Due to being in another country and a bit pressed for time, I’m looking for a bike shop in Bristol to service my Alfine 8, which has seen some serious use.
I’ve been told that the man in Mud Dock said they were sealed for life….. Beers ok at least.
Any recomendations?

There is a oil bath available from shimano for them. Thats the only service as far as I know. its expensive kit. Grease for rebuilds I think parts 42 – 45
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/SG/EV-SG-S500-2637C_v1_m56577569830689515.pdf

They arent sealed for life. I’ve stripped mine and it was pretty easy aslong as you dont start dismanting the gears themselves.

Loads of (german based??) alfine geekery of high quality
Shimano ALFINE

Scruff, I know they’re not sealed for life. The professional 🙄 in the bike shop told my brother they were when he went to get it serviced on my behalf. I’d rather do it myself and know it was correct than let a bike shop monkey touch it but I’m only back in the country for 2 weeks and I want to be using it everyday.
Cheers for the links TJ. Next time.
Good bike shop in or around Bristol anyone?

The hubs aren’t sealed for life. However in my experience bike shops just don’t want to take on this job since you need a special large ring spanner to take off the drive side casing and the Shimano service kit (basically a big cyclinder and some oil) is a rip off. Due to demand bike shops won’t see a return on the parts purchase.

I serviced mine recently, buying the ring spanner and took out the hub internals. I then used some Dextron auto fluid as an oil bath in big measuring cylinder. It took about 30mins and provided you don’t take the hub gears themselve apart, you will be fine.

Stripping and an oil bath – Alfine 8 speed hub service

Good bike shop in or around Bristol anyone?

Just about to phone Bike UK as I need the first oil change on my Alfine 11 doing v soon. They’re a Shimano service centre so hopefully will oblige…..

tonyg2003, I have no doubt in my ability to do the job, infact I’d much rather do it myself, but I’m in a different country from my bike. When I get to the same country as my bike, I’ll be packing and heading straight to the ferry for a spot of touring. Day of departure isn’t the time to find something has stripped so it’s going to a shop.
bristolbiker, let me know how you get on. cheers.

Just booked mine in – next free service day that they had was 20th July (!)…. and the cost is predicted to be “at least” £30 + 3/4 hour labour, which seemed a bit steep for 50 ml of oil and one small bolt…..

Shines Mister P light into the air – how much is the oil change kit, retail?

The oil bath for the alfine? £60 ish IIRC

Teej – (presume you’re talking about 8-spd, so…) no, just the 50 ml of oil, and oiling kit, needed to flush and re-lube the 11-speed hubs.

there was an article on the muddymoles site about stripping one down and servicing it.

brstol bike – yup – 8 sp – I didn’t realise the 11 was different

Yeah, 11 is oil lubed, not grease. One small screw on the hub body to open, drain oil, flush with 25 ml of oil, drain again, add another 25 ml and refit screw. Do this at the first 1000km and every 5000km thereafter.

I am still looking for / hoping for some definitive answer as to what the shimano spec for the oil for the 8sp is. People have been using ATF with good success but my geekiness means I want to find out what the right stuff is.

If I remember, I’ll ask when mine goes in…. but a) I probably won’t remember by the time the service comes round and b) the spanner monkey isn’t likely to know either if the power of google and STW hasn’t come up with the goods!

I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in Bristol. The shop he works for don’t have the tools but he did mention Noah’s Ark in Brimscombe being a Cannondale dealer so they sell quite a few Alfine 8 hubs. I rang them and they have the the tools to do it. Not Bristol I know but maybe close enough?

Ah, Mister P – timely! 🙂 Can you give me a rough steer on the price of the 11-spd oil kit?

I am actually slightly embarrassed to type this – SRP is £89.99

do you know the spec of the alfine 8 sp oil? Please – someone must 🙂

Makes the Rohloff oil look cheap!

I am actually slightly embarrassed to type this – SRP is £89.99

😯 – Jebus. I’ll just keep quiet then and hand over the cash for the service…..

Yep the LBS looked up the alfine 8 sp service kit when I first went in £98. That’s five litres of oil and a measuring cyclinder to you and me. That makes an Avid braje bleed kit look like good value! No wonder they didn’t want to order one. I did wonder about tapping in two oil ports to the alfine 8sp hub so you could run easy flushes.

Interesting idea tonyg2003. Its a plenty beefy enough hub, but I don’t know if you’d get the depth of thread going through the body. I guess most people won’t put that many miles on one so it might just be easier to strip it. I’ll look into ATF TJ.

Hi Fourbanger – thinking back to Sturmey Archer bikes of my yooof they had oil ports, hence what got me wondering whether it could be done.

Sorry TJ, it is not information Shimano are willing to share.

Hi Fourbanger – thinking back to Sturmey Archer bikes of my yooof they had oil ports, hence what got me wondering whether it could be done.

The 11-spd hub has the oil port, hence I was hoping the service would be a lot cheaper as the procedure sounds very simple on the instructions….. apparently not.

If you were feeling brave, you could try to fit the 8-spd gearing in an 11-spd shell? (NB – I can’t see this working in any way, shape or form!)

tonyg2003 – Member
Hi Fourbanger – thinking back to Sturmey Archer bikes of my yooof they had oil ports…

And 50,000 miles was not an uncommon life for a hub back in the bicycle commuting days.

S-A did have its own oil, but most people just used 3-in-1 oil, a few drops every week. (Not an oil bath, just enough to coat all working surfaces).

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work now.

tapping two holes in my 8spd and forcing gear oil through one and out another sounds a good idea . has anyone done this yet?