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If you were to change the rear hub on your hypothetical or real zipp 808 wheel set to a large diameter internal gear hub like a shimano alfine or a rohlhoff hub would there be a measure able aero dynamic effect?

user95786
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There would be a measurable decrease in drag from removing external dérailleurs and gearing, however I would guess that the power loss through an internally geared hub would make such a setup slower rather than faster.

(I have no sources for this)

Emyr
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    I would like to comment that rohloff themselves state 'the working efficiency of the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 is brought up to 96% (for gears #1 to #7) and 98% (for gears #8 to #14)'and they then go on to say 'This working efficiency is comparable to a derailleur gear system. Common 7-speed gear hubs are reaching only a working efficiency of approx. 90% (gear #1) and 98% (direct drive gear)'. Though I will admit this is hardly impartial and taken straight from there website: http://www.rohloff.de/en/technology/efficiency/ – user95786 Sep 10 '14 at 13:32
  • I thought the question was about aero drag, making the efficiency of the gear train irrelevant? IMO losing the derailleurs will help, a larger hub is very unlikely to make it more aero... until the hub almost hits the rim :). – Móż Sep 12 '14 at 00:41
  • It is about aero drag, but whilst the improvement would be measurable... – Emyr Sep 12 '14 at 05:02