3bikes

I usually post on Commuter and Road Bike threads:

Bike is a Specialized Globe City 6 IG8 (2008) -- 4000+ miles old, used for commuting 18 miles per day

Problems really developed from a bungie-cord accident. (trunk bag bungie with s-hook wrapped around my drive gear and popped it loose, the hub didn't spin well after that). Even though I've taken the wheel to a Specialized dealer twice, it never really recovered. It's like having a rear brake applied constantly. The interesting thing is how the resistance was uneven, on a sort of two second peak and valley. Sometimes it was better, other times it became worse. Add to that the factory Alex Rim busted at three spoke holes, the Salsa rim that replaced it is heavy and the hub resistance became worse. Just a series of bad breaks (pun intended).

I've ordered a brand new wheel from Harris Cycles of Mass. on line. They have what looks to be a perfect replacement. An Alfine (higher grade) eight speed hub, laced into a Sun rim. A reasonable $320 price. The Alfine will work with my Nexus 8 shifter. I'm looking forward to it. My Specialized dealer does not carry a replacement hub... that's right, they sell it, but it can't be replaced. The Nexus 32 hole hub seems to be only available on a new bike (?!!).

I posted this, just to warn others of the difficulty in dealing with a damaged 8 speed hub. If I did it over (that being stupid enough to not pay attention to my bungie cords), I would have replaced the wheel from the get-go. It would have been more cost effective and less frustrating.

If there is a company or person in the Los Angeles area that can take actually repair one of these complicated 8 speed hubs, it would be a good thing for me to have a emergency rear wheel in the garage. The cost might prevent me doing it though.

Thanks for listening.... any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

-3bikes

tatfiend 

Not in the LA area but I believe that Harris works on geared hubs. Sounds to me like very likely your problem is related to a slightly bent axle with your description of the hub rotation being tight in one area. The parts lists for most Shimano hubs do list a new complete internal assembly as available for the hub though not sure of actual availability. If it is a bent axle replacement of the whole guts will be needed I suspect.

Aaron's Bicycles in Seattle also lists IGH repairs as available but their fixed price policy and price listed seems very high to me for many hubs. Costs more than the list price of many hubs.

https://www.rideyourbike.com/internalgears.html

interested

In the country I live in, IGH's are very common, but IMHO 5-8 gear IGH's are rarely repaired since it isn't a cost effective thing to do (at least in high cost, high income areas). Most LBS's prefer to sell an entirely new wheel to the costumer, since it is the safest, fastest and easiest thing to do and probably the option that means the least "downtime" for the costumer.
On Shimano Nexus IGH's the entire gear system can be exchanged as one unit (sold as spare part), but this isn't that much cheaper to do than exchanging the entire wheel.
Exchanging the entire gear section doesn't seem that complicated (but requires some proprietary Shimano tools), so cannibalizing another identical hub is probably the way to go for the DIY mechanic.

So basically 7-8 gears IGH's are "use-and-throw-away-when-broken" items. However, when used as intended, and regular serviced, IGH's are fairly reliable like most other modern bicycle parts.

--
Regards