all photos: JTEK Engineering
I’m a fan of the Nexus 8 and Alfine IGHs. They work well and are relatively inexpensive. One issue is that up until now your choice of shifter was a twist shifter or a trigger shifter. I have both and they work well, but for a drop bar bike a bar end shifter is a much nicer solution.
Alan posted on EcoVelo about a new JTEK bar end shifter that is compatible with these IGHs. – sweet!
from JTEK:
“Jtek Bar-end Shifter for 8-speed
Shimano Alfine & Nexus Internal Hubs
- Super light weight only 64 grams making it the lightest bar-end shifter on the market!
- 24mm clamp-on design. Easy installation eliminates the need for disassembly to install
- High quality CNC precision machined parts, 100% made in Hugo, MN.
- 8-speed indexing
Finally a shifting solution for people who want to use Shimano internal hubs with drop-bar, road bike style handle bars. This shifters is compatible with Shimano 8-speed Alfine & Nexus hubs. It features a clamp-on mounting design which will fit standard diameter 24mm handle bars.”
Cost is $80.00 + shipping. I’ll probably get one of these to try out. It looks like an elegant solution.
The Lazy Rando Blog... 
[…] to grab without looking. I do prefer a true bar end shifter so I’ll be replacing it with a JTEK Nexus 8 bar end shifter, however I have to say it if you are thinking of mounting a twist shifter on a drop bar bike this […]
[…] finally you can use one of these hubs and enjoy the brifter experience. Between this shifter and the JTEK bar end shifter I reported about earlier the options for Shimano IGH setups has just increased […]
[…] of gearing I rec’d my JTEK Alfine/Nexus bar end shifter and I have installed it on the NWT. I’ll post details separately. It seems to work great, […]
[…] removed the Shimano Nexus 8 twistshifter and replaced it with a JTEK bar-end shifter designed for the Nexus8/Alfine IGHs. It seems like a very well made product and the shifting is precise and positive. I’ll […]