Alfine 11 Pros and Cons

Alfine 11 Pros and Cons 

The Alfine 11 is probably the best hub gear you can get for under £500. The Alfine 11 Pros and Cons are numerous.  Perhaps when you are reading about Afine 11 Pros and Cons below, you may think of some extras! Well we would love to hear about them, please leave a comment. 

These comments relate to the SG-S700 model (pre-2019) the SG-7000 models may be different. 

Up Front Summary 

In short I have found the Alfine 11 to have more cons than pros. When I first reviewed this Alfine 11 out of the box, and perhaps for the first 1 or 2 years it was beautiful, but after this honeymoon period the skipping problems (in gear 5, 6 , 7) become more prevalent, the oil change process is poorly designed, and the seals are over simple and prone to leaking.

In short I would not recommend an Alfine 11  even though a derailleur system requires more cleaning, and higher frequency of chain / cassette replacement this does not outway the poor reliability, and tricky servicing of the alfine 11. 

For me the worst of all cons is the skipping in gear 5, 6, and 7. I don't mind that the hub requires servicing, or needs oil leaks  fixing. But after you do all of this it should work well. But no matter how much I fiddle around with the indexing the gears still skip, this spoils the ride. And for me the ride is a valuable de-stress mechanism. 

In my experience, the Alfine 11 lasts 2 years before it starts becoming very annoying. And to spend £400 on bike part that only last two years is not a good return on value. 

Alfine 11 Pros

Here are some good points that would perhaps encourage you to get a bike with an alfine 11 hub gear. Please note that this is quite short list!

Mud 

My typical riding involves cycling 10 to 20 miles along country roads that are covered in mud, and animal dung. Even with full mudguards (plus additional mudguard flaps), you end up with a lot of mud going on drive train. The alfine 11 is quite good in that all of the gears are hidden away in a clean oil bath, so mud and grit does not go on them.

Alfine 11 Covered in Mud

Of course the chain, chain rings and sprockets are still exposed, but you could run a full chain guard to prevent mud going on them. Mud on you drive train shortens its life span. 

Noise 

The alfine 11 is very quite. This is a major pro for me. There are no freewheel noises when you coast, and the gear changes are (unless skipping) just a little click. 

Shift at Standstill 

Unlike derailleur gears you can change gear without pedalling. This is quite handy, but of course most derialler uses shift before they stop. 

Alfine 11 Cons 

Moving in to the 3rd, 4th and 5th year of riding, this hub has become more and more troublesome. 

Skipping 

The nail in the coffin for me is the skipping gears in 5, 6, 7. This happens when pedalling hard up a hill, and there is a horrible crunching noise, and the gears slip. If you are "floating" in the saddle at this point, then you drop down on saddle with a bump, and hurt your testicals. It is also a shock, and as you are normally pushing your self to get up the hill, it can be stressful. 

Forums are FULL of people trying to fix this, but in reality the variety of things that people claim to work suggests that the problem is hard to diagnose, and often something one has to live with. From memory things that people have tried include:

• Changing Oil
• Adjusting Bearings 
• Replacing Cables 
• Adjusting Indexing Away from Recommended Yellow Lines 
• Different Oil (Rohloff for Example) 
• Cleaning Hub Shift Arm Assembly (Small Parts Kit)
• Use of Cable Length Tool - TLS700

All of these thing may work. The derailleur alternative I know I could get to work 100% perfect, but with this hub, it relies more on the manufactured system, so harder to fix when it malfunctions. 

TLS700 Cable Tool - One of many "cures" discussed. 

Oil Leaks 

I keep this bike in a shed. But if you put it in a car, or keep it in your flat, then the oil leaks will not please you. For me, I had the bearing cone come loose (???) and this causes seal to move position and all of oil run out on to chain, trousers and shoes. I investigate this in the below video:

Chain Length

It took me about 3 year to figure out the correct chain length. This is my fault really. You can either use sprockets with odd number of teeth, or a half link chain. For example, your eccentric bottom bracket or horizontal dropouts do not have enough travel. 

In short you can only really diagnose chain length with very careful measuring (???) or trial and error. A worst this costs a new chain (half link) or but and extra sprocket (23 tooth) to experiment with. We explore this more in the below video:

Sprocket Life 

If you are not using a full chain cover, then mud and grit will still go on the chain, chainwheel, and sprockets. You are saving wear on a cassette (as the most likely alternative) but not the rest of the running gear. 

Conclusions 

Please see the summary at the top of page. There are many Alfine 11 Pros and Cons. I wouldn't recommend a 700 series Alfine 11. 

Where next:

• Alfine 11 7000 series - how much better is this?
• Box 8 Speed Derailleur Groupset - Neat but non-standard cable pull
• 9 Speed Shimano Derailleur with Sun Race Wide Range Cassette - pretty good option
• 8 Speed Shimano Hub - Less range, better reliability 

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Mud Guards for Tag Along Bike

Intro

My youngest child (boy) has recently come to the age where he can go on a tag along bike. Living in rural england, there is mud everywhere for 90% of the year, and our first trip out was cut short owing sogginess and mud splattering. 

I am quite practiced at bodging together DIY mudguards (fenders is in USA) for various bikes, but fitting effective mudguards (fenders) on this tag along has proved a laborious affair!

The problem being that as well as the normal rear wheel splatter problem, you also have a unique "front wheel" splatter problem for the tag along rider, as they are low down and in the line of fire from your rear wheel splatter.

So the rear rider will get wet and muddy very quickly if no mud guards are provided. This can be fun in the summer, but in the winter it is a bit much to ask perhaps. 

Tag Along Wheel Splatter

The easiest problem to deal with is the splatter from the wheel of the tag along bike. Which you would treat as any rear wheel, on any bike. You could buy a set of 20" mudguards and discard the front one, and that would do the trick no problem. 

In my case I used my favourite "trick" of installing a rack (£10) and then zip tieing some plastic board to it. Zip ties are cheap, and the plastic is always free. Plus you get a rear rack, and loads of clearance around the wheel. 

Main Bike Rear Wheel Splatter

This is quite difficult to deal with. The best answer would be to fit a flap on the rear mudguard of the main bike. The flap can be made from allsorts of things, I have done a post on DIY mudflaps some years ago. 

Simply Zip Tie Some Type of Plastic on to Under Side of Rack

As the image below shows the splatter not only flies off in the conventional manner, but also is blown backwards by head winds, meaning that is can "bend" around mudguards fitted on the "down tube" of the tag along. This was happening alot even through I have a a full set of mudguards on my main bike. 

Head Wind Blows Vertical Splatter Back on to Passengers

The answer here as hinted above is to add a flap to the rear mudguard of the main bike. The closer you can get to the ground the better. 

Create  Flap on Your Rear Mudguard to Prevent Splatter 

My initial thought was to use a crud catcher type guard on down tube of tag along, but this would have to be very long, and would need some sort of flap to catch low flying splatter. Better to install a flap on the main bikes rear wheel, and deal with the problem at source. 

Close but Not Quite There

So whilst my tag along wheel guard worked fin, I need to manage splatter from main bike's rear wheel a lot better. I will use a flap.

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ZTTO 9 Speed Cassette Review & Install

ZTTO 9 Speed Cassette Review - Intro

The old saying goes "you get what you pay for" but NOT in the case of this 11 - 40 ZTTO 9 speed cassette. I purchased mine for around £15 on eBay, and I am very impressed with it.

I sued a Short Cage Rear Mech, and an extender for the gear hanger. All good. 

I also made a video review, if you are too lazy to read this one!

ZTTO 9 Speed Cassette Review - Building Quality 

I compared the quality of this ZTTO 9 speed cassette with the shimano cassette that it was replacing. The shimano one was used of course, but you can still compare the finish of un worn parts.

Comparison between Shimano HG 400 11 - 34

I should imagine that the sprockets are "pressed" in manufacturing rather than cast of machined, the finish is very good. The sprockets are steel: "high tensile steel" apparently.

I mean to the untrained eye this look OK right?

One thing I was very impressed with was the weight saving measures, the sporkets had been designed on the ZTTO 9 speed cassette had been design to incorporate a lot less steele (proportionally) compared to the shimano cassette.

Rear view showing the construction. 

If I had just one improvement comment it would be for a steel lockring. Alloy threads, cringe. 

ZTTO 9 Speed Cassette Review - Installation / Install

I "few" years ago I vested in a short cage shimano saint rear mech. Which is a great piece of gear. I had read that you can use a 11 - 40 cassette with a short cage rear mech, and it works OK. It does work.

On the bike. Works great. 

I had a slight complication in that (unknown to me) my front chain ring was worn, and this was cause a dropped chain when I shifted on the the largest rear sprocket. Of course initially I suspected the lack of chain cacapcity in my rear mech, but no.

Size Difference 11-40 vs 11-34

I did use a sunrace hanger extender, I am not sure if this was required, but I fitted it anyway. For the record I should point out that I do not think my rear mech would take a larger rear sprocket, it may just about stretch to a 42 tooth. But I very very much doubt it would be OK with 46, 50 or 52.

When on 40 tooth sprocket, the chain has just enough slack to operate, but not much.

In summary the install would have been very easy, if it weren't for the worn chain ring.

ZTTO 9 Speed Cassette Review - Extra Photos and Conclusions 

All in all this is a well made product that enables 9 speed drive chain uses to add extra gear range to their machines without breaking the bank. If your old chain and cassette are worn out, then it is a no brainer to upgrade, more range, same price and weight penalty is minimal. 

In use this provide a similar amount of range to my alfine 11 hub gear. It certainly makes a 1 x 9 drivetrain more realistic in hilly parts of the world. 

Close up showing quality of pressings. I think it looks fine. 

Each sprocket is labelled with tooth number. I nice touch. 

Not sure what these bales mean. 

Close up of rear, showing structure. Second largest sprocket shares spider with largest. 

My only complaint: alloy lock ring. Probably fine, bit alloy threads make be nervous. 

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6 Ways to Get an Upright Riding Position on a Bike

6 Ways to Get an Upright Riding Position on a Bike

There are numerous reason why you might want a more upright riding position on you bike. They range from comfort to fashion, and all are 100% worthy. Upright is where it all started, both for road bikes, and mountain bikes.

The Whippet Safety Bicycle - Very Upright

Early Mountain Bike - Upright (For California)

In this post I will go through a few methods that can be used to obtain a more upright riding position, I have ordered suggestion from lowest cost and ease of implementation, to highest cost and effort.

This post assumes that you have a bikes that you want to adjust, or customise to give an upright riding position.

If you are buying new new bike, then the world is your oyster. I suggest googling for "dutch bikes", however modding a mountain bike with a fork from surly (disc trucker) or Thorn Cycles (Mt Tura) would give all of the robustness of a MTB, lots of gears and a very usable bike. If you pursue comfort and little else then just buy a "dutch" bike, like the "batavus quip" below.

1 - Squash Your Cockpit (1cm)

By moving you saddle forward, and rotating you handle bars to provide maximum rise / minimum reach, you will achieve a slightly more upright ride.

However, you will likely only get a tiny extra bit of uprightness using this method, and adjusting you saddle too far forward may cause other problems.

2 - Stem Extender (5cm to 10cm)

For under £10 you can buy a stem extender. They are very easy to fit, as you do not need to remove your handle bars, or brake levers or anything like that. In the below video a 7 year child fits one, so it is very easy.

Just be sure to get the right size, you will need a 1" or a 1 1/8" inch size.  As well as the above fixed offering you can get adjustable stem risers:

3 - Riser Stem (5cm to 10cm)

There are many many stems that can be used on there own, or in combination with other methods on this page, to give an upright ride. A good brand to pursue is Ergotec (Humpert) who make some very high rise fixed stems. Below is the "charisma" model.

Or why not try the "Humpert Comfi High Rise"  beow which gives about 10cm extra height. 

4 - Riser Bars (5cm to 20cm)

There are many handlebars that will give a "rise" and thus give an upright riding position. But my advise would be to opt for bars that provide an extreme rise, such as BMX handle bars. You may think this ia going a bit too far, but as you will see, uprightness just keeps getting better and better. So don't mess about, with small riser bars, get some with a serious amount of rise.

BMX bars again, used below to make a upright commuter bike. The below image is from Calories per Pence Blog. 

5- New Forks (upto 30cm)

Many forks, when bought new, come with very long steerer tubes. Some can be as long at 400mm with most being around 250mm.

Perhaps the most upright V-Brake fork you can get is the Thorn Mt Tura Fork. Which is huge. Pictured on my bike below.

Now you may think that a 4000m long steerer tube, would be as upright as you would ever want to go, but I have recent added a riser stem to this set up:

6 - Welding 

Now if you were to combine a 400mm steerer tune fork, with a BMX handle bar you would end up with you handle bars around 1.2 meters above ground level. That is pretty high.

But if you want straight bars that are very high, to get an upright riding position, then extending you steel steerer tube, by welding on an extra length would be one of the few options available. If you are thinking this is dangerous, then please don't after all you whole bike is welded together! The below video shows the proper procedure.

A very tall person might have a torso length of 60cm, add on 15cm for their ass. A saddle might extend 20cm above the top tube. So a maximum handle bar height but be around 80cm above the top of the head tube. If you are very tall, and want a very upright ride.

A Word on Saddles

Something quite important to consider is that as you move to a more upright riding position, you will put more weight on your buttocks. Consider getting a wider saddle, to help spread the load!

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Ryde Andra 40 Rim - Review

Ryde Andra 40 Rim - Review

I have had trouble with spokes snapping repeatedly on the rear wheel of my bike. It was a persistent problem, as I had completely rebuilt the rear wheel with new spokes, suspecting spoke quality to be the issue. However, even rebuilt with plain gauge stainless J-teck spokes, I had another spoke snap. . . . . it was all the more confusing since I was using a heavy rim (Mavic EX325) which I have 4 of in total on other bikes, and have all been perfect. 

Braking Surface - Welcome Offering

Ryde Andra 40 Rim - Overview

When looking at the rim, it is a bit wider than most. This is the specific reason for my purchase. I like wide rims. You can buy this rim in a "30" version, which is narrow.

The rim is unusual in that it has a braking surface for rim brakes. This is a bonus as it improves  adaptability.

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of this rim is the cross sectional profile, that see the lack of eyelets, and the adoption of a ticker layer on alloy adjacent to spoke holes.

The spoke holes are drilled at an angle, which suite my 3 cross wheel build very well.

The construction is pinned, I would have preferred welded, but  I had a £25 budget and this was the best rim I could find.

Quite a "Tall" Rim when viewed from side. 

 Other things in this picture: Alfine 11 Hub Gear and Super Moto X Tyre

Ryde Andra 40 Rim - Building and Use

The wheel built up very nicely and the angled spoke hole were a nice touch, but are they angle for 2 or 3 cross hweel building? I am not sure, a note there would be useful. 

The lack of spoke eyelets means that you are trying to tighten spoke nipples on to a rough surface, and so tensioning spokes can be a bit jerky. Not too much a problem though. 

A minor problem was that the valve hole was in the wrong place, relevent to the angling and offset of the spoke holes. 

Mounting tires is easy, and you can get them one without leavers. A bonus I think. 

Ryde Andra 40 Rim - Conclusion

A very good rim for the money.

Update 2024: After 5 years I haven't even had to tighten a spoke. Solid as a rock. 

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Is Green Guard Thorn Proof?

Is Green Guard Thorn Proof?

Schwalbe Tyres offer many of there tyre models equipped with Green Gaurd, a 3mm, partially recycle latex rubber shield, that is installed between the tyre carcass and the tread.

It does not prevent punctures from thorns. At least not completely.

Complete Guide to Puncture Prevention

The Thorns

Hawthorns and black thorns are a common species included with UK hedges. In the autumn and winter UK farmers are free to trim their hedges. The reason that the trimming is undertaken in the winter is that it does not interfere with nest birds.

The Bain of Sir Dunlop

Typically a mechanical flail hedge trimmer is used to trim the hedge, bit of hedge fly all over the place and inevitably 50% of it ends up on the road.

Not only are they sharp and spiky, they also land with three of 4 thorns set at angles around a twig, meaning they sit on road, perfectly angled to puncture a tire.

The Tire

I recently purchased some  Schwalbe Super Moto X Tires, as they have a green guard protection layer and I thought this might prevent thorn punctures.

No it doesn't. The thorns go straight through. This thorn went straight through the very central area of the tire, where the green guard layer is thickest.

Lesser Spotted Disaster

Conclusions 

I would not buy green guard tires to protect against thorns specifically, you might choose nay other puncture protection system. They may help prevent lots of other punctures, and perhaps they might reduce the probability of thorn punctures, but they wont stop them. Ciao ciao

Complete Guide to Puncture Prevention

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Schwalbe Super Moto-X Tyre Review (26 x 2.40 559 62)

Schwalbe Super Moto-X Tyre Review

I love Schwalbe Big Apple Tyres, but come hedge trimming season, with thorns littering every country mile, I require a little more puncture protection. Otherwise the cycling makes way for more puncture maintenance which I don't like doing all of the time.

These super moto-x tyres are quite similar to Big Apple or Big Ben Tyres, but they have Green Guard Puncture Protection, and side wall protection. Some things to note:

• These Schwalbe Super Moto-X Tyres 2.4" are narrower that 2.35" Big Apples
• The Schwalbe Super Moto-X Tyre cross section shape is "taller" than Big Apples
• The Schwalbe Super Moto-X Tyre rubber compound is superior to Big Apples in terms of grip.

Stand alone points ( that don't just compare these Super Moto-X tyres to others tyres would be that:

• They are excellent quality
• The roll very well
• They provide excellent cushioning
• The rubber compound is very grippy
• They are high volume

I normally do a whole bunch of chapters now but instead I will just comment on photos.

So the above picture shows the Super Moto-X compared to the Big Apple Tyre (About 5 years old). The Super Moto-X has more tread, and is slightly narrower despite being advertised as 2mm wider! Come on Germany. I do not doubt it is 2.4" tall from rim to road, but is a narrower tyre than the 2.35" Big Apple, approximate real world width is around 55mm. 7mm narrower than advertised, even when mounted on a wide rim. 

 As with most Schwalbe Touring / Utility Tyre the Super Moto-X has a reflective side wall. Seen here in camera flash looking pretty fierce.

 Mounted on my weird bike. I like a fat tyre primarily for the look! What a fickle bloke I am.

 A image showing gap between the fork stanchion and the tyre. The clearance is OK, and these are not high volume forks. I expect these tyre will fit in any MTB frame no problem.

 Freshly mounted on EX325 Mavic rim. As mentioned in intro, the tyres are oval in cross section. I think this might be due to the green guard, I have some other green guard tyres and they are tall, and less round than other schwalbe tyres.

Close up of tread on Super Moto-. The tread although taller than the Big Apples is not squirmy on the road, I put this down to a softer compound that grips better. I have used some cruiser tyres that squirm very badly. 7 Month Update: The rubber compound is very good, it provide better grip on clean asphalt than the big apples, and I cannot see very much wear for 7 month's use.

A bit muddy after first ride. 80% on road (muddy, thorny, gravelly), and then about 20% on very muddy Stoney bridleway and tracks.

I used these with mudgaurds: P65s 

The tyres went on the rims well, although I did have to use tyre levers for the last bit. 

Another close up of tread not how the Super moto-x have a textured surface, which is unnecessary perhaps . 7 Month Update: The texture pattern is still there even in central area after 7 months of use. 

One last Super moto-x Tyre Photo. In conclusion I am very happy with the tyres. They are of course heavy, because they are high volume and have very good puncture protection. But they roll very well, and I think schwalbe have done an excellent job with the rubber compound, which grips very well.

It is just a shame no one a schwalbe can use a tape measure, 7mm narrower than advertised. . . .

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Sequential Test

Shimano ALTUS 9-speed Shift Lever SL-M2000

Shimano ALTUS 9-speed Shift Lever SL-M2000 

I have recently purchased this ALTUS 9-speed Shift Lever SL-M2000 shift leaver. I have fitted to a bike with a shimano XT rear mech.

The shifter is very light, likely owing to a lot of plastic components, it have a slightly hollow plastic feel in operation, that being said the action is light and accurate, and it does exactly of what you would expect of it.  

 
The indexing can be adjusted from the lever using the built in cable adjuster, this is essential for any of shimano shadow mechs, as they can not be adjusted at the mech.

Would I buy again? - Yes

Better than I thought? - Yes

Good Value? - Yes

I own various other shimnao shifters (alfine, LX, tourney .etc.) and they are all of comparable quality. I do have a saint shifter, but that cot 6 times the amount and is probably twice as "good".

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DEORE Rear Hub FH-M6000 Review

DEORE Rear Hub FH-M6000 Review 

Another component added to be wheel rebuild. This is a solid offering, nothing fancy which I chose based on its pitch circle diameter. The bearing are smooth, the finish is excellent. The hub has mounting for centre lock disc brake, upon which I fitted a Shimano SM-RT30 Center-Lock Disc Rotor.

So if you need a rear hub with 9mm QR, and centre lock, which has a similar pitch circle to many older hubs you may which to replace then go ahead an buy this you will not be disappointed. This hub is a direct replacement for a FH-RM30.

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Shimano Hub Dynamo DH3D32 Review

Shimano Hub Dynamo DH3D32 Review

This Shimano Hub Dynamo DH3D32 is the cheapest hub dynamo I could find that is suitable for disc brakes.  It is your typical Shimano offering i.e. perfect.  This is a 6 bolt version but there is also a centre lock version.

The  DH3D32 has the standard Shimano connector which is easy to install, although the stripped wires need to be just the right length.

The DH3D32 dynamo will illuminate the front light at a fast walking pace. It is advisable to buy a light with a stand light, this not only stays on whilst you are stopped, but smooths the flicker which nearly all dynohubs create when using a lamp without a standlight.

If you are currently using rim breaks why not buy this anyway, it will have a higher resale value, and allow for easy future upgrades.

Update: 2024 have just moved this on to another building, and is still going strong. Using it with a Busch and Muller Cyo 80 Lux. Perfect. 

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