# My Blacksheep is Alfine!



## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

I finally got my Alfine IGH up and running, and went for my first ride a couple of days ago. The frame is a full rigid Ti Blacksheep 29er that I run singlespeed in the summer. The past few winters I have running 1x3 and 1x5 drivetrains on my SS hubs for the winter. I really liked the idea of an IGH, and I think the Alfine is the first hub to meet most of what I was looking for. I had MC build me up a wheel using a Stan's Flow rim. Cost me about 1/3 the price of a Rohloff.

Setup went pretty smoothly. I was a little intimidated when I opened the box of parts. After reading the instructions, I was able to assemble everything without a problem. One thing I mulled over for a while what the cable exit angle. It normally comes out parrallel to the ground, but the guides on my frame are on the seatstays. I figured out if the switched the blue and green non-turn washers to the other sides, the cable exit angle is almost perfect. This makes for very clean setup with no zip-ties. I am using a 22t cog which is dished inward, otherwise this would not work.

I went for my first ride on Sunday, and my initial impressions are very good. I have been riding SS for a while, so it took me a little bit to get the hang of shifting again! Upshifts happen instantly. Downshifts can be a little finicky sometimes. Sometimes it shifts right away, but other times if I am pedaling hard, I need to let up a bit for the shift to complete. Nothing bad, just different. I would imagine if someone were to downshift often under load, the hubs life expectancy would go down quickly. Gearing right now is 34-22, but I would like to go lower. I run 34-24 as my SS gear as it is very hilly here. I also had to get used to sitting down while climbing again, it's been a while since I have done that!

My only issues right now are I would like to find a 24t rear cog. That way I would not have to adjust chain tension when switching from SS to Alfine. I asked a question earlier, and got 2 responses, one that said they are available, and the other that said they are not. I Emailed Harris Cyclery, and they said they used to be available, but no longer. I am also having some issues getting my new Stout tire to seal properly, but obviously, this has nothing to do with the hub.

Ask away if you have any questions. On to the pictures:


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## EGF168 (Aug 13, 2007)

Very nice! Shimano designed the hub so anyone could set it up which is really cool, having read the instructions its got to be the easiest gearing systems to set up I've seen. My LBS built me up a wheel and offered to put it on there so I didn't get a chance to try it though.


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## Ptor (Jan 29, 2004)

Very sharp looking indeed! What's the chainline for this setup? And the weight of the wheel? I have a Black Sheep set up with a Rohloff and the chainline is pretty much set by the hub (52 mm), limiting what you can do with your crank's Q-factor (my only true gripe about the function of the Rohloff).


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## swift (Apr 3, 2007)

Looks good.

The knobbies make me think you're going to use it off road. If this is the case, it would be cool to get your ideas on it after you've had a chance to grind some miles out.

Interesting seatstay connection on that frame...


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## Bicycle Rider (Feb 2, 2004)

*Keep us updated!*

Hi there,

I met you on the trail a coupla few weeks back at Blue Mt. (Your bike is instantly recognizable.) I was on a rigid Voodoo SS, if you remember.

Anyway, the idea of gears in the winter makes sense (Less fitness; more variability in trail conditions; and difficulty in keeping a comfortable body temp with all those ups and downs.)

But one-cog simplicity also makes sense for winter.

I'm strongly considering the Alfine, so keep us updated with your experiences!

Eric.


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## Wish I Were Riding (Jan 30, 2004)

bikeny said:


> I run 34-24 as my SS gear as it is very hilly here.


Finally found someone who SS like me! :thumbsup:

Eager to hear the weight and how it holds up. My friend and I both own Speedhubs, but this might be nice for a second bike. It would have to take a lot of torque though.

So with 34/22 5th gear is just a little harder than your normal SS?

Cool, thanks for posting this on the 29er forum too (that's how I found it)


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## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

PeT said:


> Very sharp looking indeed! What's the chainline for this setup? And the weight of the wheel? I have a Black Sheep set up with a Rohloff and the chainline is pretty much set by the hub (52 mm), limiting what you can do with your crank's Q-factor (my only true gripe about the function of the Rohloff).


I did not do any chainline measurements when I set up the hub, I just tried to match my crankset. I looked up the hub on Harris Cyclery, and they say the chainline is 42mm, and the cog dish is 3.1mm. So with a dished cog you can get either 38.9 or 45.1, and with a non-dished cog you get 42mm. Apparantly, my crankset has a pretty narrow chainline to work with the cog dished inwards. I am using an XTR M952 crank, Boone spiderless ring and an XTR 116mm BB.

I am not sure how much the wheel weighs. The published weight for the Alfine hub is 1590g. It looks like someone on Hubstripping.com weighed everything and came up with 2070g for the whole setup: hub, cog, no-turn washers, nuts, cassette joint, and shifter. That is about 3.75 lbs.

I did some quick calculaions to compare to a der. drivetrain. This is for all XT components(weights from Jenson), which would actually cost you more than the Alfine hub:

Cassette: 300g
Rear der.: 227g
Front der.: 174g
Shifters: 288g
Rear hub: 370g
rear Q/R: 61g
Granny chainring & bolts: 30g?

That comes to 1450g, or a difference of about 600g, or 1.3 lbs. That is a very quick calculation, so I may have missed something. For me, the extra weight is worth it. Having a simple maintenance free drivetrain, not having to worry about sticks etc. getting kicked up into my rear der., perfect chainline, no chainsuck or chainslap. Basically, you get all of the advantages of a singlespeed drivetrain with gears. Now if I could just get hold of some belt drive parts it will be perfect! I cannot comment on durability yet, but I will keep everyone posted.

Mark


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## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

Bicycle Rider said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I met you on the trail a coupla few weeks back at Blue Mt. (Your bike is instantly recognizable.) I was on a rigid Voodoo SS, if you remember.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I remember. I think we crossed paths on the Monster? That was actually my last ride in singlespeed mode. As I said earlier I have been running a few gears for the past few winters, for the reasons you mention, with a few cogs on my SS hub, and it worked OK, but I have really gotten used to idea of no rear derailleur.

As long as the weather cooperates, hopefully I will see you out there again!

Mark


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