Alfine Pugsley
 

A few years ago I purchased a couple of Alfine hubs, one for my commuter, and one for the Pugsley that was still just a frame hanging in my basement.

Then, my experience with the Alfine on my commuter/utility bike was so miserable and malfunction plagued that I decided to build my Pugsley as a single speed. But that second Alfine hub has been sitting in a box, unused, in my storage ever since.

Now, I'm thinking about giving the Alfine another try, on the Pugsley. The notion came to me the other day, when I tried to take a section off-road, and got bogged because I was over-geared for conditions. Suddenly, I wished I could shift. Right now, my Pugsley has two rear wheels, with different cogs, and I just swap them back and forth based on my planned riding for the day. That day I had geared for a casual path/town ride, and got stuck really fast on my attempted "shortcut".

So, once winter is over, I guess I'll dismantle the wheel and give this a try. Next winter hopefully I won't be here cursing the Alfine again. I'm hoping that I just had a lemon on the first one I ran.

Are IGH like wine?
 

Do they get smoother with age?

Which version Alfine?
Reading forums suggests the 11 speed is much more problematic than the 8.

typically IGH are not suitable for MTB type riding (jumps, shaking).

Maybe someone invents an apparatus to shift the chain to larger or smaller cogs on a cassette type device with multiple differently sized cogs. That way you don't have to swap wheels with different cog sizes anymore. i imagine taking 11 spare wheels on a ride and switching them out as needed for the speed and grade gets old over time. That apparatus would need a spring-supported cage to adjust the to different chain length needs for each cog. to avoid stopping for gear changes someone may add a cable connected to a shifter device on the handlebar.

Hmmm, maybe?

Maybe I had a lemon before. Only one way to find out.

The hub sitting in my basement was purchased around the same time as the other, before I even built my Pugsley. It was always supposed to go on the Pugs, but my Alfine experience was so awful on my commuter bike that I elected to just go single speed.

Now, with enough time for my anger and frustration to cool off, I'm thinking about trying this hub. It's still NIB, and has been on my storage shelf for more than 3 years.

I don't want to put a derailer on the Pugs. It sees mostly snow use, plus it has track ends, which are a complete faff to work with, but are uniquely suited to an Alfine.

Yes there is a wearing in 11 you have a oil change to get out what mat be tiny shavings..


New to Rohloff is a much wider between the flanges hub shell , they are getting right on the fat bike sector.
they add flushing oil then drain it after a bit of time, before re oiling..


we had a Nuvinci hub Fat bike, disc brakes.. worked on it, 2nd pair of hands, @ LBS ... bike not mine..







....

Snow won't hurt your derailleur. Fatbike traction will kill your poor Alfine.

We'll see. So far it's doing ok, but it's only been a short while.