slcbob

It's snowing here so I've been indulging my obsessive-compulsive tendencies and a good snort of scotch.

It does appear that a few years ago when the then-current Nexus Red Band was the SG-8R25, the Alfine that came out was an upgrade to the gizzards in addition to the shell, disc, etc. However, as the various models have boot-strapped their ways up through successive years, more of the essential guts came in line so that the SG-8R35 Red Band and the SG-S500 share an awful lot internally, including the key clutch & drive bits being identical. Some differences remain with regard to seals (different, incompatible parts, not necessarily better or worse).

I can't find the parts docs for the SG-8R36 on Shimano's tech docs, and the SG-S501 doesn't specify its compatibility to anything other than the S-500, so end of story now. Plus my medication is kicking in and I'm off to stain a new door. But before I go, I bow to thee Mr. IGH. Hasta....

Mr IGH

Mr IGH is here for all your IGH needs (except old SA 3-speeds, gotta be smart to help out on those!).

jputnam

I haven't had any trouble with flats using the internal brake. I just patch the tube without removing the wheel from the bike. I'm not racing, so I don't really mind taking a minute longer to patch the tube instead of sticking in a new one.

closetbiker

Just this past summer I had a Shimano 8 wheel replace my old wheel on a road bike.

The gearing range is no problem, it's about the same as a regular cogset, it just has a few wider gaps between some gears. I wondered what size chainring to use, but I went with the shops recommendation (even though I wasn't sure it was right) and it worked out.

My more pressing concern with the hub is how it will handle all the wet weather I'm riding it in. I've learned since I bought this hub that the older Nexus 8's didn't seal out the moisture so well and I'm pretty sure that's what I have. So far, it seems to be doing OK, but I've only put about 1200 rainy kms on it.

Can anyone tell if the hub I have, is an old one that doesn't seal out the rain very well?

Mr IGH

There should be a model number on the hub shell nearby the Nexus logo, something like 8R20, 8R25, 8R35, 8R36.

closetbiker

Yes. It's 8R20. That seems like it's an early (and leaky?) version.

Mr IGH

Yes, but easily maintained. The German commuters would pull the internals once a year after the winter
season and get plenty of service life. Are you reasonable DIY able? (replace garbage disposal, simple plumbing, tune up your car?)
If you are, then you can easily service your hub with less than $20 in tools.

https://bike.shimano.com/publish/cont...20Assembly.pdf
then oil bath, no need for the $90/liter Shimano stuff:

https://bike.shimano.com/publish/cont...ance%20Oil.pdf

I like Mobil 1 ATF:

closetbiker

Yeah, I'm a reasonably DIYer. Thanks. I'll give it a go

zoodude

i have been running the nexus 8 for three months now with very bad weather. Pulled it open last weekend at the shop and found almost no grit. It looked brand new. Not bad for using it almost daily in all types of rain, snow, and salty roads. As for climbing, I have two very large and lengthy hills to hit up on my commute. Being 200 lbs with full double panniers, i have yet to use the first gear. Do almost all my climbing in third. I have a 44 chain ring and a 22 cog.

BA Commuter

I have a IGH - Nexus 8. I haven't had any issues with the gearing and agree that it will get you up almost any hill you can find.

I climb some steep hills on my daily commute and my motor barely breaks a sweat! I just take a big swig of JD and water and climb to the top...

3bikes

Just a suggestion from someone who purchased a Specialized Globe IG8 with Nexus 8 speed hub. I had issues with shifting over a long time. (17 mile round trip commute) Skipping in 4th and 3rd gears. Annoyances for the most part, but then I finally messed up the hub and wheel with a bungie-cord/steel S-hook accident. Even though I had it looked at by mechanics, it was never the same. I purchased a replacement wheel from Harris Cyclery. An Alfine 8 speed hub laced into a Sun rim. It was like riding a new bike. I haven't had shifting problems and friction/resistance is noticeably lower. I wish my bike had come with Alfine to start with. Just my experience. Hope you find the hub that works for your situation.

-3bikes

slcbob

The only time I've had that skipping problem was due to cable stretch. With a VERY simple adjustment to align those little yellow marks, all problems went away.

I think I've got about 2500 all-weather miles on mine without any other woes, though my spider senses are telling me I am in need of some work. I am going to go the Mobil 1 route c/o Mr. IGH soon.

I can imagine a bungee wrap up damaging the cassette joint and/or the cable to the point where shifting is further impaired, even without an obvious and epic multimedia disaster of wheel destruction. As far as the internals, I'd assume long term skipping would be more damaging than one nice mangling, though I'm just guessing there.

bobfb7

I just purchased a SG-8R36 V-brake Premium hub. *Very* smooth riding. I have an ~200' very steep hill at the end of my commute (on a bike with a heavy overall weight). 1st speed on this is like a hot knife into butter (i.e., very nice). However, I find that when pedaling on a flat slope, that I end up pedaling more rapidly than I want (in 8th gear), and seemingly more than in 5th gear in my previous SRAM P5 hub, which I see has a 5th gear ratio of 1.58 or 1.5 (Im not sure exactly which). The current 8's 8th gear ratio is 1.615, so I would have expected slightly slower pedaling on the flat for the same cruising speed than 5th gear on the SRAM P5, not more rapid. It's also a problem (although for only about 2% of my riding) when I'm going down a 30mph road with no shoulder, and am trying to maintain 27+ mph to not cause the vehicle behind me to get mad and drive too close. I can't pedal fast enough to provide forward momentum. Somewhat worse than on my previous P5. My shop just told me they can put a smaller gear on the outside to give me better flat speeds. We'll see.

xenologer

My experience with these is not from riding one, but from fixing flats on customer's bikes that roll into shop.

observations:
If you get the variants with internal/roller/drum brake, tip your mechanic well; these are a major pain to remove from the bike in order to fix a flat.

In all cases, the customer has neglected to reposition the axle/retension the chain as it wears; resulting in too much slack.(in some cases dropped chains) IGH does not equal no maintenance. A derailer system automatically takes up chain stretch until it is time to replace chain; IGH does not, and requires periodic readjustment of the axle and thus the rim brakes' alignment... I will suggest, that from a maintenance persepective, derailers are less work.

irwin7638

Here is the chronicle of the unfortunate experience I have had with a Nexus hub.
To be fair, my son has one also and his has shown no sign of failure.

Marc