a hub is good enough for one time. The $200ish price tag on the Alfine seems better for a folding bike I bought used for $100.

Thanks for a very detailed review on these gear systems. I myself was looking for relatively cheap (400-600) eur bike options just do normal commuting (small shopping, relaxed city tours here and there, etc), and Shimano 8-gear system seems to be the way-to-go for my use case scenario and price range. The only thing Im still curious about is if theres any significant difference between the 8-g and 7-g models? Because 7-g seems to be quite popular with my local stores, it is definitely more common than 8-g Alfine 😅

So Glad I stopped by - What a Great Review of Tech rarely seen. While visiting in Sweden a few moons back in winter, I did a full reman on a 20" folding with 2 speed internal shift hub, where you back stepped the pedal to shift up or down. It actually worked quite well after I modified gearing for the steep hills required in 4-6" of snow. Oh yes, the winter tires took two weeks to get them. But they really worked well, where even the neighbor would shout out to try to get me to stop riding it in deep snow,, to offer me a ride in stead in 4 wheel drive. Quite a comical event where I always said no thanks. I was having too much fun darnit... But I have no memory who made that hub - it wouldn't surprise me if it was Rohloff. Cheers

I remember not long ago when the drop bar IG shifter option was virtually non existent. Someone made a Microshift based drop bar shifter for the 8 speed S/A hub that quickly went out of production, Shimano was smart to recognize the demand and designed drop bar compatibility into their newer designs. I still like the wider range S/A for urban bikes even though it's heavy, I wish they'd make their own drop bar shifter for it.

I did bicycle touring with a Shimano Nexus 8 Premium on a Cannondale Bad Boy. As you said, going uphill was very difficult. After 20 years of use, the frame cracked, but the hub still works...

This may be your best post. Really good stuff; thank you.

How I wish all KZfaq videos were like this one. Actual figures and facts rather conjecture and trends. Thank you Cyclingabout.

Shimano Alfine with belt drive and disc brakes = the perfect commuter bike. 11 years and going strong with the only maintenance was the first oil change (to clean metal splints etc) and a couple of tire changes.

I've used a Shimano Nexus 8 Red for 12 years. Great for urban riding. Did one tour, not it's strong point. Around 14,000 miles with out any issues.

Great video which contains a lot of information! I am riding both hubs and my experience is exactly the same!👍

Thank you for your insights. You are such an amazing asset to the biking community.

Great overview. I am a big fan of Rohloff and had 4 different bikes with a Rohloff hub, all sold to happy new customers. My new Cargo bike does not have a Rohloff hub but it will get one soon. Once you get used to the precise shifting of a Rohloff hub, there is no way back on a bike that is pushed to its limits like a heavy cargo bike. Still, I advised a friend not to switch to a Rohloff hub but instead get an Alfine 8. He would not take the expensive Rohloff on a trip to the shopping mall because he would be too afraid it got stolen. Especially in the flat land we live in (the Netherlands) the Alfine 8 is more than good enough for 99% of all bikes.

@4:02 Don't forget to mention that those 11 gears don't improve your "uphill battle." You either need reduction gears or simply a more highend gear hub for that like Pinion or Roloff Speedhub. Schlumpf Mountaindrive cost about 700 bucks in material only. @5:19 It is a smart thing to do to buy a complete wheel with those hubs. It is often cheaper. @9:38 ... but over 6 times the price and you cannot use reduction gears - at least officially. @14:32 Yes, but you could use reduction gears and even surpas the gear range of the Roloff. E. g. the Schlumpf Mountain drive adds additional reduced gears to the mix, even some that are too extreme to use.

Cool, thanks for that in-depth look at these hubs

This is really a high quality video with a lot of valuable information. As an owner of both systems (Rohloff and Shimano) in different bikes, I have still learned some interesting details. Thanks!

I did a conversion of my Rohloff hub bike from the chain that was installed on it in the factory to a belt. When doing this conversion it became increasingly clear to me why it's such a costly hub: it's pretty awesome quality parts that you're dealing with. Still though the Alfine hubs have also had my attention and I actually considered getting a bike with the 11 speed Alfine hub before going for the Rohloff option.

I've had Alfine 8 speed for around 8 years and I loved it! Especially low maintenance. I traveled around 11 000 km and the only thing that broke was the shifter... and a bttom bracket after 9k km. When I was selling it even chain was still within acceptable limits. Currently I have a gravel bike with SRAM Apex / Rival mix and I'm on third chain (probably should be my fourth one, as first change was postponed too much), third bottom bracket, second cassette and second derailleur (switched to Rival as my Apex became quite wobbly) - and I just traveled around 8 000 km on it. And the cleaning... eh. I jus love internal hubs. There were two things that were significantly worse with my internal hub - lack of low speed gears (as you mentioned) and high speeds efficiency. High speed difference is not much, but with Apex / Rival it seems I can ride around 2km/h faster than with Alfine - but only when it's clean... and I have to clean it every two weeks. I cleaned my Alfine perhaps 2 times a year.

Good video; lots of good information, well presented. Thank you.

Excellent video. Well researched, to the point and logical. Thank you!