Fancy giving my SS a bit more use and my poor fitness means SS isn't ideal.

I fancy considering Alfine but no where seems to stock it yet?  Any ideas and has anyone given one some abuse yet?

Ah, Good morning Sir!

Do you still have your Alfine setup?  How is it/did it fair?

Is there a stock issue?  I'm surprised the big boys aren't selling it - I got a strange look in Merlin the other week when I enquired about it.

Do you know they total retail price for the varouis componants?

It is pretty difficult to get hold of, all internal stuff is.  Apparently there was huge demand for it on the continent and Shimano couldn't keep up.

I don't know exactly but hub is around £120, fitting kit a tenner, sprocket a fiver, shifter price escapes me at the minute.  I am at home on a saturday morning and although I may be a bit of a geek I am not completely there yet!

Just riding along have some in stock. Well, they did last week.

Built up as a wheel £195, shifter's £25. 

http://www.justridingalong.com/shop.php?pid=481&product=171&PHPSESSID=d70d43b87a8cb587b3ad245205b3cf04

Cheer Jimy Jazz - Just started placing the various items into the 'basket' to see even they are out of stock of the fitting kits.

Anyone any comments on the No Tubes rims??

Olympic ZTR thingys?

I fancy some of those.

Apart from "Dura-Ace" Shimano's choice of names are a little odd.

• Deore (or should it be Deoré, Déore or even Déoré) is something in algebra in French and an hour in Italian.
• Acera makes me think of a steel works or perhaps it just needs waxing (Italian). In Spanish it's the footpath.
• Alivio sounds quite lively unless your Iberian in which case it's a relief from suffering.
• Ultegra - "ultimate integration" unless someone has a better idea.
• Nexus is a good name that suggests a link between people or even components but Nexave?
• Tiagra evokes a cross between an animal and a ladies dress but Shimano apply it to both a cheap roadie group and one of their fishing reels.
• Google throws up a town in Italy and an American bird for Sora but it sounds too much like margarine to me.
• Exage is a bit like "exige" or "exagère" to me but means nothing beyond Shimano bikes or fishing reels if you Google it.

I had a short demo on an Alfine kitted bike at the Mountain Mayhem. You could feel the extra weight in the back wheel when lifting the bike but to ride it was very smooth and seemed to change ok under load. The Shimano technician was very enthusiastic about it but couldn't comment on the durability. He did suggest that a twist shifter might be more usable as the trigger shifter will only do one ratio at a time. With the amount of rain and mud at this year's Mayhem, I saw a number of derailleurs that proved not to be very durable!

Unfortunately Madison (Shimano Importers) don't yet have the shifters and some other essential accessories for it.