mynameisnotdrew

Has anybody ridden with them?

How about laced to 700's for a (relatively) lightweight, speedy bike?

How do you like the shifters? What kind of pull is it? Do you need the specialized shifter?

How light can you go on them?

Anybody expect the price of the 14-speed hubs to drop below $1000 in the next year or so?

Do you need any special kind of frame/drop out?

Are they quick-release (I hope not)?

How much does a (say) tiagra drivetrain weigh compared to a 7 speed hub?

I hate derailleurs. But I'm not nearly cool enough OR stupid enough to ride a fixed gear around the city.

randya

I like my Shimano 7-speed hubs (I've got 3 of em). One's on an Electra commuter 7 cruiser w/ 700 x 40 tires, another on a Phat chopper 26 x 2, and the last on a Trek L400 commuter 700 x 35. It's very easy to change the range of the hub by changing gear ratios (e.g. by changing the chain ring size). I also have a Sram 7 speed hub on my wife's Kettler 700 x 40. I like the hubs, they are heavier than a derailleur setup but I really don't mind at all, the performance is good.

You could set also up a non-fixed single speed w/ a bmx-style coaster hub and hand brakes, or w/ a coaster brake hub.

MichaelW

Most hub gears use bolts, not QRs. You really need horizontal dropouts to adjust the chain tension. Its hard to buy a lightweight, sporty bike with hub gears; Trek used to make a good one. Sheldon Brown has a nifty example on his site and Ive seen quite a few experienced UK commuters use similar setups.

randya

Breezer. Bianchi Milano. Trek L-400. Specialized Globe (old model). Tons of Eurobikes.

DanO220

I first built my Surly CrossCheck with a Sram 7 speed hub. You do need at least semi-horizontal dropouts. Either that, or use a chain tensioner. But I suspect you're trying to get that traditional, single speed appearance. I picked the Sram over the Shimano because performance wise they were very similar (though I thought the Sram was a LITTLE smoother) but the Sram comes with a quick release click box in the rear which helps tremendously with flat tire repair.

I liked the hub for my 10 mile, relatively flat commute. But on longer, especially hillier rides you'll find that 1st and 2nd gears exhibit so much mechanical friction loss (in short, they feel really rough - like your grinding coffee.) that climbing anything other than gentle grades is not a pleasent proposition. In order to get away from the weight (about 3 lbs for the hub!) and a more efficient climbing bike I ended up swapping the rear for a single speed of all things. I hate derailleurs too. You can have a single speed that's not fixed. Mine is a freewhell mountain bike hub with replaceable cogs. 42x16. I used conventional front and rear brakes. But again, for cruising around town the Sram hub was nice. In fact, I miss the Sram's smooth top gears. I'm still learning to coast down hills. I noticed you're willing to recieve e-mails. I'm going to send you a couple of PDF documents. They're 'articles' about my bike. Just if you're really interested in my internal geared hub experience.

In the end I was also getting a bit intimidated at the prospect of eventually having to tear the thing apart for any maintenance. I downloaded tear-down and reassembly instructions from Sram.com and found them pretty intense... a few special Sram tools required. The hubs are pretty complicated on the inside. Most LBS won't touch them. I love that I can tear down, repair and maintain my single speed at home. Get a stand, some tools, and keep your bike simple. You'll save a lot of money and have a good time wrenching.

DanO

Rincewind8

I have a Van Dessel "Super Fly" with Shimano 7-speed hub. It is very nice for short rides. (the longest ride I did on it was about 60 miles and I was toast after that. Not so when I did the same ride on my roadbike)
The Super Fly itself is not lightweight and the rear wheel with the hub is quite heavy. It is a 700c. Mine uses a twist shifter and it works very well. You need some way to adjust chain tension so the dropouts have to be at least somewhat vertical. It bolts on.
Unfortunately I feel like it has quite a bit of frictional losses compared to my derailleur equipped roadbike.
If I recall it correctly "Bicycling Science" 3rd edition states friction losses for derailleur equipped bikes at about 5% and for internal gear hubs at about 10%. If you want the exact numbers from the book send me a PM.

To sum up, I like it for ease of use/maintenance, but I don't like it for weight and frictional losses.

randya

I think the SRAM hub is smoother than the Shimano, but I haven't personally ridden the SRAM hub all that much. To me, the Shimano hubs are a little rough in first and third gears, all the other speeds seem pretty smooth.

dieslcruisrhead

Back to the top for this older post.. I am looking at this and trying to figure out what to do to control the rear internal hub. I sort of want to go single speed but don't want to loose speed and have some slightly lower gears for going up hill. I bought an old 3.5lb s-works frame on ebay that I am pretty psyched about:
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=290151866646

I was also thinking of a mustache bar, something like one of these:
https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...Handlebar.aspx
https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...Alloy+Bar.aspx

Trying to figure out what I would need to control the rear shifter. All of the cruisers I have seen with this type of hub uses as grip shifter. Is it compatible with something more common and easier to use with this type of bar? Thanks, Andre

Butterthebean

Unfortunately, most internally geared hubs require a twist shifter. But Harris Cyclery sails a nifty little gadget that allows you to attach the shifter to the end of your bars.

https://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails...gId=39&id=1864

It is specifically intended for use with drop bars but would work with some other moustache bars, like the Nitto Moustache bar sold by Rivendell....but not the 2 bars you have picked at Jenson because they have larger diameters.

Grand Bois

The old seven speed Shimano hub used a thumb shifter.

Those bars won't work because they have smaller inside diameters.

sprockets

Any thoughts on the Sturmey Archer 8 speed internal hub shifter?

Dan Burkhart 

Read what I said about them here.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...82#post5684482

BTW, your signature reminds me of an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.