When the bike is loaded up and heavy, it can sometimes be easier to maintain balance on poor road surfaces by riding the bike. When pushing the bike, one has to be off to one side or other and that can mean using a lot of upper body strength to control the bicycle (careful of the back). Meaning that when pushing a steep climb over rough ground, it can be hard to maintain balance and footing. This generally falls under the heading of expedition touring and for that the Alfine is probably not a great choice. But for most general touring, I'd have to agree that that a person can make the Alfine work reasonably well. It wouldn't be my choice though - I value a wide gear range for touring.
On Friday, July 5, 2013 3:41:08 PM UTC-6, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery wrote: > > Ok, I can't stand riding for a long period of time at 3.5 mph either. On a > long climb (in the real mountains, not in Minnesota) I frequently alternate > between walking and pedaling. Not because either is faster or better, but > to alleviate boredom and the discomfort issues of sitting on an inclined > bike pedaling an easy gear. > > On Friday, July 5, 2013 3:14:27 PM UTC-5, Steve Palincsar wrote: >> >> It's been years since I used an 18" low but with a 40-50 lb load in 4 >> panniers climbing over Massanutten Mountain in that 18" I was making better >> than 2 mph, and you can bet that pushing that bike up that steep grade I >> couldn't have made anything like the speed I was going. But, as I say, >> that was years ago. >> >> These days my lowest gear is usually 22", and on a long steep mountain >> grade I'm usually making around 3.5 mph using it. (I had opportunity at >> Bike Virginia a week ago to take note of this, going up what they called >> "Caldwell Mountain".) I barely make 3.5 mph walking on level ground, not >> pushing a bike. I can't push a bike up a steep hill at anything remotely >> like 3.5 mph. On Caldwell Mountain at 3.5 mph it looked as though was >> going twice as fast as the people who were walking up the hill. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Matthew J" <matth...@gmail.com> >> To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com >> Sent: Friday, July 5, 2013 10:40:08 AM >> Subject: [RBW] Re: IGH on a touring bike? >> >> >> > Personally I can't stand spinning a 20" low gear up some steep hill at >> 2 mph. I'd rather walk. >> >> Same here. >> >> Believe the evidence is clearly in on the Rohloff for long distance and >> rough stuff touring. Mine was quite a robust piece of work. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
