Just how low-maintenance is a hub-geared bike?

[Sheepy1209]

Another thread and my experiences maintaining a derailleur bike have got me seriously considering a hub-geared bike - but while I hear they're low maintenance, just how much lower maintenance are they than a derailleur bike?

I live in Blackpool and commute year-round, along the promenade when the weather allows (nice to do 9 miles of a 10-miles commute with no cars to worry about) - my drivetrain therefore gets a regular dose of sand, whether sprayed up from the surface or blown in the wind - I have full mudguards which help but it still gets everywhere.

My bike's an 8-speed derailleur, and I've been taking the chain off every couple of weeks for a thorough clean and re-lube - I've just had to swap it after about 2000 miles because one of the links had snapped, but it wasn't showing 75% wear yet. But even so - it looks like I'll have to change the cassette because it skips in the gear I use the most (10 miles of flat roads means I'm in 3 or 4 on the middle ring for 90% of the time).

I'd hoped that by changing the chain before 75% I'd be able to use the same cassette but it looks like I'm out of luck (I'd got one in just in case).

I know I could simply run the chain and cassette until they're both totally worn out, but last time I did that the chain snagged in the rear mech and ended up jammed in the spokes so I'm keen to avoid that! (I hadn't been particularly careful with that chain and got less than 1000 miles out of it so my maintenance regime's helped a bit).

So - how good is a hub gear in wet and sandy conditions?
How much longer does a chain last and does it need to be maintained just as rigorously?
Are they typically any more or less vulnerable to pothole damage?

Ta

 

[Piemaster]

Under those conditions I would think the chain life wouldn't be much different, a chain has a lot of moving parts moving against each other obiously not a good combo with sand. Your circumstances do sound like an ideal candidate for a belt drive hub gears. Like this

 

[Sheepy1209]

Hmmm....hadn't thought of belt drive - tbh I'm tempted to stick with the chain cleaning rigmarole a bit longer (it's nearly summer after all) until I can afford something like that. My LBS is a Trek dealer as it happens......

Of course I'll need something like a nice road bike for those summer weekends!!

 

[snailracer]

The other advantage of a hub gear is that you can fit a chaincase.

 

[corshamjim]

For such conditions I'd recommend drum brakes - no wear on your rims and the braking surfaces are protected from the weather.

I've just fitted a Sturmey Archer XL-RD3 which has a 90mm Drum brake - it's quite a lump of metal but brakes well even down long steep hills.

 

[buddha]

I've found that 1/8" BMX type chains last longest. Especially if you use a 1/8" sprocket, and ideally a thick chainring too.
The best thing is that these chains are pretty cheap.

Once a week I feed a strip of rag around the rear sprocket and rotate the chain a few turns. Which gets the insides of the links free of gunk.

 

[Sheepy1209]

Thanks for the ideas - I won't be buying until the Autumn so I'll keep my eyes open for deals.

Snailracer - is fitting a chaincase an easy job? I don't care what it looks like!


Of course the real answer is keep away from the sandy bits, but there's something about riding along the seafront that's so relaxing and it's different every day - wouldn't be without it.

 

[tyred]

Snailracer - is fitting a chaincase an easy job? I don't care what it looks like!

Chaincases come in two different types. There's the old steel ones found on Raleigh roadsters and similar bikes from the 1950s and before. You need a bike where the seat stays unbolt to fit one of those and they do make wheel removal a bit tedious but they will work wonders for chain life. Keep the chain tight and they shouldn't rattle. Don't dismiss one of these bikes out of hand for your ten mile commute if you can find one in usable condition for a sensible price. Wash it down with a mixture of diesel and paraffin to keep rust at bay. With the right gearing, these are quicker and easier to ride than you might imagine. Try and get cable rather than rod brakes though, as they will stop so much better and an upgrade to alloy rims is now possible in the 26 x 1 3/8" size for a modest amount of money. Hub brakes are nice if you can find them.


The more modern type, which you will probably need to buy from a Dutch or German bike shop, are generally plastic, or fabric and are much lighter and easier to fit and do the same job. If buying, the things you need to know are the approximate length from the centre of the back axle to the centre of the bb axle, the chainring diameter and the sprocket diameter.

I recently bought a plastic one from Ebay for a few pounds which I intend to fit on 1980s 3-speed "winter" bike. It's looks like it should be straight forward, the only issue might be the crank as the case needs to fit between crank arm and the chainwheel. Easy in my case as I have a traditional cottered chainset on the bike in question (this has a large gap between the chainwheel and crank arm), but I do think some modern cotterless cranks wouldn't work.



Edit: The seller I bought mine from has some left. I can confirm this will fit over a 46 tooth chainwheel and a 22 tooth sprocket and is 46cm from centre to centre, typical chainstay length on a normal frame size English roadster. As I said, it may not work with cotterless cranks.

 

[Piemaster]

Of course the real answer is keep away from the sandy bits, but there's something about riding along the seafront that's so relaxing and it's different every day - wouldn't be without it.

Every day?

 

[Sheepy1209]

Every day?

Oh - that's just a sea breeze!!

Had a perfect day back in January - almost calm in the morning, and a 60mph south-westerly to carry me home. Doesn't happen often though.
It's not so bad for me, it's actually a mile shorter for me to take the inland main road route where it's quite sheltered, but there are some cyclists who have no option but to use the seafront route (the two routes diverge south of Blackpool because of the Airport) - I'm full of admiration for them.

 

[snorri]

Derailleur gears on utility bicycles seem to be a peculiarly British thing, our Euro neighbours seem quite happy to forgo any performance advantage for the lower maintenance of hub gear systems.

 

[Sheepy1209]

We could go on and mention lights, mudguards and racks too........since I returned to cycling the bike I bought has become virtually unrecognisable - I've learned a lot and I'm glad I did it this way but for my commuting in future I'll just buy the right bike in the first place.

Mind you, it doesn't help that I like tinkering!

 

[Chickc78]

You need a 2010 Trek Soho - 8 speed Nexus hub gears, belt drive and internal roller brakes (plus full mudguards as standard) - I have ridden one 7 miles a day, 5 days a week for the last 12 months and the only maintenance I have needed was:-

Cleaned the bike once - 8 months after getting the bike it was a little grubby but still looked better than other bikes that had only been ridden in for a week

Removed rear wheel to fix a puncture

Occasional hub adjustment/fine tuning - primarily after removing the wheel for the aforementioned puncture but maybe 2 other occasions - simply tweaked the cable at the shifter end.

I have never had a bike that is so maintenance-lite.