Shimano Alfine on test: Premium gears for those who don't like maintenance?
Adrian Kaether
· 31.05.2026
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BIKE conclusion on the Shimano Alfine
Stylish, discreet and efficient: the Alfine is Shimano's answer to Pinion, Rohloff and co. and much cheaper. Great gearing for touring cyclists, if the clearly too long uphill gear is not an exclusion criterion.
Shimano Alfine 7001: The facts
| Model | Shimano Alfine 7001-1 1x11 |
| Price | 440 Euro >> available here |
| Weight | 1840 grammes |
| Bandwidth | 409 per cent |
| Smallest gear | 9.7 km/h |
Shimano Alfine in practice: How Shimano's top hub gears ride
Price and weight are manufacturer's specifications and refer to the complete shifting system with trigger and gear hub. For the smallest mountain gear, we use standardised parameters (28 inches, 47 millimetres, 60 rpm) and the lowest possible gear ratio.
When the Alfine 11 was introduced a few years ago, expectations were high. The range is high enough for touring cyclists and the price is attractive. The Alfine 11 is only around half a kilo heavier than a comparable derailleur gear system and only slightly more expensive than a Shimano XT, for example. There are also sporty thumb levers with a gear indicator and not "just" a twist grip as with Nexus and the like.
And Shimano's top hub can actually do a lot of things really well. It runs efficiently and quietly and also shifts under light load. Installation and removal are user-friendly and there is a dealer on every corner. As with Pinion and Rohloff, the gearbox runs in an oil bath. This makes the Alfine more durable and easier to maintain than the cheaper Nexus. The maintenance intervals with oil changes every 5000 kilometres or two years are perfectly acceptable.
The big catch is the torque limitation, which is reflected in a strong limitation of the gear ratio. In other words, Shimano only releases the Alfine 11 with relatively large chainrings at the front and small sprockets at the rear.
One or two gears are often missing on steep climbs, while you can still pedal along at 45 km/h downhill. If you're travelling with luggage, you'd rather have it the other way round. However, if you can live with the tight uphill gears, you get a well-graded and low-wear system at a fair price.
The Shimano Alfine 11 gear hub at a glance
Strengths
- Quiet and efficient
- Eleven well-graded gears
- Price-performance ratio
Weaknesses
- Mountain gear too long due to limited gear ratio
Adrian Kaether
Editor
