Hi, I'm hoping to take delivery of an Alfine 8 soon and am wondering if Pinheads would work with it? It's hard to tell from the picture if it has a hollow axel.

Alfine 8 has a solid axle with large nuts (but not track-nuts). I dont know of any secure nuts but Ive never heard of an Alfine wheel being stolen.

They can be a pain to remove in the shop with all the time in the world. Stealing one would really be a chore.

Pinheads are designed to work with quick release axles. The Alfine is bolt-on so no dice. A European company (Pitlock, I think) make "security" nuts for solid axles like that on the Alfine.

I am a pinhead with an Alfine 8. Does that count?

As others have said, it's a solid axle and I've never once been worried about somebody stealing mine. Once you get the hang of disengaging the cable, removing the wheel can be done in under a minute.

Ring lock, attached to the frame, is what makes the rear wheel secure on my bike.
and also serves to prevent, a quick roll away theft of bike..

I use a chain around front wheel of bike , or if the fixed object is not suitable,
augment that kit with a double loop cable,
that is secured when I close the ring lock around the back wheel..

The Pitlock is for Rohloff solid axles NOT Alfine ones.

Indeed, Pitlock does make them for Nexus/Alfine in addition to Rohloff. See page six of their 2011 price list.

They're not listed on Peter White's Pitlock page (although I'm certain he'd special-order them), but they are available at Urban Bike Tech. Even says "for Shimano Nexus and Alfine hubs".

Note that due to their larger size, they can't be keyed-alike to other Pitlocks.

I just wanted to comment on the great information you posted. It is very helpful to those of us that have a Nexus/Alfine hub. Good job!

Indeed a big thanks to tsl!

I am also using a AXA Defender with chain + Kryptonite NY 3000. I suppose I should relax. New bike so shiny... if I were the sort... I'd steal it!

PS: For any of you trying to find a ringlock you might try browsing ebay.de or ebay.nl and searching for Rahmenschloss. I did and found a lot of sellers much cheaper than the UK willing to ship international.

I also use a ringlock with my solid axle IGH as well. This isn't where mine came from, but I did see that Clever Cycles seems to a US source. I agree that a bolt on hub is less likely to be stolen, but considering that it's one of the more expensive components, I like to do what I can to protect it. Although ring locks can be removed as well. It just adds one more step, but anyone taking the rear wheel can just take the lock, too, and remove it at their leisure.

Stealing the rear wheel. Cut the shift cable (& steal the cable fixing bolt). 0.7 seconds.

We've been waiting for these for a long time. I think part of the delay stemmed from having to design a new two-part lock-ring to match up well with Shimano's "non-turn" washer that installs right before the nut.

Now if they'd only release a 30.0mm seat clamp.....