These look really nice. Too bad the hubs are so damn heavy.

Sorry, I have no idea what you are referring to.

Can you make your post/thread title a little less ambiguous please.

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Probably this:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/s ... res-33229/

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Sorry 'bout that.
Didn't see the BR piece, Just ran across them browsing eBay.

I was very excited last year when they announced this group set for a travel/winter trainer I had in mind. With the 1600+g hub weight, and 135mm rear axel, it would be a hard sell for me now.

Like the nuvinchi hub before, the internal geared hub technology still has some distance to go IMHO.

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I wonder what the gear range is like? 11-23 or more like a 12-27? Could build up to be a pretty fun bike depending on the ratios.

There's some improvement they can made. The motor unit looks bulky and heavy to me.

I believe 11-38 or 10-36, and at least the hub weight is around the axle, and no dishing/offset issues ...

Alfine 11 supposedly has a 409% total gear range. From 0.53 - 2.153

The conventions are a little different from normal cassette stack. But if you configure it to be mated to a 22T fixed cog, it works out to be something like a 10-42 cassette.

Those levers look really nice. For a winter bike this would be pretty ideal.

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It must be noted that Shimano specifically recommends a chainring / sprocket ratio of ~1.9. And not to deviate too far from that. The exact reasons I'm not so sure but probably has a lot to do with the stresses internally.

Interesting ... with that range only a single 46T or 48T crankring is necessary ...

But its really useful if and only if weight and overall efficiency are not priorities. Internal geared hubs can be a little draggy compared to their chain and sprocket cousins. Not sure the latest generation's figures, but the older generations can be as much as 10-12% difference in efficiency.

They are however excellent for commuting use as they generally require very little servicing. Even better if used on a quick and compact packing foldie like a Bike Friday Tikit or a Brompton as they eschew the convenience a compact clean fold with none of the (tangled up, dangling chain )issues of normal derailleur systems for these small wheel folding bikes.