# Santa Cruz Nomad - IGH



## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I love my Santa Cruz Nomad, but don't love the derailleur drivetrain. I've got a couple Alfine/Nexus 8 bikes and a couple Rohloff bikes so I know what life is like with an IGH bike and I want to convert my Nomad.

Here are three options I'm considering:

Option 1: Alfine 11 Speed single front ring

- would need to wait until late 2010/early 2011 to get one
- decent gear range [I'm currently running a 2 x 9 setup]
- less weight than Rohloff at rear
- reasonable cost

Option 2: Alfine 8 speed w/ Hammerschmidt

- can convert right away
- excellent gear range
- less weight than Rohloff at rear [not too worried about sprung weight at BB]
- appeals to my bike geek side
- potential drag/inefficiency with essentially two IGHs in play
- Alfine would see a lot of input torque with Hammerschmidt in low range...not sure if damage would happen
- 24T Hammeschmidt ring will affect the rear suspension when pedaling
- not cheap

Option 3: Rohloff w/ single ring up front

- can convert right away
- excellent gear range
- more weight than Alfine at rear
- I own a Rohloff I can use as long as I swap derailleur setup to my other bike
- not cheap, but Rohloff is paid for

Key issues for me are:

- having a clean minimal chainline ideally with a push up chain tensioner only to deal with chaingrowth during suspension movement.
- keeping enough gear range
- not adding so much unsprung weight at rear wheel I'll be unhappy with how bike rides

If the 11 speed Alfine was available today I'd probably just go that route so I don't have to mess with my Rohloff bike, which I like the way it is. Not sure I want to wait a year to make the switch.

I'm not buying another Rohloff so would need to steal the one on my Surly Big Dummy for the Nomad.

Anyways poking around this forum I see there is lots of experience with IGH MTBs so I figured I'd ask for some feedback before I make a move.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I just weighed my Rohloff wheel [Mavic EN321 rim w/ Rohloff 160mm disc - no tire/tube] = 2.8kg/6.2lbs. I weighed my buddy's rear wheel from his Nomad [Mavic MX 321 rim w/ 160mm disc rotor and 9 spd cassette - no tube/tire] since we were fixing a flat = 1.65kg/3.6lbs. My Nomad has nicer parts so my rear wheel may be even lighter.

2.6lbs was more than I was expecting the difference to be. I'm no weight weenie, but I'm not sure adding that much unsprung weight is a good idea.


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## bsdc (May 1, 2006)

vikb said:


> I just weighed my Rohloff wheel [Mavic EN321 rim w/ Rohloff 160mm disc - no tire/tube] = 2.8kg/6.2lbs. I weighed my buddy's rear wheel from his Nomad [Mavic MX 321 rim w/ 160mm disc rotor and 9 spd cassette - no tube/tire] since we were fixing a flat = 1.65kg/3.6lbs. My Nomad has nicer parts so my rear wheel may be even lighter.
> 
> 2.6lbs was more than I was expecting the difference to be. I'm no weight weenie, but I'm not sure adding that much unsprung weight is a good idea.


Now go weigh the front and rear derailleurs, and the granny and big rings.


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## bsdc (May 1, 2006)

I've got a Rohloff and Alfine8. Recently, I've come to believe that my Rohloff is slowing me down more than I had thought. I'm liking my Alfine8 and really looking forward to the Alfine11. I'm currently working on getting my Alfine8 on my main ride. If that goes as expected it will stay there until I can get my hands on an Alfine11.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

bsdc said:


> Now go weigh the front and rear derailleurs, and the granny and big rings.


First off I'm not worried about 2.6lbs in general...if they were added at the BB no biggie. Adding them to the rear wheel where they are unsprung is a significant change of 60%+ to the current weight of the rear wheel. At high speed that wheels gotta go up and down a lot - extra mass there makes a significant difference.

Secondly the rear derailleur weight loss will be balanced by the need for a chain tensioner and the Rohloff External Shift Box. I haven't weighed all that stuff, but I expect it will be a wash.

The front derailleur will get replaced with a Rohloff Chain Guide. The savings up front would be the front shifter and granny ring. I've already replaced the big ring with a bash guard that I'll be keeping.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

bsdc said:


> I've got a Rohloff and Alfine8. Recently, I've come to believe that my Rohloff is slowing me down more than I had thought. I'm liking my Alfine8 and really looking forward to the Alfine11. I'm currently working on getting my Alfine8 on my main ride. If that goes as expected it will stay there until I can get my hands on an Alfine11.


I've got an Alfine on my Surly Pugsley - great hub and has withstood a ton of abuse. Looking forward to the Alfine 11 speed, I'm going to let Shimano go through one product iteration before I buy one so they can fix any issues that come to light when the first run hits the streets. These hubs will be on your bike a while so you don't want one with a glitch that is a PITA.


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## merlinm (Feb 12, 2010)

vikb said:


> Anyways poking around this forum I see there is lots of experience with IGH MTBs so I figured I'd ask for some feedback before I make a move.


very pretty bike. did you get a chance to ride the nomad with the hub on it? first impressions?


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

merlinm said:


> very pretty bike. did you get a chance to ride the nomad with the hub on it? first impressions?


No I only got as far as weighing the Rohloff wheel and my buddy's Nomad wheel. The weight differential is discouraging me from making the swap. I'm going to ride my Nomad the way it is and think about things a bit more. I'm not interested in putting a Rohloff on the bike at all costs.


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## joelsman (Apr 4, 2006)

How about keeping the front 2 rings and swapping over a nexus 8 for now? you would need a really good tensioner.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

joelsman said:


> How about keeping the front 2 rings and swapping over a nexus 8 for now? you would need a really good tensioner.


The Nexus 8 weighs nearly as much as the Rohloff and if I have to have a 2 jockey wheel tensioner and front rings and front derailleur I'm not much farther ahead than I am now.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Although not the 100% solution I've ridden a bike with the Hammerschmidt AM BB/Crankset and that combined with a short cage rear derailleur might be a pretty good option.

The only issue is how the SC Nomad would ride when pedaled in a 24T all the time. Several Nomad riders in the Santa Cruz forum report no problems so it's probably not a big deal.


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## krolik (Jun 9, 2006)

hey, I've been running rolo on a Nomad2 last year. Great combo if you can loose the weight on the damper. If you just replace the drivetrain and leave shock as is (which I highly recommend to experience) you'll see the difference instantly. The mass is esp noticable when running over a series of small/medium obstacles - the shock packs up A LOT. I run a ccdb which can be tunned to loose that. But the weight is still there and you feel it. 
On the other hand rolo gives you perfect ballance when taking off (which can be hard on my Knolly DT - 41lbs - it tends to stick to the ground), is trouble free and allows clean setups. Pushing a 41lbs bike up steep sections is a gamble though - you're so lucky to get up there and not get burried under your bike.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I got a sweatheart deal on a Hammerschmidt which brought it within reach of my wallet. I'll try that and a short cage derailleur this season.

Now we need a 4 or 5 speed light weight IGH for the back end and we'd be set!


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## Paco Loco (Oct 25, 2007)

Apparently the Alfine 11 is coming out in September so not too long to wait. 

I don't think Alfine 8 + Hammerschmidt is a good idea. I think it would give you a vast range of gears, a third of which you would never use. 

Also, as you will be running a chain tensioner anyway it would be possible to have an Alfine 8 in conjunction with a double ring setup on the front. You would want the double rings to be quite close together in size I'd imagine.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Paco Loco said:


> Apparently the Alfine 11 is coming out in September so not too long to wait.
> 
> I don't think Alfine 8 + Hammerschmidt is a good idea. I think it would give you a vast range of gears, a third of which you would never use.
> 
> Also, as you will be running a chain tensioner anyway it would be possible to have an Alfine 8 in conjunction with a double ring setup on the front. You would want the double rings to be quite close together in size I'd imagine.


I'm not going to get an Alfine 11 until next summer when Shimano has had a chance to get any first production run bugs sorted.

Looking at the Rohloff and Alfine they both weigh enough I'm going to skip an IGH on the back end for now. I'll run a Hammerschmidt up front with a short cage rear derailleur for this season and see what next year brings.


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