Originally Posted by
kickstart
My Gazelle has a standard nexus 8, and my Robin Hood has a red band nexus 8, the only noticeable difference is the red band shifts better under load.
I replaced the derailleurs with a 7 speed Shimano on a steel Ross Mt Whitney. The hub is heavier than the freewheel hub, but I also removed 2 derailleurs, 2 chairings, 5 sprockets, a shifter, cable, and about 20 chain links, so overall the gain in weight is about equal to a bottle of water, and I'm not sensitive enough that feel that.
It depends on the model and year of red band vs standard Nexus. When I was looking at them the red band had 3 roller clutches compared to the standard Nexus which had 1. The standard Nexus hub used pawls and they'd click when coasting just like a cassette hub. The Alfines and Red Bands don't. They coast silently.
As far as drivetrain weight difference goes my first conversion came out to about a pound heavier with the IGH. I was starting with relatively light components though and that makes a difference. It would seem like you're getting rid of so much stuff that it would compensate for the beefier hub but it depends. For example, I had campy brifters which were replaced with tektro brake levers and a Jtek shifter. Getting rid of the extra shifter didn't save much if anything in my case because the Campys were pretty light.