OT: suggestions for internally-geared hubs + drop bar shifting

[Peter Colijn]

Background: I'm replacing my city bike.

I'd like another belt drive + internally-geared hub drivetrain, though this time with disc brakes (I'd rather not rebuild my wheels after every el nino year). On my old one, this was accomplished with drop bars by using a J-Tek bar end shifter. It worked OK ish, but I don't think it's "officially" supported by shimano and is really temperamental. The cable tension from the shifter to the rear hub has to be adjusted _very_ precisely or the thing skips a lot, particularly under load.

I could do the same combo for the new bike, but I'm wondering if anybody knows of anything better? Shimano does offer Di2 for these rear hubs, somewhat amazingly, but I think Di2 for a city bike is ridiculous, and I know I would forget to charge it at some point and wind up cursing at the bottom of Folsom...

I am potentially willing to entertian Rohloff or other hubs if there are more/better shifters available for them (although this page does not inspire confidence). I have internet'd this a bit and found some stuff (eg. this microshift thing) but I'm not sure how good it is.

[Alexandre Passos]

I've never had trouble shifting my city bike. Very smooth, silent, and doesn't depend on the cable tension at all.

(of course, it also doesn't make it up your hill...)

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[Peter Colijn]

If I move somewhere flat I might go that route :)

[Peter Chang]

it only works w/ the shimano di2 shifter pods but i contemplated doing something using the trp hylex bits...

https://www.trpbrakes.com/category.php?productid=1250&catid=206

the brakes are nice and i like how the hoods feel on the cx rig. it has the benefit that you can control the 1x setup that the alfine di2 setup uses and leave the other lever hood unmolested (unlike the regular shimano setups where you have to buy the levers as a set and just not use one of them).

however, i got scared off by reviews about the hub reliability

di2 - https://seasonalcommute.com/2015/02/22/the-trouble-with-alfine/

randonerds - http://forums.roadbikereview.com/commuting-touring-ride-reports/im-done-internal-gear-hubs-267049.html

those were a little bit back so maybe they're on gen2?

\p

[Peter Colijn]

Interesting. That second link has people hating on the versa/microshift shifter I found...

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[Zak Jarvis]

GCN recently did a puff piece on some German city bikes that may well fit the bill:

https://youtu.be/ZCED9HUhTy8

Though these don't seem to be available in the US or Canada currently.

https://www.schindelhauerbikes.com/en/bikes/2017/Wilhelm.html

That sounds pretty great on paper.

But it costs north of €5000.

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[Peter Colijn]

Yeah, I've looked at those. They don't seem to have drop bars, except for a single speed.

Maybe I have to give up on drop bars? I really don't like the twist shift thingies, though I suppose the thumb shift ones are ok.

The thing is I plan to use this bike for commutes in rainy whether / when other bikes are down, so I do want a position that's comfortable for a few hours.

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[Cordelia Link]

I found this:

https://www.shandcycles.com/bikes/stoater-rohloff/

It appears to be based on some fancy German hub. It also inexplicably seems to have both twist shifting and drop bars :)

On Friday, September 8, 2017 at 4:18:07 PM UTC-7, Peter Colijn wrote:

Yeah, I've looked at those. They don't seem to have drop bars, except for a single speed.

Maybe I have to give up on drop bars? I really don't like the twist shift thingies, though I suppose the thumb shift ones are ok.

The thing is I plan to use this bike for commutes in rainy whether / when other bikes are down, so I do want a position that's comfortable for a few hours.

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 5:01 PM, Zak Jarvis <voidm...@gmail.com> wrote:

GCN recently did a puff piece on some German city bikes that may well fit the bill:

https://youtu.be/ZCED9HUhTy8

Though these don't seem to be available in the US or Canada currently.

https://www.schindelhauerbikes.com/en/bikes/2017/Wilhelm.html

That sounds pretty great on paper.

But it costs north of €5000.

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 3:45 PM 'Peter Chang' via SF2G <sf...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

it only works w/ the shimano di2 shifter pods but i contemplated doing something using the trp hylex bits...

https://www.trpbrakes.com/category.php?productid=1250&catid=206

the brakes are nice and i like how the hoods feel on the cx rig. it has the benefit that you can control the 1x setup that the alfine di2 setup uses and leave the other lever hood unmolested (unlike the regular shimano setups where you have to buy the levers as a set and just not use one of them).

however, i got scared off by reviews about the hub reliability

di2 - https://seasonalcommute.com/2015/02/22/the-trouble-with-alfine/

randonerds - http://forums.roadbikereview.com/commuting-touring-ride-reports/im-done-internal-gear-hubs-267049.html

those were a little bit back so maybe they're on gen2?

\p

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[Zak Jarvis]

Important note from Cordelia's link: third party Rohloff shifters for drop bars. (But that bike also looks pretty sweet, even with the weird twist shifter)

[Peter Colijn]

Yeah that bike does look intriguing...

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[Zak Jarvis]

Duh. Peter found that already on the page about third party Rohloff shifters.

[Zak Jarvis]

Maybe a DI2 electric hub and a dynamo hub on the front always charging the DI2.

[Peter Colijn]

Not a bad idea, actually.. :P

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[Viet-Trung Luu]

Hilariously uncheap, but: https://co-motion.com/bikes/divide (you can get it with a Rohloff IGH or a Pinion gearbox; they have pictures of drop-bar builds of both)

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[Zak Jarvis]

Oh, wow! I didn't realize the Pinion system was more speedy than Rohloff! Impressive!

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 5:36 PM Viet-Trung Luu <viettr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hilariously uncheap, but: https://co-motion.com/bikes/divide (you can get it with a Rohloff IGH or a Pinion gearbox; they have pictures of drop-bar builds of both)

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 4:01 PM, Zak Jarvis <voidm...@gmail.com> wrote:

GCN recently did a puff piece on some German city bikes that may well fit the bill:

https://youtu.be/ZCED9HUhTy8

Though these don't seem to be available in the US or Canada currently.

https://www.schindelhauerbikes.com/en/bikes/2017/Wilhelm.html

That sounds pretty great on paper.

But it costs north of €5000.

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 3:45 PM 'Peter Chang' via SF2G <sf...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

it only works w/ the shimano di2 shifter pods but i contemplated doing something using the trp hylex bits...

https://www.trpbrakes.com/category.php?productid=1250&catid=206

the brakes are nice and i like how the hoods feel on the cx rig. it has the benefit that you can control the 1x setup that the alfine di2 setup uses and leave the other lever hood unmolested (unlike the regular shimano setups where you have to buy the levers as a set and just not use one of them).

however, i got scared off by reviews about the hub reliability

di2 - https://seasonalcommute.com/2015/02/22/the-trouble-with-alfine/

randonerds - http://forums.roadbikereview.com/commuting-touring-ride-reports/im-done-internal-gear-hubs-267049.html

those were a little bit back so maybe they're on gen2?

\p

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[Viet-Trung Luu]

Relatedly: https://www.cyclingabout.com/rohloff-hubs-with-drop-handlebars/ (only some of them are obviously terrible ideas)

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[Scott Perry]

I'm currently building a belted Di2 Alfine bike for future commuting, so this thread is relevant to my interests!

Alfine hubs all shift within the same angular space (about 135°), which is why the 11-speed is way more sensitive to cable adjustment than the 8-speed (the uneven shift gaps¹ make it extra hard to make a good third-party shifter). The motor unit needs to be adjusted to match the hub (which I would guess was the problem behind Kurt's issues that PfC linked), after which the assembly should be trouble-free.

Unfortunately the Di2 plug itself is not rated for many cycles, and the motor unit has to be disconnected every time you remove the rear wheel. Could probably get around this by splicing in a weatherproof 2.5mm TS jack.

Riffing off Zak's dynamo suggestion, there's a dynamo headlight that includes USB power output. Very classy.

I don't think there's enough of a market to support people making good aftermarket drop bar brifters for the Rohloff Speedhub, but you can use modified Campy or SRAM shifters with a Rohbox, which seems like the best solution out there. Cycle Monkey has them. The indexing in the hub means gear selection is perfect every time, but all that cable in between makes it feel vague/mushy compared to everything else.

Maybe you could build a fake fixie with Schlumpf drive to help you get up those hills?

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¹: The 11-speed cable pull intervals: 5.1mm, 5.2mm, 4.8mm, 5.3mm, 4.8mm, 6.6mm, 5.3mm, 4.7mm, 5.2mm, 5.9mm. There's a good mechanical reason for (e.g.) the larger distance between 6th and 7th, but it's a nightmare for designing a shifter.