Originally Posted by
acidfast7
Can you guys comment on the maintenance factor as I'm very interested in an IGH.
Do you need to do an oil soak with the innards once per year?
Also, my bike lives at ambient temp (outside all day during the day at roughly and in an unheated basement at night ... so usually at 10-30F always) ... does the constant cold affect IGH performance?
I find that for 95% of the ride I use the 44T ring and shift once per commute to the 32T ring for a small hill, so I think the gearing range would be OK?
Some IGHs use oil for lubricant. The Shimano Alfine 8 speed I have unfortunately uses grease but many people give them an oil bath about once a year. Shimano even sells a kit for that purpose. There are folks on this forum who live in the same area I do and don't notice any performance drop in cold weather. I do. Could be that it's in my head, however, there is at least one popular bike shop in town that gives the Nexi and Alfines oil baths as part of their regular overhaul and the reason is cold weather performance.
In the temp range you've listed it's probably not a big deal. You might notice it in the low teens. I really don't unless it's single digits or colder.