diff --git a/shell.d/alias b/shell.d/alias
index 33a6ee3..869b49b 100644
--- a/shell.d/alias
+++ b/shell.d/alias
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 alias vim="vim -X"
 
 # rsync + ssh flags per https://gist.github.com/KartikTalwar/4393116
-alias gigabit-rsync="rsync -Pvar --numeric-ids --progress -e 'ssh -T -c aes128-gcm@openssh.com -o Compression=no -x'"
+alias gigabit-rsync='rsync ${RSYNC_FLAGS}'
 
 # Enable per platform aliases
 if [ -e "${CONFIGS}/alias.$(uname -s)" ];
diff --git a/shell.d/env b/shell.d/env
index a871cf6..6792afa 100644
--- a/shell.d/env
+++ b/shell.d/env
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ export MYHOSTNAME=$(hostname -s)
 export EDITOR="vim"
 export PAGER="less"
 
+# rsync flags for gigabit transfers per https://gist.github.com/KartikTalwar/4393116
+export RSYNC_FLAGS="-Pvar --numeric-ids --progress -e 'ssh -T -c aes128-gcm@openssh.com -o Compression=no -x'"
+
 export LANG=en_IE.UTF-8
 export LC_CTYPE=en_IE.UTF-8
 export LC_MESSAGES=C