# the new ride



## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

I have about 8 hours on it. The Alfine is awesome despite being a pig. I changed the gearing from 34 to 32 up front this morning. The back is a 20 tooth. Basically it gives me all the gears I'd ever want off road.

The 29er feels faster than my 26" but the rigid fork scares me if I'm wicking it open. I doubt I'll beat my 26" TT time without front suspension. Needless to say, the traction while climbing is excellent. The bike feels like it's on rails in the corners and I don't trust it yet because of riding 26ers all these years.

The frame is XL with a seat tube of almost 24" This is the first bike I've ever owned where I had to remove spacers from below the stem. No riser bars on this ride.


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## alpka (Aug 20, 2007)

sweet ride! please update this thread occasionally. Like to hear how you keep liking the Alfine. And give the forks a chance, you may end up liking rigid


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

*update*

Alright, here's one. I just changed the cable routing to seatstay. It was dead easy, I just had to put a little bend in the cable mount on the 'cassette joint', in order to clear the chain. I switched the blue and green washers and it was done. I'm routing the cable right beside my hydraulic line for the rear brake. Makes for a nice clean installation. Shifting is exactly as before, just had to do a minor adjustment on the barrel adjuster.

Drew


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## alpka (Aug 20, 2007)

Nice!


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## mountaingoatepics (Jan 30, 2004)

Awesome Dru. Glad you got it all together. I just sold my carbon rigid and put the Reba back on. Big mistake. I'm actually looking at buying another carbon rigid to replace the suspension.


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## calma (Oct 16, 2006)

Shack

The ride looks - very sweet / very clean and simple.

Pics look pretty good.

If you are interested in a bash ring for the front let me know; I have a couple. It may add some weight, but will safe the chain on the rocks and logs.

Talk to you soon.

rob


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## bstrick (Nov 12, 2005)

Keep riding and using your body as your suspension. You will be just as fast as ever soon with the rigid.


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

*faster for a while*

Thanks! I have picked up a lot of speed already. I knocked off 2 minutes on the 1st third of my local TT loop. The new bike climbs like a goat which is where I picked up the time. However when cranking up the speed in the 20 mph range the ride is very harsh. I'm not used to the pounding my forearms, hands, and wrists are taking. The last 15 minutes of the loop is extremely fast and mostly down hill. Yikes!! As a result, I was about 40 seconds slower than my best 26er hardtail time (1:17:00, for a 14 mile loop) last time because of fear and fatigue. I might back off the front tire pressure quite a bit more, and avoid the 3 rock gardens I like to crank through.

Drew


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

*29er/Alfine loving it*

I did a personal best today for the 22 km loop that serves as our off road TT; 1:16:32 As I said in my last post I noticed I was faster in a few sections. Today I beat my previous 29er time by 68 seconds, also beating my last personal best (on a HT 26er) by 31 seconds. I didn't even feel good today, so I'm kind of surprised. My hands have some new blisters but my body seems otherwise to be adapting to the rigors of the rigid bike. I chased down a guy on a fully right at the start of the TT. He was giving it his all for about 5 minutes, and then gave up. I would have paid to see the look on his face as my seemingly single-speed rigid bike blew by him. He wasn't slow, I saw him behind me for a good ten minutes. It sure was fun!

Drew


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## calma (Oct 16, 2006)

dru said:


> I did a personal best today for the 22 km loop that serves as our off road TT; 1:16:32 As I said in my last post I noticed I was faster in a few sections. Today I beat my previous 29er time by 68 seconds, also beating my last personal best (on a HT 26er) by 31 seconds. I didn't even feel good today, so I'm kind of surprised. My hands have some new blisters but my body seems otherwise to be adapting to the rigors of the rigid bike. I chased down a guy on a fully right at the start of the TT. He was giving it his all for about 5 minutes, and then gave up. I would have paid to see the look on his face as my seemingly single-speed rigid bike blew by him. He wasn't slow, I saw him behind me for a good ten minutes. It sure was fun!
> 
> Drew


WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

*update*

I've had the Alfine for about 5 weeks now and have around 500 km on it. The shifting is exactly as the day it was new. The only real change is some chain 'stretch' from wear. I'm running a sram pg 830, nothing special. The modification to seatstay routing is still working perfectly too.

I crashed twice on a group ride the other day so the front Small Block 8 has to go. I was riding with some fast people and was pushing it more than the tire could take. The front just washed out on somewhat greasy hardpack, with pretty much zero warning. About 15 minutes later it did it again. I haven't liked the lack of traction since my first ride. I ordered a Maxxis Ardent today, many here seem to like it.

One of the crashes moved my right brake lever and scored my carbon bar a bit. I also chipped the clearcoat on the frame, but luckily not the paint. I'll be pulling the bar off tonight to buff out the scoring (it's shallow) so it doesn't form a stress riser.

I had to true up my front wheel a week or two back, although the back has been perfect. I'm guessing the rigid fork is hard on the front wheel. I'm running very low pressures too, as I've heard the rim (s) ping off rocks in the gardens a few times.

I almost forgot; the bike isn't quite as piggy as I thought. The digital fish scale at the shop shows it at 27.4 lbs, only a little more than my numbers from weight weenies.

Drew


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## forwardcomponents (Dec 2, 2008)

How I wish the Alfine hub was lighter. I would buy one without hesitation.


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## dstepper (Feb 28, 2004)

forwardcomponents said:


> How I wish the Alfine hub was lighter. I would buy one without hesitation.


Don't let that stop ya. Feels heavy until you start riding, then I don't really seem to notice the weight. Yesterday ride was on the SART (Santa Ana River Trail)...has many quick ups and downs; the quick shifting really helps maintain momentum. Almost as much fun as my Singlespeed but without the spinout on the downs. My bike is a Niner One-9 with carbon fork, weighs 25.5lbs.

Dean


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## bsdc (May 1, 2006)

I agree. The solid, quick shifting of an IGH outweighs the weight penalty. Unless you are scary thin, I recommend losing a pound or two of body weight and giving an IGH a try.


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

Another few weeks on the build. I've got somewhere around 30 hours on the bike. I did a group ride last night still running the Small Block 8 up front and had no issues with traction. It was bone dry, so maybe that's why I crashed a few weeks ago when it was 'greasy'. The hub is still working flawlessly so I have nothing to report really, except for chain wear and front chainring wear. What was funny was the fact the chain ring is only wearing on around 4 teeth in two different places. My guess is this is where there is maximum load on the cranks when I'm standing and grunting up a hill. I unbolted the ring and moved it one spot on the spider, to even out the life of the teeth. The natural chain wear was worrying me a bit since dropping a loose chain would absolutely destroy the 'cassette joint' on the hub. I also believe in leaving things alone so I was reluctant to mess around with the Bushnell EBB, to take up the slack in the chain. However, I noticed the odd click here and there a week ago which sounded like BB issues. This was confirmed by a short ride on Tues. where the BB was clicking on every revolution if I stood and mashed. So the other day I loosened off the EBB, slid it slightly out of the shell (with the cranks still installed), and cleaned it off as best I could. I reapplied anti seize to the parts, set the chain tension where I wanted it and re torqued the adjustment set screw. Everything is perfect once more. The last thing I'd report is the need to run stupidly low tire pressured with the rigid set up. I worry a bit for the rims doing this since I'm getting the odd PING from rocks, but it's the only way I can endure the pounding. I am slow, slow, slow otherwise. I'm guessing mind you, but I'd say 25 psi tops, front and back and I'm 180 lbs. I think it was a good idea spec'ing 36 spoke wheels.

Drew


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

Can someone define "piggy"? My friend and I both have Speedhubs, and we are both interested in the Alfine. We have heard that the Speedhub adds 2 lbs more than a traditional drive train with those crappy D things. What's the Alfine and shiffty bits actually weigh? Compared to traditional? or to a Speedhub?


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## baker (Jan 6, 2004)

dru said:


> ...The natural chain wear was worrying me a bit since dropping a loose chain would absolutely destroy the 'cassette joint' on the hub...


I've dropped the chain numerous of times on my Nexus and Alfine hubs and had no issues with damage to the 'cassette joint.' Not sure what the concern is here...


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

That's really good to know. I figured that if it fell off at the back and dropped to the outside it would shred the plastic bits and the cable. It's good to know it won't. Were you dropping chains at the rear or on the front ring?

Drew


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

People have said 1900 with the cable and another 200 for the shifter. Here's my run down from weight weenies. I'd say my 24" Xl frame has to be 6 lbs, but I've never weighed it.

1200 tires Kenda SB8
440 x 2 rims Salsa Delgado Race
1900 hub Alfine
200 shifter Alfine
2700 frame XL El mar.
180 front hub 36 hole XT
450 cranks RS8 Middleburns
400 pedals pd m 520
300 bb Tange
130 bar RF. carbon XC
300 post Ritchey Comp
170 stem Ritchey Comp
125 king head set
1100 fork El Mar rigid
280 brake levers xtr
450 calipers xtr
200 rotors xtr
135 seat Selle Italia slr
80 nipples brass
200 chain pg 830
150 skewers salsa
270 spokes dt double butted
300 tubes 


12100 (26.62)

27.4 lbs actual

Something's adding a few grams.


Drew


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

Just found this on Hub Stripping:

For the full assembly consisting of hub, dust cap, inner chain guard, 20T sprocket w/outer guard, snap ring, driver cap, cassette joint, cassette joint fixing ring, 1 pr no turn washers, and 1 pr supplied shimano acorn axle nuts, the total weight is 1847 grams. Also, the shifter is not light at 223 grams for the shifter, cable, full length housing, and cable fixing bolt.

Total 2070 g

Drew


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## baker (Jan 6, 2004)

dru said:


> That's really good to know. I figured that if it fell off at the back and dropped to the outside it would shred the plastic bits and the cable. It's good to know it won't. Were you dropping chains at the rear or on the front ring?
> 
> Drew


both (not at the same time)...generally due to unbelievable mud/snow and my inattention to chain tension.


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

dru said:


> Just found this on Hub Stripping:
> 
> For the full assembly consisting of hub, dust cap, inner chain guard, 20T sprocket w/outer guard, snap ring, driver cap, cassette joint, cassette joint fixing ring, 1 pr no turn washers, and 1 pr supplied shimano acorn axle nuts, the total weight is 1847 grams. Also, the shifter is not light at 223 grams for the shifter, cable, full length housing, and cable fixing bolt.
> 
> ...


Great info, but what a traditional 3 ring setup weigh so I know how it compares?


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

Lazy guy! Weight weenies is just a click away! 

Assuming you want to spend some bucks and buy all XTR here's the difference. 

The cranks weigh about what my middleburns do, but I'm running a really heavy BB.

fd 150 
rd 200
cranks 780
cass220
hub 280
shifters 220
cables 75
-925

Drew


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

dru said:


> Lazy guy! -925


You got me there! 

That over 2 lbs more... Although I wouldn't buy all XTR either. Can't afford that.

I have a Speedhub already, but I don't like how heavy that bike feels. I wonder if how much more or less the Alfine weighs compared to the Speedhub. Has that been posted in any thread yet? :skep:


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

*Ardent*

Just tried out the Ardent 2.25 on the front. I was riding mostly dry trails that had a few mud holes here and there. The traction is much better than the Small Block 8 I was running. The tire is visibly bigger with much wider spacing between knobs. It rolls well, but not as well as the Kenda. However, I was quite aggressive a few times with the cornering and was quite impressed. The Alfine is continuing its worry free reliability. As for me, I'm slow of late from not riding enough. The summer has sucked with nothing but rain. So it goes.

Drew


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