I haven't even had my Alfine IGH bike for two full years yet, but I already have to replace the RapidFIre shift lever. It's gone from sloppy to almost non-existent where the thumb lever is concerned. Is it normal for them to wear out this fast?

How many years / miles do you have on it?

I'm the second owner of my Alfine; I've had mine for 2 years & ~4000 km. The owner before me had it for about the same. After ~8000km the shifter is fine. However, the roller clutch went on the hub. Shimano rebuilt / replaced it for free, kudos on them because I'm not the original owner. Shimano said that is so rare that anything would go wrong with the hub that it must've been a manufacturing defect.

That is typically where a rapidfire shifter will fail, the mechanism on the larger push lever is very often the first thing to go. You might want to try opening it to see if the mechanism is sticky or dirty, sometimes the pawls are simply failing to engage. You can then clean and lubricate it from there, which is pretty easy if that's all the trouble is. It often is.

The cable can also potentially be a trouble if it is kinked or frayed inside where you can't see it, although this is less common.

Past that, other types of service to rapidfire shifters are limited.

You wouldn't want to use friction on an IGH... they do bad things when they get stuck between gears.

Try flushing out the shifter with some WD-40. No need to disassemble (in fact, don't), often the factory grease inside becomes gummy with dust and keeps the mechanism from engaging. Usually a quick flush will clean things up inside.

+1 I recently got a '91 Giant Yukon MTB in shape for my son to take to university. Both RapidFire shifter would only engage a couple of the indices. I gave them both a good flush with the WD-40. The rear shifter perked up immediately. I had to give the front shifter a couple of days and a repeat, but it perked up nicely.

+1 Clean and lube it.

Also, grease up the IGH; they fail faster than shifters.

If there's a way to grease an Alfine, I haven't found it, and it isn't shown anywhere on the literature that came with it. It seems to be a sealed unit.

Check out the info at https://hubstripping.wordpress.com/alfine-shimano/
Here's photos of disassembly: https://www.hubstripping.com/shimano-...rip/index.html

Alfine and Nexus hubs can be disassembled for relubrication, but it appears to be a complicated process. Personally, I'm going to let the bike shop handle that. Shimano now recommends lubricating with oil (they sell a special kit) after about a year: https://www.hubstripping.com/shimano-...s-oil-bath.jpg

Yow! That's a lot more complicated than a derailleur system. I think that I will also let the bike shop do it.

+1 for the flushing the shifter out, almost every time a shifter has quit working that came through the shop flushing it out with brake clean and then spraying in a light lube will make them good as new 9 times out of 10. Some of the really bad ones you have to remove the bottom cover and find the pawl that is not engaging and work it back and forth with a sharpened spoke or a pick while spraying some form of solvent at it (brake clean or wd-40 both work well)