Roadrat Alfine 8 with G370 hub build.

[Scott_J]

Afine8 for the wife may be a good idea if she has gear changing issues or forgets to change up for a lower gear at a stop.
Alfine are marvelous for those situations where one forgets also the twist grip is sooo much better then a thumb changer.

Before the Roadrat I ran the Alfine on a Kona Blast with BBS01, no issues I can remember with changing gears . I also had a two chain ring set up on the BBS01 and the extra torque with the small chain ring didn't create any issues for me.

Afine8 for the wife may be a good idea if she has gear changing issues or forgets to change up for a lower gear at a stop.
Alfine are marvelous for those situations where one forgets also the twist grip is sooo much better then a thumb changer.

Before the Roadrat I ran the Alfine on a Kona Blast with BBS01, no issues I can remember with changing gears . I also had a two chain ring set up on the BBS01 and the extra torque with the small chain ring didn't create any issues for me.

Thanks for the info, but how did you run a double chainring? I thought the Bafang was only a single chainring?

 

[saneagle]

Jesus! I'm lost now!

I thought it was just a case of stop pedalling, like the ol' Sturmey Archer 3 speed, change gear, and then begin pedalling again?

The missus is a fair weather weekend cyclist on gravel tracks. Her 8FUN was upgraded for a bit of speed, but I'm knocking it back to road legal. Here in the UK, the Plod are seizing e-bikes and skateboards now. I can't really blame them.

A 250w crank-motor loads the chain with up to around 5 times the force of a normal rider. A BBS01/2 also runs on a bit, so when you pause to change gear, the motor is still going and the chain is still loaded. They get round that by fitting a gear shift sensor, but a lot of people find that it causes too much delay, which is annoying and can cause a weak pedaller to stall out when needing to shift going up a steep hill.

Many people have such systems and have got to understand what the issues are, and they adapt their riding style to mitigate them, but these are not the sort of guys that can't figure out how to work derailleur gears.

I can guarantee that if she's not happy with derailleur gears, which are the best solution for a crank-motor, she's not going to be happy with the hub-gears. That's my point. I don't know why all the trolls above are trying to make it more complicated than that and why they don't care about the wellfare of your gf.

 

[Nealh]

Thanks for the info, but how did you run a double chainring? I thought the Bafang was only a single chainring?

One can use a spider adpater desiged for the BBS , I ran with a 32t small ring and a 42t larger ring as I also do with my TSDZ2. With hub gears there is no issue with chain line.
One can tinker with the BBS run on in the programming settings, I had no issue with using hub gears with BBS . A brief pause was all I found needed and generally would change gear before hills.

Maintenance and set up is key with the Alfine , any sloppy gear changes or crunching of gears changing need to be sorted out pronto and is usually an aligned issue or tension issue with the cassette set up. The alignment of the yellow cassette marks is crucial.

 

[tommie]

I`d advise your missus to go with the Alfine 8, i`ve had both and imo the Alfine 8 is much more user friendly, i`ve no need to pause pedellng when changing up through the gears it slips into the next ratio no problem, however when approaching a steep hill make sure you`re in the right gear first. If you`re buying one make sure you also purchase the Nexus Revoshift over that trigger change, literally you can go from gear 1 to 8 in a second. This also is a big advantage if your stopped suddenly and have to set off again.
Btw my Alfine 8 is now 10 years old and still going strong on a BBS 02 *touch wood*

 

[Nealh]

+1 for the revo shifter , they are sooo much better then thumb shifters.
I have simialr shimano revo shifters on my cargo bike and Swizzbee.

 

[guerney]

250w crank-motor loads the chain with up to around 5 times the force of a normal rider. A BBS01/2 also runs on a bit, so when you pause to change gear, the motor is still going and the chain is still loaded. They get round that by fitting a gear shift sensor, but a lot of people find that it causes too much delay, which is annoying and can cause a weak pedaller to stall out when needing to shift going up a steep hill.

Again, the BBS01B won't run on causing problems, if you change firmware parameters. But if you never changed firmware parameters on the old version BBS you had all those years ago, you wouldn't know this to be true. As I said, the gear sensor on my bike works great, except in exceptionally hilly and very rainy circumstances, but experiences of others does vary. My motor has never stalled on any hill, even when changing down gear on the steepest hills in heaviest rain - with the "Keep current" firmware parameter at 100% at maximum pedal assist, there's a nasty gnashing of gear teeth but never stalling, even when dragging up a 15.5kg trailer loaded with 75kg+ of cargo up steep hills during downpours - I'm not a strong pedaller at all, and that was when the BBS01B 36V controller was limited to 15A on my 20" wheeled Dahon Helios P8 folding bike conversion, not at the current 20A current limit, with a 19.2Ah/691Wh battery, my bike weighed 22.41kg, 52T>32T, and I weighed 86kg = 198.91 total weight, plus breakfast. I admit I had to pedal hard, but the motor never stalled, never has no matter what thus far.