# How to fit an Alfine in a 12x135mm bolt up axle



## wilbuick (Apr 10, 2008)

I thought this may be of interest to some people here as I haven't seen this done yet.

Basically I had a frame that had a 135x12mm bolt through axle that I wanted to fit an alfine to. The problem being that the alfine has a 10mm axle and needs slotted dropouts.

I ended up coming up with a rather unique solution that is better shown by pictures but I'll try and explain a little and the problems I faced.

First, the frame dropouts were twice as wide as normal 10mm dropouts so I couldn't run the non turn washers normally because there wouldn't be enough axle thread left to place the bolts on. I overcame this by removing the derailleur hanger and running the non turn washer backwards in place of the hanger. The other side I drilled a hole for the non turn washer to sit in inside the frame. After this I slotted the dropouts so the alfine axles could slide in. The slots were 10mm wide. Because the normal axle is 12mm I needed to shim the dropouts to 10mm. I managed this by using a piece of pipe 12mm od 10mm id and cutting it in half and pressing it into the existing dropouts. It worked out to be a rather poor press fit, but enough for what I needed.

I'm happy with the result and seems to be working well so far. The chain tensioner I have posted here before in one of these other threads so I won't explain that unless anyone asks.

[rant]Bring on the new alfine 11 speed and a proper shifter. For some reason I seem to break a 8 speed trigger every 1-2 months in the same place. Snapping a shifter off because it got caught in the leg of my shorts or whacking it with my knee? Comon shimano the hub is great but the shifters could do with some work.[/rant]


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## wilbuick (Apr 10, 2008)

In my original post I didn't upload any photos that actually show what the dropouts look like (probably the most important part). Mainly because I was too lazy to take the wheel out to take photos. So, here they are, if not somewhat late.


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## swift (Apr 3, 2007)

Dang, that seat is high! Curious to hear how that bike pedals? Seems like it will produce a pretty fair bit of anti-squat. Are you FR/DH on that bike or AM?

I think most will be scared off by the mods you made but I admire them. It's just metal, after all, and most warranties are something barely better than useless.

Nice work!


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## wilbuick (Apr 10, 2008)

The height of my seat should have told you I'm an AM rider, I don't think I've ever seen a seat that high on a DH bike before.  

The bike pedals really well for what it is. It's got 7.6 inches of rear travel but pedals like it's got less than 6. The suspension is really active when pedaling up techy rough terrain but has pretty much no bob anywhere else, even standing up sprinting. Actually feels a bit like the suspension locks out a little when sprinting, so not perfect, but it's active enough to not be a problem if I'm sprinting through a rough section.

It really does work well, and to anyone thinking of doing it I can seriously recommend. Like you said, it's only a bit of metal.

For a little comparison that I've managed to do so far, it pedals better than my mates Ventana x5 with a derailleur and the propedal off which I consider a fair test as I don't run any propedal.


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