IGH for Offroad for a Clyde?
 

I have been riding my derailleur equipped bike to and from work for the past few weeks and, as expected, the cold weather and snow have conspired to jam up my derailleurs - a bit of a nusiance (sp?).

I have ridden singlespeeds before, but I am thinking I might like to go with an IGH bike. Problem is, I weigh 270 lbs right now, and whatever I ride I ride hard and I ride it everywhere - my touring bike and my road bike have both done some innapropriate singletrack duty at times. ANyone here have experience on how Shimano Nexus, Alfine, or Sram IGH hold up under heavy abusive use and a heavy abusive rider? I would get a Rohloff hub but I don't have the $$$$$$ (and can't forsee having it for some time).

Any opinions are welcome.

LASF

Ridden a few. They'll handle you just fine imo.

Thanks for the reply.

My father in law has a hybrid with a Nexus 7 speed and it has been very solid for him, and he is a big guy too. But he doesn't ride as hard or on the rough terrain I know I would... although he does very high mileage.

I suppose the almost complete lack of IGH failure stories is as good a reccomendation as I am going to get!

Hard to say. Internally geared hubs seem to show up most often on commuter bikes, which might tend to see lighter use than an ATB. I've heard some good things from mountain bikers who use internally geared hubs, but no long-term durability reports. I'd suggest looking for a hub with a decent warranty, buying from a shop that will help with any warranty issues, and following the maintenance schedule to the letter.

This is my question exactly...

I remember when the Nexus line was new, Shimano was even sponsoring a MTB team (Litespeed/Polosport?) that used them, but the punishment dished out by a 120 lb female pro racer with a team mechanic is a whole lot different from the punishment heaped on by a 270 clydesdale racer who obsessively avoids maintenance.

I built a city bike a bike with a Sturmey Archer AW hub (early '70s model, I think) and when I took it apart halfway through the winter there were whole teeth missing fron the internal gears. I think I paid $10 for that hub, so it was no big deal... It would be a whole different story if It happened with a $250 hub - unless parts are readily available...

The Alfine hub seems to be popular with the guys on MTBR. They have a seperate forum forum about internal gear hubs on mounain bikes, so maybe you should ask there.