(Cross posting from Winter Cycling since there's no traffic there right now...)

The perennial question. A drivetrain for winter, particularly the St. Paul winter.

So last winter I ran an Alfine 8. It was...ok. I have had reliability issues with it that are a whole different thread, and have sunk more money into making it work than I care to countenance. But, the issues with it for winter are:

1. The cassette joint can still get gunked up. And once it or its cable gets winter crusted, it's not going to do much for you.

2. God help you if you have to change a flat. It's bad enough in a climate controlled room. But I had to do it in the cold, on the road, and it is the worst thing to ever do on a bike when you are at 5deg F, and the mechanism is grunged up with slush and ice and salt, and your fingers feel like they are shredding on the parts. God help you if you are ever in this situation.

3. If you ever actually talk to someone at Shimano for warranty support (again, reliability issues), the list of things they will tell you the hub is NOT for is staggering. Trails? No. Winter/cold? Big no. Towing a trailer? No. Standing on the pedals for a big effort? No. In fact, they were pretty clear with me that the hub is not for anything more than soft-pedaling in fair weather on bike paths. So, I figure when it breaks from doing real riding, I won't replace it.

I would go single speed. However...

My stable has limited slots in it. One slot is occupied by my "utility" bike, which does duty as the winter bike. It also pulls the kids in the trailer, and I am NOT going to pull their chubby toddler behinds out of Hidden Falls park on a single speed. I need some gears. According to Shimano my Alfine gears will soon be toast from pulling those kids, but until life-after-Alfine, there it is.

So I really think I want to go back to a derailer, and a triple crank. How bad is it in the ice and snow, really? Are there tricks to keep the mech from turning into a dangling hunk of rust? Tricks to keeping things shifting? And honestly, if a couple of cogs skip a lot, it will still be doing as well as my Alfine.