A cautionary tale for Alfine users.....

[Andy R]

At the minute I'm using an Alfine 8 hub on my Hummingbird and, for the sort of riding that I do, I reckon its the best thing since sliced bread.
For those of you that don't know what sort of riding I do (all of you then :roll it involves lots of scratching around in rough forestry, boggy moorland and overgrown sheep tracks mixed in with some techy singletrack - all places where a rear mech can be a PITA and a singlespeed can be great 75% of the time - the Alfine handles the other 25%. Like a SS with a few gears.....

Now, if you have an Alfine, you'll know that the cable stop on the shifter mechanism uses a little split shouldered ferrule which fits into the pressed steel "arm" on the gear change unit. Sometimes when you remove the cable this ferrule stays with the hub, sometimes it comes out on the cable - it just depends how it feels on the day.
Sometimes it drops on the workshop floor and has to be found and refitted.

Imagine this scenario - I'm out last Wednesday on a nice club evening ride, starting in my village and heading up into the hills. About 25 of us altogether. I'm testing a new rear tyre (Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.4", run ghetto tubeless). I somehow end up at the front of the group and, along with one other guy, climb a steep rocky pitch and then sit and wait for everyone else, who it turns out have decided to go a different and easier way. So we hammer back down to catch them up and as a result my rear tyre burps most of its air and a load of sealant . Two CO² carts. and one mile later I give up and decide to fit a tube - whip the wheel out, tube in, last cartridge to inflate and wheel back on. Cool - now to play catch-up, as I've told them not to wait for me....

Hang on - gears won't work, that bloody stupid little ferrule has dropped out during the wheel change and now lies buried in 6" of grass among the sheep shit. So I have no option but to take a shortcut home and ride it all in 1st. gear. Just wonderful .

So, the next morning out came the hacksaw and brazing gear and the stupid cable stop arrangement was cut off and a proper split cable stop (like on a frame) brazed on in its place. It's how it should have been made in the first place. I'd advise anyone who actually uses an Alfine anywhere that they might have to whip the wheel out in less than ideal conditions to do this modification - it means that there's one less thing to go wrong and I don't know why I was too slack to do it months ago. Well, actually I do - I'd rather be out riding than in my workshop but it only took 10 minutes...
If you haven't got the gear to do this yourself then feel free to send the cassette joint unit to me and I'll gladly do it for you FOC. I just hate bad design details like this.

I'm also looking to modify a cassette joint unit so that it's permanently locked in 5th (direct) gear. It's small enough to carry with me so if I end up destroying the shift lever or breaking the cable I can swap it over and still have a decent gear to finish my ride and get home.
Much the same as with a Rohloff you can select a gear with a spanner if the shifter gives up.

 

[bryan555]

I love your modification, and your frustration with poorly thought through products. If I had an Alfine it would be heading your way!

 

[dbmtb]

It's not bad design. It makes the hub usable without a tensioner when fitted to a bike with horizontal dropouts.

Alfine was never intended for off-road use as such either.

 

[Andy R]

It's not bad design. It makes the hub usable without a tensioner when fitted to a bike with horizontal dropouts.

Alfine was never intended for off-road use as such either.

What possible difference does the design of a cable stop make to whether you can use it without a tensioner or not? It's rubbish detail design to have small parts that are easily lost in the event of wheel removal/refitting whether it's off-road or not.

I don't use a tensioner or horizontal dropouts, for what it's worth. Not that it makes a blind bit of difference.

 

[dbmtb]

Actually misread the original post and misunderstood what you'd actually done.. Of course it makes no difference. Some reason I thought you'd gone and brazed something onto the frame itself. Note to self : read slower.

Reason they use the system they do, is because the nexus cables were originally very prone to freezing in nordic climes dues to moisture getting in the cables.

The current system has a "raincoat" which reduces the likelihood of that happening. A setup like the one you made resembles the original 4 and 7-speed cassette joint setup from 94 or so, and would last until november in my part of the world and then not work again until late March, if the bike was kept outside - as most of them are here. So blame your predicament on the danes, who are probably the country with the highest usage of Nexus per capita....

 

[Andy R]

A setup like the one you made resembles the original 4 and 7-speed cassette joint setup from 94 or so, and would last until november in my part of the world and then not work again until late March, if the bike was kept outside - as most of them are here. So blame your predicament on the danes, who are probably the country with the highest usage of Nexus per capita....

I haven't really changed anything as far as the whole cable set-up is concerned - simply eliminated the need for a small and easily lost (by me, anyway :roll stainless steel split ferrule with an OD of about 6mm and about 10mm long which is all that acts as a cable stop. That little part that I've circled, in other words.