Originally Posted by
bargainguy
On hub efficiency, there was an article in A to B magazine awhile back that measured the efficiency of several hubs. I can't find the article online, but I remember being shocked that typical hub efficiency was around 85% compared to a derailleur system.
There were differences among hubs, but even the best hubs didn't come close to derailleurs. My takeaway is that there is a price to pay for internally geared hubs, and efficiency is one of them. No free lunch, unfortunately.
Here's a much more indepth testing/study...
http://www.ihpva.org/HParchive/PDF/hp52-2001.pdf .. if one is to take the data presented, it is clear that some hubs are very efficient .. exceeding some derailleur drive trains .. in practice, I have found the Sachs 2 speed, 3 speed and 5speed hubs to be very efficient ..