Comments on: Shimano Alfine 11-speed

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:34:38 +0000

Versa makes a STI type shifter for Shimano hubs. I’ve commuting and racing cross with this set up for years. Slick as snot!

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:01:34 +0000

Interesting. My alfine 11 started jumping gears after 400kms. Then 10th gear went missing. Took it back to my dealer who checked it out. Dropped oil out and only got 20mls instead of 50mls. So 30 mls has gone missing. Plus the oil that was drained out was black and very gooeey. Shimano replace whole internals. After 200kms, it’s started skipping gears again. Beautiful when it works well. No good when gears go missing. Suspect I’ve got a dud.

By: Andrew Kreps

Andrew Kreps — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:37:53 +0000

> aelazenby says
> I would love to see an internal transmission inside the bottom bracket.

Honda built that back in 2004, on its RN-01 racing bicycle.

By: Jerry Berry

Jerry Berry — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:19:55 +0000

I installed an Alfine 11 on the rear of an electra townie 21D. I kept the front derailer with 3 chainrings (28T, 38T, 48T) and used a 22T rear sprocket on the Alfine 11 for a total of 33 speeds. However, I don’t mix gears between front and back. I basically shift with the Alfine 11 and use the small chainring for riding in hilly country (17-72 gear inches), the middle chainring for city riding (24-98 gear inches) and the large chainring for flat open country riding (30-124 gear inches). Any chainring is ok to ride on the flat because the Alfine 11 has a nice wide ratio set so changing the front derailer is a rare thing.

Note that I also used the Shimano CT-S500 chain tensioner because the bike has vertical dropouts. That part works very well indeed and there is no actual upper limitation on sprocket size. Shimnao sez 18-20T but I’m using a 22T and I tried it with a 23T (max size). No interference problem that I could detect. You do need to use narrow or super narrow chain not single speed chain but the bike was already using 7 speed chain anyway.

I built the bike in March and have 3 months riding on it as I write this. No problems at all so far. Beautiful handling comfortable bike with a really versatile set of gears. I hope I don’t experience any problems like Scott Morgan has had. So far so good.

I also used the Shimano CT-S500 chain tensioner because the frame has vertical dropouts.

By: James Thomas

James Thomas — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:34:49 +0000

Sorry to hear that, but it sounds like it should be covered under warranty. Have you contacted Shimano or the shop where you bought it yet?

By: Scott Morgan

Scott Morgan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:26:01 +0000

I purchased the alfine 11 and here I am in June and 2nd gear is stripped and 5th gear is going. I’m 60 years old and live in St. Paul,MN. So, don’t think abuse by rider, thiswas to be my commuter to the grocery store. I am disappointed and I WORRY about the cost to repair the hub over it’s useful life , as I don’ even have 300 miles on the bike yet.

By: fr333zin

fr333zin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:31:32 +0000

Couple this with a Schlumpf Mountain Drive, now that would be interesting.

By: Jerry Berry

Jerry Berry — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:22:10 +0000

I’m in the same bucket as Scott, running 44T chainwheels
and 22T sprockets with nexus 8 hubs. I don’t need more high speed
gears, I want more choices on the low end. I have one bike with a
23T sprocket (the biggest for Shimano internal hubs that I know of)
and that works well for me too. But it does sound like (with the 11
sp hub) a smaller chainwheel is the way to get an overall lower
biased gear spread. Do you really think a 34T is a good choice or
were you just throwing that out there to see who would salute
it?

By: Shozaburo

Shozaburo — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:01:49 +0000

Yes. A 34T chainwheel.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:21:02 +0000

Am I missing something with the 11 speed Alfine? The lowest gear on the 8 speed is .53 and it is the same with the 11 speed. The 8 speed high gear is 1.62 and 2.153 for the Alfine. On my commuter bike I run a 45 front and 22 back. That gives me all I need on the high end. The Alfine 11 speed will give me 30% more high end that I won’t use. I wanted more low end for touring (climbing) so that means I need a bigger gear in the back. To keep my high ratio the same I need a 28 or 29 in the back. But Shimano only sells up to a 24.

It seems to me the extra gears on the 11 speed go wasted since you can not recoup them on the low end by adding a smaller front or larger back. Who needs a trekking bike with a racing bike high gear?

Or am I missing something?