Cycling UK Forum

What's good in hub-gear land for those wanting more than 3 gears?

From what I can tell:

- 5 gears means Sturmey - are they any good?
- 7 gears in the UK means Nexus 7, which I vaguely recall as being inefficient rubbish, but I could be wrong
- 8 gears means Nexus 8 (red band isn't too bad) or Alfine (which is good if you have disc brakes)
- 14 from a Rohloff, but that's somewhat excessive for this purpose!

Is it possible to buy a bike with the SRAM 7 in the UK? (I know CJ thinks it's great.)

This is all for my mum, so it needs to be available in a small, step-through frame and ideally from a normal shop where she can try it out first (so no clever German imports for the SRAM, for example).

At this stage I'm not ruling out a Sturmey 3-speed (as long as it's geared low enough) or a simple derailleur, but a maintenance-free option would be good.

I've just built up a rigid MTB with an Alfine, so far I think it's brilliant - shifts better than anything I've ever ridden before. I'm using an SA 3-speed for my commute, which is lovely in its own way but not so good on the hills...

mark a. wrote:...
Is it possible to buy a bike with the SRAM 7 in the UK? (I know CJ thinks it's great.)

This is all for my mum, so it needs to be available in a small, step-through frame and ideally from a normal shop where she can try it out first (so no clever German imports for the SRAM, for example)...

Cycle Heaven in York specialise in good quality roadster type bikes and they do test rides. There must be similar places elsewhere with a tradition of utility cycling.

http://www.cycle-heaven.co.uk/

Following TC's link to cycle-heaven.co.uk, I see that they sell Dutch Gazelle bikes.

If you are near Oxford, Walton Street cycles in Oxford deal in Gazelle bikes also, though I don't recall if they had any models on show last time I visited. They are a great shop though, well recommended. You can find them on the web here.

Best to visit them in person. I'm not sure if they sell stuff over the internet still, they got burned by some fraudsters I was told .

Orbit used to make a model called an Orien that used a Spectro 7, though sadly they are no longer in business. I have an Orien and I like it.

I also have a Koga bike which uses a alfine hub. It's been running close to three years now, trouble free.

Neither of the bikes are step through frames though .

Cheers. The Gazelles looks good, but on the more expensive (and heavy) side. My mum thinks the Pashley Princess Sovereign is too heavy and expensive, even though it's probably about the ideal bike for her.

Is the Nexus 7 completely rubbish, or ok? There are a couple of Ridgeback options, but of course they are Shimano only.

How does the Sturmey 5-speed fare?

mark a. wrote:...Is the Nexus 7 completely rubbish, or ok? ...

Definitely not rubbish, IMO. I got my Cannondale roadster in 1997. It has the Nexus 7 with coaster (back-pedal) brake. Up till then I'd always been a dyed-n-the-wool derailleur man but for that type of bike it's ideal. I thoght it had been superceded by the 8. Just after I got mine, there were a couple of reviews/ comments by CJ in the mag about maintenance - that version was supposed to have a strip-down service twice a year with regreasing. At first Shimano Service Centre I took it to, the mechanic frankly told me he'd no experience of hub gears but he did it - or said he had - and charged me something like a tenner. Six months later, being a conscietious sort of chap I went to Cycle Heaven in York where they know about these things and it was a more realistic £35 quid. After that I got a dirt cheap spare wheel from SJSC in case anything went wrong (IMO rear wheels are always the achilles tendon of a bike.) Nothing has gone wrong Anyway, I understand that the servicing is now a bit easier because with current models you can dip it in oil.

The hub works perfectly OK for me - I have a Sachs Spectro, AKA SRAM on another bike and I couldn't say there's much difference between the changing. My bike came with the Nexus 33T chainwheel and I have gears between something like 25" and 75" if I remember correctly. I've only used the bottom gear once( I had to ride up the side of a house )

My only note of caution with Shimano hubgears is rear wheel removal/ replacement which can be a pig. If you buy one get the nice person in the shop to demonstrate removing and refitting the back wheel. Don't accept assurances that it's easy. Watch them do it and see if you (or your mum) would want to do it at the roadside. I've never had a rear wheel puncture on that bike, but I'd walk home if I did (I only use it for shopping in a radius of about 5-6 miles.

Thanks TC. I have a Nexus 8 on my city bike so I unfortunately know about how difficult it is to take the wheel out (especially as it has hub brakes too) and getting it serviced.

Fortunately my mum will only be using it for a couple of miles at a time, so she can walk the bike home if she does get a puncture. Or I'll make sure she gets Marathon Plus tyres on there.

Nice to know that the Nexus 7 is ok. The Cycle Heaven website mentioned that the Ridgeback Avenida 7 used to have the Nexus 8 on there, but they downgraded to the 7 for 2010 to keep the price down. So it's obviously still around as a budget option.

I was still surprised that the cheap derailleur options have 6- or 7-speeds and threaded headsets. I thought they would have long gone now that they're moving to 10-speed and a-headsets.

Cycle Heaven is what I would think of as a quality bike shop, as in they don't sell junk. This means that for utility cycling they are competing with supermarkets selling £70 quid stuff, where my impression (and I've not been in recently) is that their typical bikes are upwards of £500. ie a reasonable price range for bikes intended to last beyond the end of the street. They seem to be competing successfully by selling the right products and giving decent service. Also, they are doing this seriously, if that makes sense. It's not a five day wonder and then let's move onto the next planet-saving gimmick. I've no connection with the place (although I was once in there and a middle-aged man had me convince his wife on the virtues of Bromptons because I looked like a cyclist. (The tights are often a clue ) I thought the female salesperson might be annoyed because she very obviously knew loads more about Brommies than I do but she took it in good part.)

The shop is well worth a visit for anybody in the York area.