I picked up a Hakko desoldering gun many years ago to save me from this. It was pricey (~$300), but has been worth it over the years.

Are we the lobsters?

Aligning the Alfines involves putting them into 4th gear and turning the fine adjustment on the shift until the yellow lines on the hub line up. It can easily be done every time you plan to use the bike. It is just easy to forget to do.

As for dealing with wheel re-installation and shifter cable reattachment , I customized a spanner to perfectly fit between the hub and the dropouts to either hold the hub in place while tightening the axle nuts or loading tension when installing the when reconnecting the shifter cable. I can’t remember which. It might have been both.

After having failure issues using an Alfine 11 with a 29+ MTB (high torque setup), I have used nothing but cassette based drivetrains on everything but my folding bike. Also, my only local hub re-builder has stopped providing that service and Universal Cycles stopped carrying replacement internals, so I will probably not use an Alfine IGH on any new bikes.

I have an Alfine 11 and 8 still mount in wheelsets for my folding bike and I think I have another Alfine 11 in parts. The Alfine 8 is bomb proof; the 11 much less so. If you religiously keep them in alignment they will last. If you ride on them while misaligned, you will wear down the pawls and start loosing gears. After that you need to do a rebuild and very few places do that.

Also, avoid using them in 29"wheels. It is too much torque for them, and the pawls will wear down within a year or two.

They are stupid fast for up shifting as you can do it under some load and the shifting is instant. The other nice perk is that you can downshift while stopped. No need to lift the back wheel and let it spin.

Winter commuting is where they shine. I have to replace my whole drivetrain every winter on my cassette bikes. The IGHs are completely unaffected by the abuse. The grease/oil lubricant used inside does start to thicken up and add some resistance starting out, but that only happens below about -7c.

If you need the gear range of the Alfine 11 I would suggest considering a Rohloff speedhub instead, but they are 3 times the price.

I had Rogshaw come to the door yesterday pushing their merger high-speed promo. Hopefully Teksavvy doesn’t get gobbled up by the three-headed Robelus. Sad day indeed.

The YC-100BH Repair Stand that @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca has is probably your best/cheapest bet. I use a much more pricey Feedback Sports stand, but I have to deal with a steel frame fat bike with 5" tires.

Azul and its variations are the best match for a recent hit that is approachable.

Wingspan would be a recent game that has blown up, but there is a little learning curve.

Though not new, Dixit would be a game that is very approachable and that has been very popular. It is my go-to when gift giving. “The Game” (I know, terrible name) is another older one that people want to get after I introduce them to it.

On my work computer I have to run Docker Desktop on the Windows side to provide the docker backend used within the WSL2 install.

It appears Podman Desktop uses WSL, but it doesn’t have WSL integration yet, so I am stuck with Docker Desktop on that for now.