The OTHER killer deal on something I needed (that won’t make me throw up in my mouth a little*) was a $51 32 hole Alfine dynamo hub in black, exactly like the $120 one I’ve been saving up for. Total came to $63 with shipping to Oregon. If you live in Colorado, it’s cheaper.
I saw an “OE Pack” hub on eBay for a great price, and then Googled it. After poking around a few sites that also carry the item, it turns out ebikestop.com has the same Alfine hub, at the best price. Since they have pretty helpful customer service, I emailed them to make sure it wasn’t just like the replacement internals or something, and yup, it’s the exact same hub as the more expensive Alfine hub they carry, but without the fancy packaging. Since I plan to build the hub into a wheel, rather than save it in acid-free plastic, I’m pretty pleased at the deal.
I imagine this either means that Shimano is coming out with something much nicer for 2012, or the brief OEM flirtation with dynamo hubs on city bikes is officially over. As someone who’s riding E6s instead of LED headlights and buys used CDs instead of downloading MP3s**, that’s fine with me.
*to borrow a quote from Bike Snob commenters circa 2008.
** 10 mp3s for $3? In an archival re-rippable format? Okay.
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