Anyone have a good list of mountain bikes with internal-gear hubs?
July 6, 2010 by pbik
Filed under Mountain bikes
I’ve spent days trying to search for mountain bikes with internal-gear hubs and disc brakes. Mostly I find hybrids or cruisers, not the off-road stuff. Dynamic has the Elite chainless mountain bike, but I’ve heard mixed reviews of the chainless drives. Also the NuVinci gearless hub is interesting, anyone have any thoughts on that?
I don’t believe any manufacturers currently approve their hubs for mountain bike use, with the exception of the very pricey Rohloff 14 speed. I don’t know of anyone who “builds off the shelf” bikes with that hub for MTB.
as far as internal gear hubs go, you’ll only find them on cruisers and other “casual” bikes. if you are looking for a similar product for mountain bikes, look into SRAM’s Hammerschmidt cranks. these cranks replace the front derailleur and rings. it uses planetary gears that can be engaged while moving or standing still, meaning you don’t have to pedal in order to engage a new gear. i’ve been considering trying out this product myself, except there are limitations. the biggest limitation is that this is a frame-mount component, if your bike manufacturer didn’t have this upgrade in mind when building your specific model, odds are it won’t be compatible with your frame. the second limitation is PRICE, this little mechanism will run you upwards of $500. there are some shops that run these on certain builds, so if you’re considering getting a new bike anyways, you should opt for this upgrade if possible (the shops can get a better price on components than you can on the aftermarket).