Hello all,

I may have the opportunity to buy a Surly Cross Check with a Shimano Nexus Inter-7 rear hub, and was wondering about how that hub compares to the Red Band Nexus 8. I know the 8 is a better hub, but am not sure about any specific differences between the two.

Does anyone have any comments?

Thanks much,
Steve

Sheldon Brown makes a specialty of internal geared hubs. His Harris Cyclery web site had a lot of info on the various makes and models.

Thanks HillRider. I have definitely looked at Sheldon's site. However, he does not have much info on the Nexus 7, as Harris does not seem to carry it anymore.

I plan on using the bike for commuting and light touring and was wondering if durability (the hub has about 3750 miles on it currently) and drag were going to be issues.

Steve

You might e-mail Sheldon directly. He is good about replying to questions like this.

I emailed Sheldon, and his response was that "The 8 shifts much better under load than the 7. Also has slightly nicer gear spacing."

In response to using the bike for commuting and light touring, if durability and drag were going to be issues, he said that it would be "Probably OK".

I have both commuting build and touring build using nexus-7's. Upgrading the touring build to nexus-8 is high on my wish list. They have both been very durable but I'm anxious to try the 8.

The glaring difference is gear range but I suppose you have that figured.

That aside the differences are only slight. The 8 speed has some better shifter options and is supposedly more efficient and lighter. To me though the 7 speed is just as good as the 8 with just a closer gear spread