Hub v. derailleur gears

Naqerj wrote:

I had a bike with a Shimano 7-speed ... a Dawes or some sort ... I
didn't find the range too narrow but I did find the gearing too low:
spinning out at 20mph and easily lifting the front wheel when starting
off in bottom gear (although that trait was aggravated by the frame
design placing the CofG further back than normal). In the end I rebuilt
it using a cheap second-hand MTB frame and the chainset off a Raleigh
roadster (so I was using 1/8" chain - Sturmey sprockets fit the Shimano
hub). That upped the gearing and made the whole range usable: did the
Dun Run on it a few years ago.

Seems a bit drastic using a whole new frame etc. Why not just put
a bigger chainwheel and/or smaller sprocket on the original?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On 2009-11-05, Alpinehorn wrote:
Hi group,

I am looking to buy a new commuter bike and am thinking of going for hub
gears instead of derailleur, because of the low maintenance and the way they
are protected against crud.

Read http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/hubgear/mangled.html first.

Craig Wallace wrote:
On 05/11/2009 23:35, Alpinehorn wrote:
Hi group,

I am looking to buy a new commuter bike and am thinking of going for hub
gears instead of derailleur, because of the low maintenance and the
way they
are protected against crud.

I will buy the bike through the Cycleto Work scheme which has a limit of
£1000, so Rholoff is out of the question - it will have to be Shimano
Alfine.

I am told that one problem with these hub gears is that they are too
narrow
in range, so that one both spins out at the fast end, and runs out of
gears
on the hills.

Does anyone have any views/experience of this?

Also, does anyone have a table on ratios of hub gears v. derailleurs?

I think this website is rather good for details of hub gears:
http://hubstripping.wordpress.com/in...ar-hub-review/
It has graphs of the gear ratios of most of the available hubs.

Note there's the SRAM iMotion 9, which has a wider range than the
Alfine, though its a bit more expensive.

I'd like a go on one of those. The Alfine shifts sublimely, but an
extra gear is always useful.

Peter Clinch wrote:
Naqerj wrote:

I had a bike with a Shimano 7-speed ... a Dawes or some sort ... I
didn't find the range too narrow but I did find the gearing too low:
spinning out at 20mph and easily lifting the front wheel when starting
off in bottom gear (although that trait was aggravated by the frame
design placing the CofG further back than normal). In the end I
rebuilt it using a cheap second-hand MTB frame and the chainset off a
Raleigh roadster (so I was using 1/8" chain - Sturmey sprockets fit
the Shimano hub). That upped the gearing and made the whole range
usable: did the Dun Run on it a few years ago.

Seems a bit drastic using a whole new frame etc. Why not just put a
bigger chainwheel and/or smaller sprocket on the original?

It was the other way round really, when I decided to rebuild it, I took
that opportunity to sort the gearing out. There were other things I
didn't like about the bike too - like the aforementioned CofG being so
far back. It was my commuting bike, so, when I retired, a complete
rebuild seemed the best way of continuing to make use of its best
bits... come to think of it, the hub gear was the only original bit to
survive ... I retained the bars, saddle, pedals and hub dynamo, but they
were all bits I'd fitted when I was commuting with it. The final spur
towards the rebuild was when the rear rim started to crack. I bought
the MTB (rigid steel frame, rigid forks but a good set of alloy rims) at
a Gaze's auction for about a quarter of what a new rim would have cost.
The chainset and sprocket came from the big box of bits in the cellar.
I can't remember where the spokes came from - perhaps I reused the
ones from the MTB wheels and just shortened them a bit. I think a tin
of paint and a chain were the only new bits I had to buy.

--
Andrew

On 6 Nov, 11:07, "Trevor A Panther"
It has completed a short 12000 miles and the hub gear makes it, IMO, *an
ideal all rounder bike. On tour the *hub gear is virtually maintenance free
in comparison with the derailleur set up, which needs daily cleaning and
attention.

I know that touring is different to commuting, but I'm always a bit
nonplussed when folks talk about how hub gears require so much less
maintenance than derailleurs. Commuting 100 miles a week all year
round I'm up and down the gears all the time and I reckon my der only
needs a quick tweak to the cable tension about once a year and is
still fine after 20K miles (OK I have replaced the jockey wheels
once).

On Mon, 9 Nov 2009 08:03:54 -0800 (PST)
POHB wrote:

On 6 Nov, 11:07, "Trevor A Panther"
It has completed a short 12000 miles and the hub gear makes it,
IMO, *an ideal all rounder bike. On tour the *hub gear is virtually
maintenance free in comparison with the derailleur set up, which
needs daily cleaning and attention.

I know that touring is different to commuting, but I'm always a bit
nonplussed when folks talk about how hub gears require so much less
maintenance than derailleurs. Commuting 100 miles a week all year
round I'm up and down the gears all the time and I reckon my der only
needs a quick tweak to the cable tension about once a year and is
still fine after 20K miles (OK I have replaced the jockey wheels
once).

Chains can be made to last a lot longer with hub gears, and bikes kept
cleaner.

POHB wrote:
I know that touring is different to commuting, but I'm always a bit
nonplussed when folks talk about how hub gears require so much less
maintenance than derailleurs. Commuting 100 miles a week all year
round I'm up and down the gears all the time and I reckon my der only
needs a quick tweak to the cable tension about once a year and is
still fine after 20K miles (OK I have replaced the jockey wheels
once).

Do you ever lubricate the derailler? Clean the cluster? Maybe you're
just lucky but my experience of deraillers is they get clagged up with
dust & grime pretty quickly. Nothing you can do or say will persuade me
to part with my hub gear! :-)

"Jim A" wrote in message
...
POHB wrote:
I know that touring is different to commuting, but I'm always a bit
nonplussed when folks talk about how hub gears require so much less
maintenance than derailleurs. Commuting 100 miles a week all year
round I'm up and down the gears all the time and I reckon my der only
needs a quick tweak to the cable tension about once a year and is
still fine after 20K miles (OK I have replaced the jockey wheels
once).

Do you ever lubricate the derailler? Clean the cluster? Maybe you're
just lucky but my experience of deraillers is they get clagged up with
dust & grime pretty quickly. Nothing you can do or say will persuade me
to part with my hub gear! :-)

I don't clean the cluster and only rarely lubricate the derailleur. Yes, it
gets mucky back there, but that doesn't appear to actually be a problem.

On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:05:43 -0600, Ben C wrote:
On 2009-11-05, Alpinehorn wrote:

I am looking to buy a new commuter bike and am thinking of going
for hub gears instead of derailleur, because of the low
maintenance and the way they are protected against crud.

Read http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/hubgear/mangled.html first.

But bear in mind that Shimano have significantly changed the sealing
on current models (as discussed alongside the first two pictures on
http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/hubgear/index.html ).

I must get round to opening up the newer one and see how it is fairing
inside there...

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

On 6 Nov, 11:07, "Trevor A Panther"
It has completed a short 12000 miles and the hub gear makes it, IMO, an
ideal all rounder bike. On tour the hub gear is virtually maintenance free
in comparison with the derailleur set up, which needs daily cleaning and
attention.

I know that touring is different to commuting, but I'm always a bit
nonplussed when folks talk about how hub gears require so much less
maintenance than derailleurs. Commuting 100 miles a week all year
round I'm up and down the gears all the time and I reckon my der only
needs a quick tweak to the cable tension about once a year and is
still fine after 20K miles (OK I have replaced the jockey wheels
once).

When touring daily ( on a deraileur)and covering about 80 kms a day under
full load over various surfaces and in wildly differng conditions, it is
hardly amazing that there is a load of crud which collects on chains and
cassettes. I certainly did at least a superficial cleaning evey evening
beforeI went off for a shower.

However, let me quote as an example one day on my tour to Berlin.

"..... then stayed on the road again to Rühstädt where I had a lovely cold
radler and realised that I was covered in dirt and dust from the road and
cross winds. I went on and finally arrived at "Dörpkrog am Deich" and I was
welcomed with a free beer before being shown round. No charge for the night
...."

I was in fact coverd with a thick layer that almost peeled of my legs and
arms. My velo was also similarly covered with the whole frame covered in a
layer of grey brown dust. If I had been riding derailleur geared bike the
rear cassette and jockey wheels would have been totally clogged up. In the
event I just chucked a couple of buckets of water over the bike and went on
the next day. In a 5 week tour I only cleaned the chain once and reoiled
it -- mainly because I was staying with friends in Berlin. That was the sum
total of my maintence on the whole trip. In full loaded touring lasting
several weeks with a derailler system I would clean the cassette and jockey
wheels every day to ensure smooth riding anf pedalling!

I have just done my prewinter service and will not now do any more until
just before I set off on my 2010 tour. It will be washed down a couple of
times too!



--
From
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
"POHB" wrote in message
...