Originally Posted by
NEXUS
It is not that you can use a smaller chain ring, it is that you have no choice but to with this poorly designed hub that will only take an 23 and 25T cog. With other IGHs you are free to play with many combos of cog and CR.
If you live in a hilly area then you would especially want the low gears not to have big jumps. Ideally, you would want the gears to be spaced out evenly throughout and direct drive to be in the middle or upper middle. A 30% jump from 1st to 2nd and 7th to 8th is terrible since it wouldn't allow you to set up a good gear range on your bike. For example if you wanted to set up a bike for a hilly area you would choose a cog and CR combo that would give you around 80 odd gear inches for the top gear and 20 odd at the bottom and on a full sized bike that would be impossible to do with this hub unless you get a cog and CR that have about the same amount of teeth. And if you live in a hilly area than this is the worst hub since you have to stop pedaling to shift while going up hill and down. I know, I live in a hilly area.
Shifting is not better than a dérailleur since you with a dérailleur you can and actually can only shift while pedaling.
You get what you pay for. There is a reason why the SA XRF8 is much less expensive than other 8 (and 7) speed IGHs. If they were good then you would see them everywhere but instead of just on less expensive bike.
If you're happy with it than good for you. You are probably on a folder I assume.
The gearing actually makes a fair amount of sense. The middle 6 gears are spaced closely together, 1st is bailout for climbing, and as it is direct drive, it is most efficient. 8th is for downhills or tailwinds.
If the XRK8W corrects the prior hub's issues with adjustment sensitivity, seals, and robustness, it should be an overall winner.
And again, as mentioned earlier, a 19t sprocket is also available, but not in a dished variant.
If the new (W) version is as good as it needs to be, coupled with 30t cranksets for 700c and 33t cranksets for 26" wheels, it could be a decent hub with the 25t sprocket.
BTW, it looks like the new (W) series is about 30% more expensive, so some of the cost advantage is going away.