Shimano Nexus Inter-8 Hub Gears Review - BikeRadar

I have the Alfine on my commuter bike.

The good

Function is great

oh so silent. I oil my chain once a month (roughly once every 500-600 km) and it runs perfectly

shifting when stopped

nice spread

can work with a front deurralier to increase spread further although you would sacrifice the perfect chainline

The not so good

shifters are clunky design.

There is no drop bar shifter option

Gaps in gearing are too wide for roadies

For me the only real problem is the dearth of nice shifters. Because the pull is not the same as traditional Shimano 8 or 9 sp systems you are stuck with specific shifters, which are nowhere near as svelte or nicely made as say an XT 9sp trigger. There are some workrounds to the shifter issue and I am currently running mine with a Dura-ace 9sp bar end shifter on friction with the cable run through a Problem solvers Vbrake pull converter to lengthen the cable pull. Allegedly this will index properly if I get an 8sp shifter but I have no direct exp of this yet. In friction it works fine except that it is so smooth that you get no feedback as to whether you're solidly in gear or not so there's a loss oof confidence when you sprint away and it slips. I will be getting an 8sp DA bar end shifter and trying that, however the bike I have this setup on is a tourer / commuter so sprinting is not too much on the agenda.

All in all a very nice hub and not expensive, I got mine for about 200 Euros for the built wheel (28sp) c/w cable and twist shifter, I doubt you could get a comparable quality wheel / cassette / deurralier for much less than that

Very impressed so far but please shimano, some nice shifter options!

Oh, and I can't believe you ran an article on hub gears without mentioning the daddy of multispeed gearhubs; Rolhoff

J-tek make a bar-end shifter for the Nexus + Alfine: http://jtekengineering.com/jtek_bar-end_shifter.htm

thanks for the link Tristan. Is that a brand new product from JTek do you know? I was in contact with them only about 3 months back about their progress on making a shiftmate for the alfine, but at the time they were having unspecified difficulties with it.

80USD is a bit rich but then a pair of Dura ace 8 or 9sp shifters aren't cheap and you still need the converter bodge, I may just order me up one of those j-teks!

I'm intrigued - Bomberesque mentions using a front mech with this as well to increase the range of gears. How would the slack in the chain be taken up when you move to the a smaller ring at the front (or vice versa)? Surely you would still need a derailleur system, albeit one that doesn't move, to alter the chain tension for the different sized rings at the front...

I have the Shimano Nexus Inter-8 hub gears on my Specialized Crossroads hybrid bike and agree that their operation is great (with RapiFire shifters).

HOWEVER, these hub gears have not stood up to 3 winters of daily use on a short (2 mile) commute. I asked my local bike shop to send the rear wheel away to Madison (Shimano Service Centre in the UK) for a hub service as the hub had been running rough for a while. The diagnosis was badly damaged internals, not serviceable. Solution: replace with new Nexus Inter-8 hub costing around 150 pounds.

I would have expected a hub gear set-up, described as low/zero maintenance, to last considerably longer than 3 years or 3000 miles. The old Sturmey Archer 3-speed hubs went on forever with an occasional drop of oil. Not impressed!

I wish these companies would do away with the clunky shifters. The old sturmey archer shifters were awesome, and not to mention reliable. All these new ones, including sturmey, seem to have lost that.

i have the nexus inter8 on my ridgeback nemesis, So does my pal. His broke down agfer tow years and could not be repaired. I thought this a was just bad luck but mine has brtoken down after 2 1/2 years light use. My local and usually reliable repairer says it cant be fixed and replacement cost is £200. Is this normal or are we being ripped opff?

I have found the Nexus setup to be very sensitive to chain stretch - becoming noisy and clunky after a very short time and requiring frequent tension adjustments. Perhaps I need to buy a better (more expensive) chain next time? My Specialized Globe came with cheap chainring which wore out very quickly and had to be replaced. The replacement is lasting well so far (it is a Blackspire). Overall I think I would hesitate to buy the same again - mainly due to aforementioned chain wear issues.

My wife has a Nexus 7 speed which goes up to 5th gear then when 6 is selected it comes back down to 4 then 7th gear is really 3rd. The red lines line up and my local bike shop says new hub. Has anyone any ideas? I thought of putting on a bigger main chain wheel but she does not want to lose the low gears even though she never uses them. From the comments here it does not look like the Nexus is worth £150 plus all the fitting cost/hassle though conceptually hub gears are an excellent choice.

I was astonished to read that "However, with the 'sealed for life' tag that comes with the Shimano Inter-8, spares shouldn't be a consideration." My experience is that the hub has no effective weather-sealing. I believed the publicity at first and did not get the hub serviced regularly, with the result that it disintegrated after a year. I am not a heavy rider but live in the west of Scotland, which is not the driest part of the UK. The replacement hub has been greased every few months and lasted two years before it started to malfunction. Other people that I know with these hubs have had a similar experience. I decided not to waste any more money on it (the matching hub brakes had also degraded to uselessness) and have just bought a new bike with a SRAM hub gear instead. I'll see whether that is any better. It's a great pity because the Nexus worked beautifully while it was in good condition.

I am very unhappy with mine. Just out of warranty on a giant crx city , it imploded on my commute home from work . I had to freewheel it home. Prior to that I had to do constant rear wheel adjustments due to chain stretch- chain jumped off a few times. and , despite correct adjustment it clicked in some gears very annoyingly. It has done 1540 km's and only once in the wet. All riding has been done on asphalt. It is unrepairable- cheaper to replace it than attempt to repair it.

They are not worth the trouble. I am putting a single speed wheel on the back of the crx so I can ride it.

Stick with the deraillieur set up - it is lighter, easier to change tyres and the hubs freewheel better.

I have a road bike that I have a blend of campagnolo centaur,chorus and record. I have done 21,000 trouble free kilometres on it.

I have riden seriously for 30 years and I would have to say that, for all the hype , this 8 speed internal hub was a manufacturing disgrace. I feel that I have been conned. Without a doubt the worst cycling investment of mine EVER.

in my jakarta, indonesia, shimano nexus 8 is very rare, if it's there then it "vanish" very fast ! it one of favorite gears for commuters in jakarta !

---

Akbar

http://community.gunadarma.ac.id

http://akbar.staff.gunadarma.ac.id

I bought a Carrera Subway 8 from Halfords about 4 years ago. The chain stretch grindy noise problems were present as described and it failed completely after about 5 months. So this proves I gave it a hard time, but when I stripped it I found little evidence of grease, the failure being due to water ingress and corrosion. I reassembled the hub and went back to Halfords who muttered about not knowing how to fix it and eventually agreed to supply a replacement hub (£110 on the invoice!!). Before I laced up the wheel I stripped the hub, guess what, no grease!!! I decided to go the way of the sturmey, and drilled and tapped a hole in the body of the hub and sealed the plastic end with silicone. Then I filled the hub with 100ml of synthetic oil. I also fitted a derailleur and a front triple ring to give 24 well spaced ratios. The bike has now been maintenance free for 3 years and about 9000 miles (daily commute). Last month I had to replace the shifter though, a pivot had worn, affecting the alignment, I guess it had never been greased!!!!

Hi, I find it a bit strange no mention of the Rohloff is not made, surely that is the benchmark by which all internal hubs are to be judged?

Having said that I'm a newbie and not too knowledgeable and therefore the SRAM and Rohloff are the only two hub gears I was aware of and I'm please to see that I could get a hub gear system for circa £200.

Thanks to bubbaelles for the tips on how to get 9000 miles from it.

I've just had my second Nexus 8 hub die on me in less than a year. Both times it was very clear when something started to go wrong - I could feel a grinding sensation that started when I got caught in the rain, and that grinding never went away. In the first hub's case it took almost six months to die totally. The second hub died after only two hours in the rain. Shimano has offered to replace the hub, but frankly I don't need a third failure to tell me to avoid these like the plague.

Conversely, the Alfine hub appears to have adequate sealing and so last forever. They are definitely not the same hub with disc brake options.

Avoid the Nexus 8 and avoid my pain!

Nice to find this article on the Nexus 8. I looked around for information because like Electric Leo, I am on my 2nd Nexus 8 hub and it just died after only 2 months! Both times, the bike shop says that when they opened the hub it looks like a grenade has gone off inside. Unbelievable!

I live in Toronto, Canada. I figured an internal hub would be great for those days when I am commuting in light snow. I don't ride when the snow gets too deep. An internal hub that keeps things safe from the elements sounded like a super idea when I decided to make the purchase. Problem is that dirt makes its way inside and you don't know there is a problem until suddenly things are grinding and your ride is horrible.

At this point the bike shop is attempting to fix the second hub. I am seriously thinking of keeping the frame (Specialized Globe Comp) and getting rid of the Nexus 8, and going to a standard gear system. Has anyone gone that route? Any similar stories or helpful advice appreciated.

I've not owned one (though I have ridden a Plug for a couple of days), but I've heard of more than a few problems with Nexus hubs. In fact, commuting home a couple of nights ago I watched a poor guy struggling with his gears. He told me the hub was six months old, had been back to the shop, but still slipped. He'd even come off his bike a couple of times because of it. He was riding a Charge Plug.

Heard much more reassuring things about the 8-spd Alfine. Am riding an 11-spd Alfine for a few days, and been impressed so far but no idea what the longevity is of this newer hub.

Sorry, for Plug read Tap

A further update on my previous comment about running a Nexus 8 hub full of synthetic oil. Feeling quite smug here as after 5 and a half years it is still as sweet as day 1. I stripped it recently to take a look at the internals. The oil came out clean, no particles at all, so I am guessing no wear! I googled rohloff for a laugh and they are silly money. The Nexus 8 works if you lubricate it. I cannot for the life of me understand why Shimano put this thing out greased, when that huge sprocket side bearing desperately need ongoing lubrication provided by a flow of oil. If you have one, fill it with 50mls of FULLY Synthetic motor oil (100 was too much and lead to seepage). Mineral will gum up the shift when it gets cold, fully synthetic will not. Happy Cycling. PS the shifter failure has not reoccured because i periodically oil the round nylon transfer disc in the grip shift style shifter. Maybe shimano don't lube because they want you to buy spares! As if.