# Alfine Tourer?



## jetbike (Mar 10, 2008)

I'm thinking of converting my beloved Surly 1x1 ss mtb to a fully loaded touring/expedition bike. I can't afford to even say R*****f, as much as I think they are probably exactly what I need.

What do people think? Do they have what it takes to move me, 40kgs of gear and my bike across continents, or should I bite the bullet and start saving?

Thanks


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I own a Surly LHT with a 48/38/28 x 11-34 MTB drivetrain [I use the 38T x 11-34T range 90% of the time] as well as a Big Dummy with Rohloff and I'm thinking of putting that Rohloff in an IGH specific touring frame.

I looked at putting an Alfine hub into a touring bike. I worked the numbers and it's do-able if you are a strong rider who can climb steep grades without an uber low gear and who won't be frustrated with a top speed in the low 30kph range. You'll have to be comfortable with a varied cadence to make the limited gear range work.

Really your worst case from a gearing perspective is that you'll have to walk up the steepest grades and you'll be coasting down the steepest downhills. In my books that's not a show stopper.

Where the Alfine causes me some concern is how many hard touring miles will you get out of a hub? What is the likelihood of a fatal problem? I don't have an answer for that. If anyone does I'd love to hear it so I can get a sense of where the Alfine fits in relative to the Rohloff. So far getting 100,000kms from a Rohloff seems to be a no brainer and the highest mileage Rohloff is pushing 200,000kms. The issue with any IGH is even if you break down near a LBS you likely won't get any help so an IGH touring bike has to be very reliable and not breakdown.

So what would I suggest? Well if money is tight and you feel the Alfine's gear range is reasonable for you go for it. Do your best to drop your gear from 40kg down towards 25kg and see what you think. If you can save up some $$$ for a Rohloff down the road. If you end up being really happy with the Alfine buy a plane ticket with the Rohloff money and do some touring.

Personally I gave up on the idea of using an Alfine when I looked at the total cost of building up a IGH specific touring bike - I'll be buying a frame/fork and building it up from scratch. I'm going to "time share" my Rohloff between the Big Dummy and a hardcore touring bike. I'll save my $$$ and eventually get a second Rohloff. The cost of the Alfine was enough %-wise of a Rohloff that I figured the Rohloff was the better investment on a $/km basis. More importantly I have less concern the Rohloff would pack it in at an inopportune moment in the middle of nowhere. With an IGH touring bike peace of mind is worth a lot.

BTW - the Surly 1x1 has some fairly short chainstays @ 16.5" unless you have very small feet you'll need to get a rack that allows the panniers to sit fairly far back which may cause some handling woes if you heavily load your bike.

cheers,

Vik


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## pursuiter (May 28, 2008)

jetbike said:


> ...Do they have what it takes to move me, 40kgs of gear and my bike across continents, or should I bite the bullet and start saving?...


How low a gear do you need? My wife and I road all over the Rockies on a road tour, 7% grade is the max, we had 30x30 for a low gear, didn't really need it.


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## 1spd1way (Jun 30, 2006)

*I love the 1x1 ,but,*

No rack mounts. You can get away with OldManMountain racks. Well built with the only downside is if you have a flat. The quickrelease mount becomes a slow, tedious, unloading or a comical balancing act.


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