Internal gear hub recommendations
 

I just bought a new All-City Nature Boy frameset for $260. It looks really nice. It's a fixed gear frame, and I thought I might get an internal gear hub for it for hills, commuting, and maybe even light touring. I would like a high gear ratio, high reliability, low maintenance, with fairly low cost. What would be a good hub to get for this type of set up?

Define "low cost".

IG Hubs start around $100- and go up quickly.

How many gears do you need? If you want 3 speeds and don't mind used there are millions of Sturmey Archer 3 speeds out there and some even have a coaster which would solve your brake problems with a fixed gear frame. Roger

You Only Pay for Rohloff once , then after that, it's cheaper in the long run ,

... when you add up all the tooth worn cassettes you will not be replacing.

Its made to replace a whole MTB drivetrain, (135 wide too) thats why so many of them go Touring..



but S-A is good too .. You dont say how wide those dropouts are apart. Measure that perhaps?


http://www.sturmey-archer.com/en/products/rear-hubs




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Read this.

You may want to consider the Sturmey Archer S2. It is a 2 speed that is shifted by backward rotation of your crank. I have on on a bike that previously was a single speed. What you get, depending on how you set it up) is either a normal gear with a high for down hills or a normal gear with a low for hill. The advantage is that it requires no cables. The downside is that it takes a while to get used to the shift angle and it's very easy to find yourself in the wrong gear at a stop (especially if you have opted for a normal - high setup). You kind of learn to avoid though. A 3 speed hub is not that much heavier and with the additional gear and cable shifting, is perhaps a more flexible option. I do like the simplicity of the 2 speed, though.

I recommend against IGH (flames >> /dev/null (old timey reference)) if light touring is a use case. I have used several IGHs (Shimano 7's and 8's) in touring builds and never liked any of the experiences. I've been commuting on IGHs for 12 years and love it, but not for light touring (heavier weight, range limited, maintenance issues potential, etc). Just my experience.