motorapido

Idiot me -- I lost one of the two non-turn washers I need for my Alfine 11 internal gear hub. Can I use the hub for a couple days with just one non-turn washer installed while I wait for a rush shipment to arrive if I do not hammer out a lot of watts and take it easy? And if so, does it matter which washer? I have the right drive-side washer and am waiting for the non-drive-side washer.

Andrew R Stewart 

Worst case will be either the lone reaction washer will break off it's tab or that tab will gauge the drop out. Get both sides of tabbed washers. Andy.

Andrew R Stewart 

Forgot to add. Find which gear is the 1:1 direct one and only use it. This gear has no reaction forces acting on the axle. Andy

FBinNY 

Ride that way as much as you want, just don't climb steep hills, or sprint. 90% of riding is done at well less than 1/2 our peak strength, so if you stay within that band, the one washer is plenty.

dsbrantjr

Consider the damage which could be caused if the single washer gives way. Then you will have at least a broken washer to replace, plus whatever damage to the shifter, cable, dropouts, etc. which occurs when the hub shell rotates out of control. I wouldn't do it, myself.

fietsbob

You got the replacement on the way yet? you could damage the Frame on one dropout.. doing 200% of the work.

Dan Burkhart 

Every Sachs/Sram S7 I ever worked with only had one on the non drive side. Rohloff uses one side only for anti rotation bracing. I'm thinking both sides is belt and suspenders.

FBinNY 

We don't know if the washers and tabs from the various makers are built to the same strength, but even so I'm with you.

Figure that 2 washers are adequate for the heaviest rated rider, with the lowest allowable gear combination, climbing the steepest hill, which is what the maker has to consider in designing the part. That means that an average rider taking it easy, would be operating well below half that much torque, and has plenty of margin with a single washer.

A bit of common sense says that the OP is fine, subject to some self imposed limitations.

Some people think that bicyclists operate at the brink of disaster and ANY deviation from the norm will push them over. The reality is that there's massive amounts of fudge room. This isn't an invitation to go crazy, but with a bit of common sense, we can get by on less than perfect for a while.

mconlonx

It's pretty amazing what you can get away with regarding shade-tree mechanics where cycling is concerned, but the whole "bit of common sense" thing is asking too much of the general public a lot of the time...

FBinNY 

Not at all. Makers of all but the most high end bikes, don't expect much from the average user, and design and build accordingly. The typical bike is built with margins that allow for some pretty ham fisted chestnut tree mechanics. If this weren't true, the tiny numbers of injuries caused by mechanical failures would mushroom, and we'd be reading about those instead of collisions on the A&S forum.

In this case the OP himself conditioned the question on ".....if I do not hammer out a lot of watts and take it easy?", so he was already showing the common sense I refer to.

mconlonx

I believe we are in agreement here...

General public generally lacks common sense, but bicycles are a mature manufactured product which takes this into account.

fietsbob

Dan does stretch equivalency a bit .. Ok Rohloff only has 1 side with an anti torque rotation stop , but its quite a beefy one ...

bolted with 5 screws, to the left end of the hub axle assembly, the double compound reduction gears 1~7 develop a lot of Torque.

AW3 Hubs also use 2 steel antirotation washers .. the Mountain drive crank has a very solid torque transfer

(for brompton it,via a solid metal Knob sits atop the frame, right side behind the BB shell where the rear pivot fold bushing is.
while it reduces a 50t chainring to act like it was a 20t..



(I have no personal experience with the Shimano 11 speed hub) yea If the guy cools it until the spare pieces arrive things shouldn't get too torn up.