I've finally made the decision to convert my commuter back to an internal gear hub. In the past I ran a Shimano Nexus 'red-band' 8-speed IGH and had butterfly/trekking bars at the time where the install of the twist shifter was convenient.

My commuter currently has a Nitto Noodle drop bar that I really love. The IGH I'm considering at this point is the Shimano Alfine 11. To the best of my knowledge, the only shifter for the Alfine 11 is a rapidfire trigger shifter (though I have seen that a brifter-style may be out there for some obscene sum of money, and I don't really love brifters - I run downtube or barcons)

I'm currently trying out some different 22.2 diameter handlebars, first a Velo-Orange porteur bar, which I think has too much sweep back, and some other Velo-Orange bars called Postino. I'm feeling like I really want to stay with drop bars though, and see that I can get an adapter called the hubbub which looks like it would be a good design for a twist shifter, but maybe not so much the rapidfire.

Anyone have experience with this Alfine 11-speed shifter, know of any other shifter for this hub, or have experience with the hubbub, or can recommend a different handlebar with 22.2 diameter that this shifter can fit on?

Dunno anything about the other stuff, but the Hubbub works. I use one with the Rohloff grip shifter and find it well made and worth what they're asking for it.

Did you cut your drop bar so that the hubbub doesn't hang far off the end?

Yes, I tried to get it so that the shifter ended up in the same place as the end of the bar had been, but couldn't quite manage it. The Hubbub needs a couple of inches of straight tubing to fit into, and if I'd cut enough off the end of the bar it would have gotten too close to the curve. As it is, though, the shifter only sticks out about a half inch further than the bar did.

There's also the Versa brifter: https://aebike.com/product/versa-vrs-...d0091-qc30.htm

I've got the 8 speed one, still in the box, as I haven't put the bike together yet.

Try Soma Lauterwasser Handlebar, it's a drop bar with 22.2 diameter

Hub Bub uses a bar end shifter expansion, fitting
to offer a smaller diameter tube
to slide the Gripshifter over, and secure.

No useful comments about other shifters, I will mention that the Alfine one is huge. I did want to tell you that the hub itself is really wide. You need to take this into account when choosing a rim. If the rim is setup for a typical (narrow) hub, the spoke nipples will be aiming inward more and if you try to use that type of rim with the Alfine IGH there will be a lot of stress on the spokes right where they exit the nipple. It will lead to a lot of broken spokes. The nipple holes in the rim need to be able to aim the spoke out more to accommodate the wider hub.

The old Schwinn Varsity handlebars are 22.2mm steel drops, they might work. I've seen one user bore out the ID of the Alfine trigger shifter and then mount it on drop bars near the stem.

I think your issue isn't the width of the hub but rather the diameter of the spoke flange. If you lace an Alfine 4x or even 3x on 700C and 26" rims the spoke angle is extreme. I lace Alfines 3x on 700C rims without issue but for 26" rims I lace Alfines 2x even for 32H rims.

What about going full friction? I really don't know much about IGH (pull ratios, etc), but I would assume that you could use a friction derailleur shifter on an IGH (it would simply be a matter of precision and large enough total pull)

Wow - thanks for the tip, that's a very attractive solution

I'm pretty sure the problem with IGH and full friction is that unless you're directly lined up with the gear, your not just bouncing a chain across a cog, your incorrectly meshing gears against gears. Finding a gear would be a challenge in not destroying your hub.

Hmm...good point. I shall return to my hole from whence I came.