I'm building a bike with an Alfine 8 internal hub and had a fun idea last night:
Brifters for IGH hubs are kinda hard to find. Rohloff hubs, which usually use a twist shifter, have the option of a Rohbox to adapt brifters to the hub by using a separate ratcheting mechanism. This thing costs like €250.
The Rohbox site also has instructions for modifying a SRAM doubletap shifter to remove the internal ratcheting, using the shifter lever simply to transmit a pull.
Microshift makes a brifter specifically for the Alfine, but it's around €200.
Luckily trigger shifters for the Alfine are cheapo, and basically do the same thing as the rohbox. Ignore the fact that SRAM shift levers cost more than the hub (just buy used).
So, can I rig brifters to pull the finger triggers on a regular shifter, using clamps with drilled holes (green) to hold the cable housing steady near the triggers?
Would the SRAM shifters not pull enough cable? Has anyone tried something similar?
Would brake levers with mechanical seatpost dropper controls work better for this?
by RecDep
3 Comments
SRAM doubletap can pull two gears worth of cable which is 3.4mm. Alfine wants 5-6mm. To make this work you’d need to connect the incoming cable closer to the Alfine shifter pivot than the outgoing cable. I don’t think it’s possible without a pretty heavy mod of the alfine shifter or a secondary adapter to multiply the cable travel from the doubletap lever.
Also keep in mind that the Rohloff is indexed at the hub (which is why the rohbox does what it does, why they’re talking about removing ratchets, etc.), while the Alfine is indexed at the shifter.
Microshift sells bar end shifters for 50€ that you can jerry rig to road brake levers.