Commuter Bicycle Questions (Hub Gears)
 

Hi Guys

I'm looking at buying a commuter bike to get to and from work - about 3 miles with some pretty steep hills.

I'm looking at Giant, Specialized and Trek hybrids that are offering the Shimano Nexus and Alfine 8 speed hub gears as I like the idea of no deurailer.

Anyone using a hub geared bike? I'm particularly interested to know how they go with hills :)

Cheers

Internal hub would be my choice for a commuter bike. I'm sure you could work out a suitable gear range by playing with the size of the front chainring.

No affiliation, but this guy makes some sweet "transportation bikes" Spendy, but nicely done:

http://www.antbikemike.com/bikes.html

Don't know too much about hub gears (I've only ever used derailleur-based systems myself) but two big concerns with bike commuting are (1) durability and (2) security.

Make sure the hub system you choose is tested and heavy duty (i.e. it'll hold up to the rigors of daily use and rain, mud, snow, whatever). Those systems ARE inherently pretty tough, so you should be okay, but ask around about specific makes/models. Make sure that if your wheel is ripped off you don't lose hundreds of dollars worth of gearing too. Or that you can disassemble the thing easily to take with you. At the very least, replace all the "quick releases" for the wheels/hubs with honest-to-goodness nuts requiring a wrench to remove (and then don't forget to carry the proper size wrench in your underseat bag!) or the wheels will find a way of disappearing.

Best of luck.

Thanks guys.

Security should be fine as I can lock it up at work in my building basement - however I will also use a decent cable lock and secure the wheels!

My research indicates that these hubs main advantage is that they're sealed up from mud and moisture and are generally very low maintenance - and given that the majority of my tinkering time is spent on my 911, a low maintenance bike is a must ;)

Cheers

I thought about getting a hub geared bike since the technology has come a long way from the old 3 speeds, but it seemed the weight and performance still doesn't compete with a derailleur system.

I'm sure you're correct that a derailleur system will be lighter. I think with a commuter machine, the durability and maintenance factor is more important than all-out performance. I think another big plus with the internal hub is that you can run an old-school style chain guard. I used to ride a bike to my office (biz casual wear), and I f_ed up several pair of pants catching the cuffs on the front chainwheel (ripped holes and grease strains). Yeah, you can put one of those goofy straps on your calf to prevent this, but with a chain guard, its jump on and start pedaling. A good commuter bike should be configured for maximum convenience. To me that means: fenders, lights, rack or other load carrying provision, chainguard, no quick releases so its easy to lock up.

I work fo a company that sells more internal shimano hubs than most likely ALL other companies in the U.S. combined!


The internal hubs work well! and I do not hear of any complaints from mechanics.

The 8spd shimano hub has a very wide range of gears and is a cadillac!

I've tested the sram products and I'll but the Shimano over them. I want to try Sturmy archers hubs soon.

IMO, you won't be avoiding that much maintenance with an internally geared hub. You still have a chain that needs to be lubed and cleaned periodically.
With a 3 mile commute, you really won't need to work on the bike very often.
Another consideration - if something does go wrong with the shifting, a derailleur is a lot easier to replace than a hub.

Jim, thanks for the opinion on the Shimano vs Sram.

When I refer to maintenance, I'm trying to avoid constant 'tuning' which my last bike was always needing. I also really hated the noise from the front derailleur, and could never totally tune it out. Chain maintenance is easy and I'm happy to look after that. Interestingly, Trek are doing a couple of bikes with 'carbon belts' instead of chains and claim zero stretch and zero maintenance...

I think I'm also inclined to go with hydraulic disks for reduced maintenance - any opinion there?

I'll be test-riding some bikes today. Trek 'Soho' and Giant 'City Pro'