bbunk

I have been looking at an older Scott mtn. bike that would be easy to upgrade to a Nexus Inetr-8 hub. I have never done this before and the bike shops think I am crazy and try to talk me out of using the Nexus hub, must have a derailer fetish.

I want to take the triple off the front and replace it with a single. Take the derailer off and have the wheels rebuilt with a Nexus hub. Probably change the handlebars but that is the easy part.

Has anyone done this before? If you have anything to watch out for or that you might have done differently?

alanbikehouston

The rear hub spacing for a Nexus hub is different than on a bike that uses a cassette hub. Take a ruler to a bike shop, and measure the spacing on a bike that already has a Nexus hub and compare that with the spacing on your bike.

The 8 speed Nexus hub is very, very expensive. You might be able to buy a used bike with that hub for less than the retail price of the hub alone.

Retro Grouch 

What do the rear dropouts look like?

Unless you have a derailleur or a similar device to take up the chain slack, you need horizontal dropouts so that you can adjust the chain tension.

bbunk

It does have the horizontal dropouts so I don't need a chain tensioner.

Allen

$230 is what a Nexus 8 speed hub retails.

Allen

I'm riding a Salsa La Raza with an internal hub drive train as my daily commuter and love it.
It has vertical dropouts and I use a kind of chain tensioner to take up the slack.



And I'm planning on adding a Sturmey-Archer onto an old Gary Fisher frame and using it as a winter/beater.

rykoala

Not really. If you want "very, very expensive" try on a Rohloff Speedhub. $1k for the hub, plus the shifters and getting it built into a wheel. It is easily a $1400 proposition for the setup.

bbunk

I looked a prices for fixed gear hubs and the prices went up to $245, so a good hub does not come cheap it seems. Do you think it is feasible to do the upgrades for $350?

Allen

$170 for a Sturmey-Archer 8 speed. They are good hubs
$75 for the wheel build. (A guess at spokes and LBS labor)
$15 for spacers when you take the triple off and use only one front ring.
$45 for a new handlebar. (no idea what you want for a bar, just guessing at a price)
-----
$305 total for a Sturmey-Archer 8
$365 total for a Nexus 8

There are some big guesses in price there but yeah, you can pull it off for about what you want to spend.

bbunk

I have never looked at te Sturmey-Archer hubs before. I will have to do some more research. Thanks

Allen

The newer ones, now made in Taiwan are the better of the Sturmey-Archers. The quality has markedly improved since they switched factories.

folder fanatic

"I have been looking at an older Scott mtn. bike that would be easy to upgrade to a Nexus Inetr-8 hub. I have never done this before and the bike shops think I am crazy and try to talk me out of using the Nexus hub, must have a derailer fetish.

I want to take the triple off the front and replace it with a single. Take the derailer off and have the wheels rebuilt with a Nexus hub. Probably change the handlebars but that is the easy part.

Has anyone done this before? If you have anything to watch out for or that you might have done differently?" -bbunk

I think that your shop is being more honest with you than the shop that did my rather simple single speed to Sturmey-Archer AW three speed hub conversion. Most shops in North America are not familiar with internal hub gears of any make. While my shop did a fair job with converting my steel frame single speed Dahon (with horizontal dropouts) to using a Sturmey-Archer AW three speed hub, they did not use the proper shifter with it. I found out years later when the original shop went out of business and I went to another shop that finally placed a proper S-A part on the handlebars. So if they are too keen about conversion-providing your bike is made of steel and has horizontal dropouts-then do careful research and find a shop that is comfortable with working with them. You might have to go some distance to get to the shop-I have gone 90 miles to a Brompton dealer at one time-but it would be well worth it for a good functional bike. Not one that is not up to par and the money you put into it's conversion.

For more info see my web sites for photos (on Flickr) and text information (on Geocites).

Dead Extra #2

The dropout spacing needed for a nexus hub is 132mm. The dropout spacing on mountain bikes is (according to Sheldon Brown) 130mm for older 7 speed bikes and 135 for newer 7, 8 and 9 speeds. If the frame is steel and you have the 130mm I'm sure you could flex the rear the needed 1mm on each side or use spacers for a 135 mm bike.

I put a nexus 8 on a Surly KM and it was easy to set up. The hub comes with instructions and Sheldon has info on his site as well https://www.sheldonbrown.com/nexus-mech.html.

The only thing I don't like is the lever for the roller brake that attaches to the frame. It makes it kind of a pain to change a flat. Sturmey makes a gear hub with a disk brake, I would use that one if I did it again, but your bike is probably not set up for a disk brake anyway.

bbunk

I have been doing some more looking around and am somewhat intrigued by the SRAM I-motion 9 hub. It is a 9 gear internal geared hub, although a freewheel version has not been released yet. Has anyone used a SRAM internal geared hub? Are the comparable to the Nexus? Thanks for all the replies, it has given me alot to think about but all good information.

Retro Grouch 

Why I wouldn't even worry about it. 2 or 3mm isn't very much. Just stick the hub between the dropouts and it'll be fine. I suspect they made it 132mm so it'd fit either without modification.

Dead Extra #2

I suspect you are right RG. I just put that in for the benefit of the extremely anal.

I-Like-To-Bike

Yes. I like hub mechanism better on my 4 bikes with Sachs/SRAM 7 speeds than the one Nexus 7 speed hub bike I own. I like the Sachs Torpedo 3 Speed at least as well as the several S-A three speeds I've owned in the past. I preferred the S-A five speed I used to have over the Sachs 5 speed I currently have. All hubs except the S-A 5 speed are with coaster brake.

gear

I put a Sturmey Archer 8 (with a chain tensioner) in a Montigue frame. Works great.

unkchunk

"Kind of"? It's impossible. After a few hours of trying to figure how to disconnect the roller brake indoors with good light, I figured I could never do it outside in the dark. Had the LBS remove it.

If you have horizontal dropouts and the spacing is okay, I can't think of any other problems. My LBS was a little reluctant at first, cause I think I'm the only one who had got one there ever. But a big deposit changed all that. The mechanics were interested in being able to do something different, but yeah, I think there is a derailer fetish out there. I've had my Nexus 8 for about a year now and am pleased.

dobber

They did that so it could fit in frames with either 130 or 135mm spacing.

Crafty little bastards.

reverborama

I built a road bike with the Nexus-8 and it's my favorite bike. It was a very easy conversion. It wasn't the cheapest thing I could have done but it was certainly the most satisfying.
https://www.salt2salt.com/waitzpix/al...s/RedFuji1.JPG