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by blacksmith_tb 617 days ago
I agree that the message seems to mostly be about e-bikes, though I will say I was recently forced to get yet another Shimano BB / rotor tool recently, and I have quite an assortment of them now... My newest ride has a belt (not an ebike, but Gates + Alfine 11sp) which means more unique bits (but likely not for a while, I did have to get a fitting to oil the hub, but that's less work than keeping a chain lubed, so I can't complain).
2 comments
kjkjadksj 617 days ago
Hub is way more work than the chain. I have to repack mine soon and its going to take me getting it open, replacing the ball bearings, packing them in new grease after cleaning out old, then an undetermined amount of fiddling getting them just a quarter turn or so too loose in the cones so the quick release will torque them perfectly when its installed. Thats assuming nothing fights me along the way like a seized locknut on the cassette.

Chain on the other hand if it starts getting noisy it gets a generous squirt of rock n roll gold and a rag for 5 mins then its fine for another long while.

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to11mtm 617 days ago
Which Hub?

I know back in the day I could abuse the hell out of Nexus/Alfine 8 speeds, had one on a Chicago Schwinn that I rode in all sorts of weather, and another on a Diamondback Tandem that was ridden through tornado warning weather [0] on top of the overall abuse of being on a tandem with two experienced riders.

[0] - 10/10 would totally do again.

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kjkjadksj 616 days ago
Some tiagra 10 speed set up with an 8 speed cassette but its a simple enough cup and cone loose bearing design like most rear hubs made. Still though if you leave it in the rain like me the bearings will dry out and howl when the wheel is spinning, requiring new grease and bearings (since they are cheap enough to replace instead of clean and inspect).
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to11mtm 605 days ago
The 'red' Alfine 8 speed hubs had extra weather sealing, that's why it was great in the tornado weather lol.

TBH if you leave it in the rain just do a repack before you ride it again, unless it's a stupidly fancy hub, a lifetime bucket of grease suitable for hub bearings is probably still under 20-30 USD per person, and if you've got the wrenches and a stand [0] a repack can be done in 20 mins or less.

Edit: to be clear, I'm talking about normal hubs, with the Alfine we did an inspection but the seals looked good and a peek done inward indicated everything was fine so... yeah those red bands were gr8.

[0] - IDK if they still make it, but the Minoura FT-1 is... pretty good balance of quirks for the lack of dollars spent, both for truing and other wheel checks...

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ted_dunning 617 days ago
I had a belt drive not so long ago and when the belt broke, I found out that the entire system had been recalled by Continental with no repair or upgrade path possible. I couldn't even get a replacement belt.

The bike was a write-off as a result.

Oh... the Alfine hub that is supposedly nice and weather-proof get some rust in it that pitted some of the bearing races in the hub. Turns out those are not replaceable short of torching the hub.

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