# Alfine 8 maintenance



## threebikes (Aug 27, 2007)

I am looking at a Scott SUB 10 and am wondering about what kind of maintenance and how often does it need to be worked on.


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## Leopold Porkstacker (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice bike-I considered buying one a couple years ago for a commuter bike (I instead had an Alfine 8-speed hub laced to a 24"x2.5" Surly Large Marge rim for my Surly 1x1).

As for maintenance, pretty much ride it about 2,000 miles and then have it serviced. Make sure you find a shop that CAN service it- a lot of them say, "Yeah, we can do that", even shops who sell the Alfine-equipped Scott Sub10 bikes *cough* REI *cough*, but then a few days later they tell you you can come pick your bike up but "sorry, we couldn't service it but we adjusted the shifter, that'll be $15 please". 

The maintenance itself involves draining the oil out of it, and the relubing (with special grease) three "special points of interest" within the hub itself, and then soaking the gearing mechanism is Shimano's special $128/quart oil&#8230; although some guys who've been riding 8-speed Alfines for thousands and thousands of miles swear that Mobil-1 synthetic ATF works just fine (at a mere $6/quart).

There are instructional videos on Youtube showing how you can service it yourself though, if you want to give 'er a go rather than pay someone else to do it. I had a local wheelbuilder guy I know service it for me, he already had the special Shimano oil since he'd serviced several Shimano IGH equipped bikes in the past. At the present my Alfine 8-speed hub has somewhere around 4,000 miles on it, and other than an oil change and an occasional shifter cable tension adjustment, it still works like a champ-it's been thrashed on hard on technical/rocky terrain in addition to ridden on sloppy trails during the wet/rainy seasons-they are pretty solid units.

Here is a picture of my 1x1 (with Alfine) after a ride through sloppy mucky yucky conditions (the mud stayed on my bike 8 miles later on paved surfaces back to my house):


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## threebikes (Aug 27, 2007)

Thanks!


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm going to crack my 4r old A8 open for the first time before I replace the rims on that wheel set. *fingers crossed* it looks okay in there.


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