New Wheels : Velocity Halo Dyad and Shimano Alfine

Jul 7, 2010 By Arleigh Jenkins Posted in The Archives Tagged with Commute by Bike 11 Comments

A set of wheels are in for review and in the midst of getting installed on the famous Salsa Casseroll.. Utilizing a Shimano Alfine groupset I have been piecing together in the past 6 months, and the new Velocity Dyad Halo reflective rims.

Due to needing to rebuild the bike completely to use these wheels, group and new Dynamo lighting system I haven’t gotten a test ride yet.

Have any of you seen the Halo rims, or utilized the Alfine group. What has your experience been on either?

11 thoughts on “New Wheels : Velocity Halo Dyad and Shimano Alfine”

John Smith says:

July 8, 2010 at 6:59 am

I have an Alfine equipped globe and the front (Dynamo) hub has lasted about a million miles. Including year round commuting in Chicago winters, locked out at train stations and all.

Click here for photo of the Globe CHILLING at the train station last Christmas: http://www.smithrides.com/?entryId=eb3e77baaa03ce0d4548dba7d45f9d6d

The front dynamo inside the hub has picked up some odd noisy vibration / engage disengage behavior. But it continues to generate 5.2 gigawatts of power (I wish) every time I turn the pedals. I wish that it kicked out a little more juice as the headlight is good enough to be seen – but not really enough for me to navigate by. I know my route well so we get by.

The phenom convenience of just turn the cranks and it lights up is worth every penny – and it has never failed to light up when I hop on no matter how cold.

I didn’t have the internally geared rear hub. The bike came with derailers – and the rear hub which I don’t think was even marked alfine didn’t survive the first winter.

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jdmitch says:

July 8, 2010 at 1:21 pm

So jealous… with the exception of wanting disc brakes, that’s my exact dream commuting wheelset…

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Sean says:

July 8, 2010 at 1:44 pm

I have full Alfine set up 2 x 8 on my Surly Big Dummy. Rear shifting is pretty good but ass backwards 😉

The shifters feel a little cheap compared to the SRAM I use on my MTB.

2 x 8 gives me a wider gear range, very close to that of a Rohloff at a fraction of the price.

Never heard of the Halo rims before – I tend to buy commuter tires with reflective sidewalls as my commuter uses cantilevers.

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Rider says:

July 8, 2010 at 6:04 pm

I’ve got an Alfine hub out back and an Alfine generator up front, powering a German-made Edulux headlight and a taillight (I can’t recall what kind).

Generator hub really gets the job done – I’ve been impressed with the light it generates.

Happy, too, with the Alfine internal gear hub. This is a nice setup for commuting – no fear of being stranded in the dark with dead batteries, and you can shift gears even when stopped at a light.

I’m happy with this setup.

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Gregg says:

July 9, 2010 at 12:17 am

I have this exact set up- Alfine on my Casseroll! The whole thing works GREAT- but you have to figure out the cable routing to the back

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Morpheous says:

July 9, 2010 at 1:57 pm

I have a few hundred miles of trouble free service from this exact wheelset this year. I am running them on a Surly Karate Monkey Commuter I built up this spring. The only issue I have with them is the seemingly hard angle at which the spokes exit the nipples on the HANDSPUN lace up. They have not given me any trouble thus far and Im definately a “Clydesdale” class rider. -M

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Morpheous says:

July 9, 2010 at 3:21 pm

I have about 300 city commuting miles on this exact wheel set from Handspun. All good thus far, no issues. I was concerned when I unboxed them at the angle of attack of the spokes into the nipples in the lace up, but again no problems and I am a Clydesdale class rider 🙂

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Geo says:

July 10, 2010 at 9:27 pm

Converted my Fisher Mendota to a full Alfine drivetrain & dynamo. Absolutely loving it – paired it with a SuperNova E3 Pro and I have an AWESOME amount of light to see on the pitch-black wooded paths.

Made it through winter w/o a hitch too. Loving the setup for my “daily-driver” and errand runner!

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Morpheous says:

July 13, 2010 at 2:08 pm

Been riding this exact wheelset on my Surly KM commuter for the past two months. The wheels and Alfine IG hub work flawlessly. No issues and Im not light at 250lbs. 13 mile commute one way three times a week. Mine are the Handspun set from QBP. Buy them with confidence.

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John says:

July 13, 2010 at 2:30 pm

I have been using the Alfine IGH on a Surly Katate Monkey Commuter.

Quick list:
-Alfine IGH laced 4x to a Salsa Semi Rims with Schwalbe Big Apples (60-622).
-Alfine Rapidfire shifter.
-Avid BB7 Disks and calipers
-Problem Solvers adapter on the rear hub

It is a total nerd comuter. Comfortable and fun. I have ridden it everyday for over a year here in NYC. I absolutly love the hub. It has performed perfectly through the last winter of salt and grime. It was left outside during my work day in sub zero (F) temps and performed as it should in the evening. No mechanical issues, no problems.

The shifter is not a love affair so much. The little window has yellowed terribly and shows a ton of microcracks in the plastic. The upper plastic does not attach very firmly, and after almost losing it, I used tread lock on the screws. It functions flawlessly though, so those are knit picks.

I would not recoment the Problem solvers Centerlock disk adapter though. It never was been very straight on the hub. I and two different mechanics have looked at it and it is always just out of true when finally tight. Not a huge issue but it does keep the caliper pads alittle farther out from the disk. Thus a slightly longer brake pull then I would like. It still fully actuates before the lever hits the bar and being the rear it is not as vital as the front (using a Surly New hub and the rotor is perfecly strait). But it will either have a long pull or scrape the rotor during the revolution. I went with BB7 because I have had great success with them in the past. I wanted to not have to deal with the centerlock rotors but if I was to do it agian I might just get a Shimano Centerlock rotor for the rear only.

The bike is QUIET. No freewheel prowl clicking or anything. Not that it makes too much of a difference when you are trying to ride 5th Ave at 5PM. But for those looking for a quiet drivetrain this is it. Just get the chainline right and set the calipers properly.

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Madeleine says:

July 17, 2010 at 1:45 pm

I have the stock Shimano Alfine wheel set, and HATE the drag. I have to work just to go downhill on slight grades. No one else seems to complain about the drag, and I am convinced that my lack of weight (100lbs) may come into play. The concept of the wheels is far more awesome than the reality in my experience.

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New Wheels : Velocity Halo Dyad and Shimano Alfine

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