# Have you broken your Alfine?



## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

I've been hearing tales of problems with some of the new Alfines. Most of the 11 speed owners I know have had good experiences with their 8 speeds.

So a few questions:
1. Have you broken your Alfine 8 or 11 speed?
2. If so what front and rear combo were you running?
3. How long have you had it?
4. Was it warrantied?​


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## Pinchphlat (Feb 27, 2009)

1. Have you broken your Alfine 8 or 11 speed?

No.

2. If so what front and rear combo were you running?

44/20

3. How long have you had it?

A month

I will add that I have had set-up issues, especially with cable tension. This resulted in problems shifting into 11th gear, which sometimes didn't engage. Further tweaking with the cable tension + cable adjustment bolt length (I am using 182mm now, not 184mm) resolved these issues.

I too have heard of a few problems with the Alfine 11, but nothing as yet that cannot be explained by an incorrect set-up of the hub (apologies to presslab - yours sounds a bit more serious). The problem is that the hub is reeeeaaalllly sensitive to cable tension. Get it out of whack and you will have slipping gears or mis-shifts all the time.

I am loving this hub - its performance rocks. Admittedly though I haven't used it on a mtb, so others may want to comment on its performance in this situation.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

This looks like good news. 

So far none reported broken amongst the mtbr crowd.


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## fokof (Apr 24, 2006)

Velobike said:


> This looks like good news.
> 
> So far none reported broken amongst the mtbr crowd.


http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=662054

reply #8


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## rekrutacja (Jan 16, 2011)

1. Have you broken your Alfine 8 or 11 speed?

No. My 11 just arrived yesterday and still sits in the box 

2. If so what front and rear combo were you running?

Planning 32/20

3. How long have you had it?

1 day 

4. Was it warrantied?

Yes.

(No, this is not a valuable input to the discussion. I just want to share with you my exciment


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

It's a case of no news is good news


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## mickuk (Jul 6, 2007)

Was in the local bike shop on saturday - they had a wheel from a Genesis mtb that was going back on warranty - something in the hub sticking when shifting one of the gears. Looked absolutely brand new so probably a manufacturing issue.

We have 2 x 8 spd Alfines with no problems (32:18 on one of them - not sure about the other).

We were in Denmark last summer and came home with a new fast commuter bike running 7spd Nexus and roller cam brakes. LOADS of hub gears over there, but interestingly hardly any of the brands were using the Alfine (maybe 1 or zero bikes in ranges with +10 hub gear models). I quizzed the bike shops about this - evidently they had big issues with early Alfine 8s corroding the driveside bearing races (I thought this was only an issue with the early 8spd Nexus and Alfines were OK). Lots of unhappy customers had bought high end hub gear bikes with the Alfine expecting Nexus 7 durability - so now nobody would touch them (manufacturers and customers).


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## anthony.delorenzo (Aug 17, 2006)

Posted this before, but my wife and I have 8-speed Alfines that just finished their third winter up here on low-geared Pugsleys. (Winter here is 5-6 months and temps of -40 C.) Have required some maintenance but never an issue. 

I've only seen one Alfine 11 in action and it died horribly within a month on a Pugsley. First the cassette joint broke and then later the internals were destroyed. Guy riding it is a monster who can break anything, but he is also an LBS mechanic and the best one I know, so user error can be ruled out.


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