Took the plunge and a ordered 11spd hub and shifters, so what rear and front ring set up.
Its all a bit confusing.

I have not seen the ratios for the new alfine yet – I know it is a 409% spread up from the 8spd's 307% but I don't know where in that ratio the 1:1 point is. They could have half the extra below and half above the current 1:1 point on the 8spd, or not – it will make a difference to the gearing you will want to use. I would want mine as the equivalent to a small and middle ring in a conventional set-up.

My current 8spd alfine (which will make way for a 11spd in time) is on a 29er and I live in a medium hilly area and geared it for plugging through mud. I have 20T on the back and a surly stainless 32T ring on the front, bolted to XT cranks (in the middle ring position). I flipped the alfine sprocket to improve the chainline.

Found this on a google search

The gear ratios for the Alfine 11 are listed to be as follows:
1 0.527
2 0.681
3 0.77
4 0.878
5 0.995
6 1.134
7 1.292
8 1.462
9 1.667
10 1.888
11 2.153

Don't know how accurate it is though 🙄

How does that compare to the 8 speed?

Seems odd that there's no 1:1 direct drive if those ratios are correct.

Alfine 8

8 1.615:1
7 1.419:1
6 1.223:1
5 1:1
4 0.851:1
3 0.748:1
2 0.644:1
1 0.527:1

from http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/shimano-nexus.html

Drofluf is correct, it's in Shimano's spec handbook. The Alfine chainset offerings are 39t or 45t, but no doubt people will come up with their own preferred front ring size.

@redted where did you find the Shimano spec? MY google-fu is weak today

*Pulls up chair*

Trying to work out the chainring size I will need for Alfine 11 at this very moment……..

It will depend on what sprocket size you chose 😉

I emailed Madison last week but haven’t received a response.

I’ve just found this though:

"It is recommended that the gear ratio of the front chain ring be set to approx. 1.9. Example: F34T – R18T, F39T – R20T, F45T – R23T"

1:1 was never direct drive though ….. so its irrelevant that 1:134 isnt exactly 1:1

I've been using a 26t chainring (18t sprocket) with my Alfine 8 for well over a year. Gets up (almost) anything, spins out on flat-ish road. Looking at the new ratios someone posted above, looks like 26 and 18 would work well for the 11, because it would be the same lowest gear and a higher gear for fast stuff.

Using an 8speed Alfine with 20 tooth sprocket and 32 chainring, found now I can climb most things with this gearing that I can with a triple set up. Yes I know some people would say that wasn't much anyway, but I'm happy with it.I'm not far from Hayfield and it's not particularly flat round here, yes you will spin out on flat/down bits, but it's not a problem. It seems the 8speed hub is a lot more affordable than the 11 as well.

I must admit when I googled that ratio list for the alfine 11 several months ago I was a bit skeptical that someone had just calculated them starting from the bottom gear ratio of the alfine 8. However, now that LordOnOne spotted Shimano's recommendation of 1.9 chainring/sprocket ratio, it sounds reasonable for the intended 'comfort bike' application:

I looked at the Marin San Anselmo, which is available in both Alfine 8 and deraileur versions. The Alfine 8 version ranges from 99 to 32 gear inches. The deraileur version (48/38/28:11-32) ranges from 119 to 24 gear inches. If there was an Alfine 11 version with 1.9 chainring/sprocket ratio, it would range from 115 to 28 gear inches, which imho seems about right.

I'm definately going to upgrade to the Alfine 11, since I use an Alfine 8 all year round at the moment on a P7. In particular, I'll be relieved to have a decent gear shifter, since the Alfine 8 trigger shifter is absolute pants whilst the Nexus 8 grip shifter is better but has dreadful build quality (as you'd expect).

I run a 30t chainring with either a 18t or 20t sprocket depending on how hilly the ride is going to be… The 30t 68mm granny (http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=3941&src=froogle) is a godsend as it gives me perfect 42mm chainline, plus its a bargain as its 5mm thick and looks to have been CNCed. It also means that with the same length chain I can have a 36t/12t on the middle which I use for singlespeed commuting with a 2nd set of wheels, plus a bash guard on the outer.