# Alfine 11 and a tale of woe



## ocean breathes salty (Oct 1, 2006)

Well, I have had my Alfine 11 for several months now. From day one it has been impossible to get it shifting correctly, it seems fine in the work-stand but as soon as it is used under any form of load it plays up. By load, it isn't grinding up enormous climbs, a small incline is enough to get the problem to appear. 

The biggest problem is the false shifting in gears 1,2,3. Gear 2 seems to be a hit and miss affair. Changing from 3rd to 2nd results in no response at all from the hub. Changing from 2nd to 1st will then see the hub bypass 2nd altogether and go to 1st. Clicking back up to 2nd then sees the hub stay in 1st gear. This whole process is accompanied by a symphony of clunks and bangs which leaves me wincing. 

If I play with the barrel adjuster and deliberately misalign the yellow dots slightly in either directions just sees things deteriorate further. I will end up picking up gears out of sequence eg. shifter indicates 2nd gear however the hub is in 1st. Then clicking to first sees the hub change to a higher gear - possibly 2nd but it is hard to know. 

I'd be grateful if someone had any advice on a prospective cure however I suspect I just have a dud hub. 

I'm running 1x11 with 32x18 so it is near enough to within spec for the shimmano recommended input ratio. Its been a very bitter experience and while I love the whole I.G concept, it seems the only way to get there is $$$$ for a Rohloff. YMMV.


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## Pinchphlat (Feb 27, 2009)

My advice would be to check the distance of the cable bolt along the shifting cable. Getting this distance wrong will throw your shifting out no matter how well you line up the yellow lines. It also helps to focus your attention on Step 8 of the shimano tech documents (see this link http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/t...A/SI-6TV0A-001-ENG_v1_m56577569830713439.pdf), which measures a 184mm distance from the bolt side of the lip on the rubber bellows to the very middle of the cable bolt. I used venier calipers to make sure my bolt was at the correct distance.

The symptoms of your hub suggest that the bolt is further away from the bellows than the 184mm distance.

I had similar problems with my alfine 11 hub when I first took it out for some riding, which consisted of skipping and refusal to jump into gears at the high end of the range (gears 10 and 11). My problem was that I had innacurately set the cable bolt too close to the bellows. A small adjustment solved the problem instantly, and I now have perfect shifting.


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## ocean breathes salty (Oct 1, 2006)

Pinchphlat said:


> My advice would be to check the distance of the cable bolt along the shifting cable.
> The symptoms of your hub suggest that the bolt is further away from the bellows than the 184mm distance. .


I just broke out the tape measure and the cable bolt is precisely 184 mm so unfortunately that doesn't explain the symptoms. (Even if you were out by a few mm, isn't that what barrel adjusters are for?)

Has anyone ever sent a hub back to shimano under warranty? I'm assuming you have to pull the whole wheel apart and only send in the hub which is a right pain!


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

Almost every problem I have seen with hub gears can be traced back to cable problems originally.

Your problem sounds like others I have come across where the cable doesn't run freely.

Does your cable run freely? If not, try to arrange it so it has no tight curves. Also sometimes cables get kinked when being inserted into the shifter at assembly time, so it's worth checking for that.


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## ocean breathes salty (Oct 1, 2006)

Velobike said:


> Almost every problem I have seen with hub gears can be traced back to cable problems originally.
> 
> Your problem sounds like others I have come across where the cable doesn't run freely.
> 
> Does your cable run freely? If not, try to arrange it so it has no tight curves. Also sometimes cables get kinked when being inserted into the shifter at assembly time, so it's worth checking for that.


Thanks Velobike, that was just the motivator I needed to try a new cable. When i pulled out the old cable, it had two minor kinks which I hadn't noticed before. I also thought the radius of the cable bend around the bottom bracket was a little bit tight. There was also a little wiggle as the cable snaked along the chain stay.

I broke out the dremel and fashioned a DIY cable guide which is now zip tied to the chain stay (Its and ugly prototype at this stage. I will probably get some cable guides professionally attached if the hub starts behaving). Previously, the cable would turn on the chain stay as you tightened the zip tie due to the oval shape of the stay. The cable guide now keeps the cable centered under the stay and promotes a much straighter cable path.








So with a new inner and outer and a better cable path, things seem much better. I replicated the sort of load it falters under by riding with the front brake dragging and it behaved flawlessly. I couldn't even get second gear in the past, now I can stand and mash and it doesn't skip.

Hopefully this is the solution and I can start trusting this hub for a little ride across Australia I have planned later in the year.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

What happens when your cable is kinked is that if you are adjusting the cable it does not straighten, so the marks are not in their true relationship to each other, and it will work sometimes but not others.


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