Robust internal gear hubs

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Chalo:
>It is the opposite of strength that demands tiny steps between gears.
>It means someone is pushing so hard that they can't jump to the next
>step unless the next step is small.
>
>Being comfortable with large steps between gears does not mean you are
>a stronger or a weaker rider, it just means you are riding within your
>ability rather than on the ragged fringe of it.

That's pretty much what was in my own mind - but I picture a
stronger rider as more often riding towards the edge of their
envelope, and hence having need of closer gears at that end.
--
PeteCresswell

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-08-03, NickP <[email protected]> wrote:
> Just get the Rohloff hub. They last and last and don't break, and the
> running costs are a lot less than a derailleur system. I have three of the
> hubs, including one on a tandem. Rohloff claim to have never received one
> back that had failed.


I have seen one fail. It took years and years of extreme abuse.

The owner claims it was the one of the first Rohloffs in Australia and
it has seen heavy use on a homebuilt loaded touring tandem with out of
phase cranks. The larger rider (and he is very large) uses home extended
200mm cranks (made from an old shimano steel cottered cranks and a less
old steel shimano non-cottered crank together!) and has the bike geared
*way* below the minimum rohloff recommends.

The out of phase cranks means there is continual force being applied to
the pedals and so no dead spot to shift in and the dog clutches failed
during the MBTC castlemain ride this year. Not completely he could still
use (IIRC) gears 2 and 14 and did ride the entire weekend with out
(other) problems.

Cheers

Joel

--
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[landotter]

On Aug 5, 2:33 pm, A Muzi <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> Per landotter:
> >>> What's the
> >>> name of the guy (German?) who's got some sort of distance record and
> >>> uses an AW?
> > "(PeteCresswell)" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>http://www.bikechina.com/ct-heinzstucke1z.html?
> landotter wrote:
> > Ja, ja!
> > Wonder why he was ungooglable to me?
>
> Alta Vista returns several good results from "Heinz Stucke Bicycle"
> including the above link in first position
>
Yeah, but "long distance german bike dude sturmey archer" did jack
squat. ;-) He rides a Sachs hub, FWIW.

 

[Andrew Price]

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:16:45 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>>Being comfortable with large steps between gears does not mean you are
>>a stronger or a weaker rider, it just means you are riding within your
>>ability rather than on the ragged fringe of it.
>
>That's pretty much what was in my own mind - but I picture a
>stronger rider as more often riding towards the edge of their
>envelope, and hence having need of closer gears at that end.

I agree - those are also the riders who could make effective use of
ten speed, rather than nine speed dérailleur gears. It just allows a
somewhat finer trimming.

 

[Leland Mayne]

Anthony DeLorenzo wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm really keen to use an internally-geared hub on a touring bike I am
> building up. I like (need?) to have a strong, non-dished rear wheel
> and I also prefer to not fuss with derailleurs. This will be my only
> multi-geared bike, my other rides are a singlespeed MTB and a fixie
> commuter.
>
> I have been researching various hub models on the internet and I am
> getting the sense that, other than Rohloff, nothing on the market can
> really handle anything other than light duty typical of comfort or
> casual bikes.
>
> To put this into perspective, I am 6'6", 250+ lbs and, although I ride
> smoothly, can apply a lot of power to the pedals when I want to. Throw
> on some cargo, and my habit of dashing off down the odd fire road or
> stretch of singletrack, and I wonder if one of these hubs could handle
> it.
>
> At 4-5 times the cost I just can't afford a Rohloff. Are any of the
> current offerings from S-A, Shimano or SRAM suitable for my needs, or
> should I stick to a derailleur and keep saving for a Rohloff in the
> future?
>
> Regards,
> Anthony
>

I recently killed an older model Sachs Super 7 on my commuter. After ~10
years, ~25,000 miles of all weather urban commuting the #2 sun gear
broke in two & internal parts are not available, at least not in the US.
That gear is active in 2nd and 6th gear & especially in 2nd takes a lot
of force. My habit of starting at lights etc. in 2nd probably killed it.
The failure was not sudden but 2nd gear felt rough & shifting was
unreliable. Before that the only problem occurred when the ball cage for
the right inner bearing broke & a piece jammed one of the springs
preventing shifting to some gears. As I'm too cheep to buy a Rohloff & I
already had a shifter for the Sachs I replaced it with a new SRAM S7.

--
Leland Mayne, President
Neighborhood Bike Works
Philadelphia, PA
http://neighborhoodbikeworks.org