Originally Posted by
dynaryder
Shimano's other hubs suck;they use a nutted cable that has to be routed around the hub and slid into a slot. Depending on your setup,this can be a real PITA. It gets worse if you use the integrated roller brake.
i don't have experience with other IGH's, but i have an Alfine 8 w/ disc brake on one of my bikes and i've never found the removal/reinsertion of the nutted shift cable to be anything close to a PITA. it really doesn't take much mechanical aptitude to accomplish. if you can remove a rear wheel from a derailleur bike, you should be able to easily remove and reinsert the rear wheel on my IGH bike with 2 necessary tools (15mm wrench and small hex wrench) and a practice run or two to familiarize yourself with the process.
i know rear wheel removal seems to be a big intimidating factor for a lot of folks who are only used to quick-release derailleur bikes, but for many IGH set-ups it's honestly only a couple extra steps that add maybe minute or so to the process.