Upgrading from Alfine 8 speed to Alfine 11 speed

So, the Scott Sub Speed 10 has been a great, practical bike. With one, glaring exception: The rear wheel. It just wasn't built right for heavy-duty use. It has been popping spokes over and over again. At this point, I've probably replaced at least half of them. As far as I can tell, I've had no 'repeat customers'. 

So I'm assuming that the spokes were underspec'ed. And as I repaired it, I came to realize that it was probably built undertensioned to boot. So, I'm always worried another one is going to go in some inconvenient place. Yes, I know the rule that when the third one goes you rebuild. But wheelbuilding is not something in my skill set (yet at least). And when I thought about getting it rebuilt a few years ago (yeah, mid-pandemic), I was quoted $200 plus spokes AND it would probably mean having the wheel in the shop for a month. So I kept putting it off. (I do know how to replace spokes myself)

Also, I've been intrigued with the Alfine 11-speed hub (or a Rohloff but that's big $$$) as a more sophisticated, wider range (406% rather than 300%) option. I've been watching Craigslist in the absurd hope someone might be selling one. Well, you never know what you'll find. Lo and behold, look what appeared:

Apparently, someone had a bike with one and got into a front-end crash that totaled the bike. But when scrapping the bike, he held on to the rear wheel, belt and cogs (Sadly not the shifter). So it should be a relatively simple swap.

Step 1: Parts to complete the upgrade

• Need to get an 11s shifter since it's indexed and the 8s won't cut it. Sadly, there's only really one option because, oddly, the Alifine 11 does not have a consistent cable pull between each gear. The shifter has to match the unique steps. And it's not inexpensive yet kinda chintzy feeling. The 8s has metal triggers but the 11s are plastic. What's with that?  After riding it for a couple of months I've come to appreciate the ability to shift one or two gears in either direction per stroke. Handy with 11 options to cycle through. But the feel isn't great.
• Anchor bolt for the shift cable. It fits into the shift collar on the hub and according to the documents, it is unique to the 11s and different from the 8s. Because... reasons. So order one of those. Only to find out that the shifter actually comes as a kit with fresh cable and the anchor bolt. It's almost like that could have been mentioned in the description. Ugh. (these are exotic enough that they aren't in local store inventory)

If things go well, that should be all I need. But there is another question:

Gearing

While the operational ratios are internal to the hub, there is still the primary ratio based on the crank and rear cog combination which determines where that range works.

The Scott came geared with a 46t 'chain' ring and a 24t rear cog for a 1.92 ratio. The Alfine 11 wheel came with a higher-range 50 x 22, 2.27 ratio cogs. Can they be used instead? Maybe. With belt drives, you can't just adjust the belt length. You need the right belt to match to your cogs and chainstay length. Conveniently, this combo and the belt actually would fit on the Scott. But would that make sense?

If we look at the ratios. These charts show 'gear inches' in the bold text, white boxes. Gear inches are how many inches do you move per revolution in that gear. What's interesting is that the original low gear is 27.6 gear-inches: Low but not super low.

Original 8s configuration

Now look at what happens if we put the 11s in with it's sprockets. The low becomes much higher at 32.7 gear-inches. Sure, the top end is really fast, but I don't know when I'd ever use it since the 300% range 8s had plenty of top end starting lower. I'm really wondering why it was set up this way on the original bike. 

For some context, my regular 2 x 12 road bike is geared with a low of 25 gear-inches as a low and 125 gear-inches as a high. For me, the low is the gating factor which means that the original ends up about the same as that road bike but the alternate would have a low equal about the same as gear 3. So not great, and with a ridiculously high top end.

11s with it's sprockets

So, I installed it with the original sprockets instead on the new hub, resulting in zero change to the low end with closer spacing and some higher gearing. I decided to go for the simple install that way and see how it rides. But I may go find a different combination that would move the range lower if I can find them later. 

But I'm learning that there are a bunch of sub-variants of the sprocket, mount and belt types for the Gates systems. And the combo I need appears to bottom out only 2 teeth lower than current which is a pretty trivial change and an expensive replacement of all three parts. (Front and rear cogs, and new belt because you can't adjust length)

As installed

Time for the build

Rear cog mount was a little tricky. As I mentioned, there are several variants of similar cogs. It runs out that the one that was on the 11s was a different type than the 8s. Ok, not worry you say. You're re-using the cogs. Uhh, right. That means the 8s cogs have to mount on the 11s hub and I can't get it to fit. It turns out they use a different lock mechanism with slightly different spacing axially. So swap fasteners too and it works.

Then comes the RTFM (and remember it) part. I hooked up the shifter on the bar and ran the cable to the anchor bolt. The 11s shift ring uses a slightly different design that is much easier to lock in. So, spin the cranks and see how it works. Almost right. So I start twisting the barrel adjuster to get it right. Take it for a test ride, adjust. bit more and we're done. Or are we?

Over the next few rides, it's just not quite right. It mostly works, but it's just a little rough and it popped out of gear a couple of times. 😞. On top of that, it felt like I'd lost the low end gearing. Remember that wasn't supposed to change?

Go back and read the instructions, again. Doh! I did it wrong.

The right way to align the cable (and thus shifter) with the hub, is as follows:

1. Move the shifter from 11th gear to 6th gear (yes in that direction)
2. Look at the two hash markers on the hub (on on the hub and one on the shift ring) and see if they line up
3. If they don't line up (mine didn't), use the barrel adjuster to line them up
4. There is no step 4. Go ride.

Yeah, it's that simple. How stupid am I to forget that. Properly aligned, it's great. Easy shifting, smooth running. All good.

Was it worthwhile? For a couple of hundred $, plus my hobby labor, yes. The slightly smaller steps are nice. I'm not using all the ratios in normal riding, but at some point, I'll get a new cog set and make it even better. And I've had no issues with this wheel. No clicking and popping of spokes making me fear the next break. Just rolling.