Rohloff Hubs

RE/

Quoted message said:

Sweet:

My spiel when people ask me about mine is that they're heavy, noisy, less efficient, ungodly
expensive, that I recently bought a second one, and would never voluntarily go back to
"normal" gearing.
--
PeteCresswell

Quoted message said:

I recently bought a second one, and would never voluntarily go back to "normal" gearing.
--
PeteCresswell

Are you serious?? What for???

I would like to try one, just for curiosity sake, but I don't think I could actually bring myself
to buy one.
--
Slacker

In article said:

RE/

Quoted message said:

Sweet:

My spiel when people ask me about mine is that they're heavy, noisy, less efficient, ungodly
expensive, that I recently bought a second one, and would never voluntarily go back to "normal"
gearing.

Interesting...what makes the ownership experience good, though?

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Quoted message said:

My spiel when people ask me about mine is that they're heavy, noisy, less efficient, ungodly
expensive, that I recently bought a second one, and

would

Quoted message said:

never voluntarily go back to "normal" gearing.

Interesting: What are the advantages of Rohloff hubs? Have you had any problems with yours? Or are
they better on all counts?

Per lowdin.nulowdin.nuOpen ↗

RE/

Quoted message said:

Are you serious?? What for???

I would like to try one, just for curiosity sake, but I don't think I could actually bring myself
to buy one.

Here's an ASCII text version of a review I wrote some time ago. The bottom line for me is "Any gear,
any time".

==============================================
Pros:

- Wide shifts: Probably a substitute for proper technique, but I can clean inclines that I couldn't
before. Hammer in to it in, say, gear 8, then jump down to 4, then to 1 as needed.

Also, on long climbs I like to alternate in and out of the saddle which, for me, is a 3 or 4 gear
shift on each change. With the der I used to do it a lot less frequently that I really like and in
the spirit of "Gee, I sure hope I don't miss this shift and take the saddle horn up my butt
(again...)".

Now I just snap those wide shifts without even thinking about it. Any time, any place.- I'm always
in the right gear, since shifting is essentially trivial; seems like shifts take less than a
fiftieth of a second.

- No more rear cog problems: no taco'd cogs, no more vines/small branches/grass wrapped around
the cog/der.

- It *seems* pretty-much bombproof. Time will tell, but I was spending more time than I cared to
adjusting my der and bending a cog wheel while riding was a PITA.

- Greatly-reduced frequency of missed shifts. "Reduced" and not "Zero" because there is a 'gotcha'
between 7 and 8 dumps you into gear 14 if you forget and shift under load.

It pops back into the intended gear as soon as the load comes off, but it's nothing you want to make
a habit of doing.

- Ability to shift down when stopped. I think I make more than my share of unplanned stops and I
used to have to lift up the rear wheel and rotate the cranks to get down to a starting gear.

Also, my technique sucks and probably won't get any better and it's nice to be able approach an
object and slow way, way down before negotiating it without worrying about getting stuck in too high
a gear to get over it.

- I don't have to keep mental track of which chain ring I'm on. Sounds trivial, but I don't have any
brain cells to spare.

- Maybe not so much of a strength, but it should be mentioned somewhere that 14 speeds are enough.

My original 44-32-22 der setup took me from 18.5 to 104.

With the Rohloff on a 44 I get 19.9 to 104.9 in nice even, uniform 13.8% increments. That's only one
less gear and, since I never used 104 it's a wash for me.

With the 38 that I've since gone over to it's 17.2 - 90.6. I don't get spun out in 90.6 until about
25 mph - and there's no way I can hold that speed for very long anyhow.

I left the old 32 in the middle position just because it weighs next to nothing and, on a big bump
sometimes the chain drops (you're supposed to have a front-der-like dingus up there to keep it from
doing that ....but I never go around to getting one) the 32 catches the chain. Also allows shifting
down to a usually-ludicrous 14.something if things get really bad....

Cons:

- It costs an arm and a leg.

If my wife ever finds out I spent close to a grand on a rear wheel, she'll start to doubt my sanity.

- This hub weighs a *lot*. It added 1.9 pounds to my already-heavy bike - same rim/tube/tire/spoke
gauge. Anybody who says it only adds a pound must be using a really, *really* heavy
cog/hub/der/shifter setup. I was using SRAM 9.0 with twist shifters.

- The installation instructions could use a re-write. I'm no rocket scientist, and after studying
them long enough I pulled it off - but it could have been a *lot* easier.

- It's heavy. Are you ready for an 8-pound rear wheel?

- The torque arm mounting that came with it was decidedly un-German (downright kludgey, I'd say...).
Hose clamps!

Also sometime during the first hundred miles the little clevis pin that held it all together
disappeared. Wasn't a catestrophic failure because the normal riding pressure pushes everything
together.... I probably installed the c-ring keeper wrong or something - but it seems like a weak
point. Replaced it with a marine shackle set in LocTite.

I have since discovered that there is a more elegant torque arm setup that Rohloff calls the
"SpeedBone". Uses the disk brake mount and does not interfere with using a disk brake.

- It's heavy.

- It's noisy, especially in gears 1-7. Supposedly this mitigates with age, but it is still an issue
with me at 1,000 miles.

- It's definately less efficient in gears 1-8.

There's a web site somewhere (in German) that supposedly graphs a Rohloff against one of the
Shimanos and claims no loss in most gears and 1-2% in the lower gears.

I would disagree with that web site's figures.

- Did I mention that it's heavy?

------------------------------------------------

Bottom Line:

This is definately not for everybody and the torque arm thing bugged me until I got the more elegant
replacement.

Having said that, I find that me and the Rohloff are a good match.

I've quickly gotten so used to getting any gear I want any time I want and never having to stop and
pull brush/branches out of my rear der that I can't imagine going back.

It also appeals to the exhibitionist in me...

You, on the other hand, might hate the thing.

Oh yeah, I amost forgot: it's heavy.
==============================================
--
PeteCresswell

Quoted message said:

Oh yeah, I amost forgot: it's heavy.
==============================================
--
PeteCresswell

This is what scares me most, and I'm not a weight weenie. I just don't know how my suspension would
react to that hideous pendulum effect.
--
Slacker

RE/

Quoted message said:

This is what scares me most, and I'm not a weight weenie. I just don't know how my suspension would
react to that hideous pendulum effect.

You've got to hold a front wheel in one hand and a Rohloff-equipped wheel in the other hand to
believe it....dat suckah be *HEAVY*.....

OTOH, I've conveniently forgotten how much my rear wheel weighed with a 9-speed cog on it....
--
PeteCresswell

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This is what scares me most, and I'm not a weight weenie. I just don't

know

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

how my suspension would react to that hideous pendulum effect.

You've got to hold a front wheel in one hand and a Rohloff-equipped wheel

in the

Quoted message said:

other hand to believe it....dat suckah be *HEAVY*.....

OTOH, I've conveniently forgotten how much my rear wheel weighed with a

9-speed

Quoted message said:

cog on it....
--
PeteCresswell

Just happen to have one sitting here. Rear wheel (less tire) is 3.5 lbs, and that's a DH wheel. Add
another 3 lbs for the tire/tube/rear der and we're at 6.5 lbs total on my bathroom scale that rounds
to the nearest 1/2
lb. I'm running a 11-25 cog, so it is a bit lighter than your standard MTB cog, but not that much.

What's the weight on das Pig wheel?
--
Slacker

"Slacker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This is what scares me most, and I'm not a weight weenie. I just don't

know

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

how my suspension would react to that hideous pendulum effect.

You've got to hold a front wheel in one hand and a Rohloff-equipped

wheel

Quoted message said:

in the

Quoted message said:

other hand to believe it....dat suckah be *HEAVY*.....

OTOH, I've conveniently forgotten how much my rear wheel weighed with a

9-speed

Quoted message said:

cog on it....
--
PeteCresswell

Just happen to have one sitting here. Rear wheel (less tire) is 3.5 lbs, and that's a DH wheel.
Add another 3 lbs for the tire/tube/rear der and we're at 6.5 lbs total on my bathroom scale that
rounds to the nearest 1/2
lb. I'm running a 11-25 cog, so it is a bit lighter than your standard

MTB

Quoted message said:

cog, but not that much.

What's the weight on das Pig wheel?
--

That's probably why Nicolai put's the Rolloff in the frame.

Mike

RE/

Quoted message said:

What's the weight on das Pig wheel?

Mavic 618 rim WTB Mutano Raptor tire (55/55) DB Spokes (13/14?)
2.125" tube Salsa skewer

3425g * .0022 = 7.5 pounds.
--
PeteCresswell

Quoted message said:

RE/

Quoted message said:

What's the weight on das Pig wheel?

Mavic 618 rim WTB Mutano Raptor tire (55/55) DB Spokes (13/14?)
2.125" tube Salsa skewer

3425g * .0022 = 7.5 pounds.
--
PeteCresswell

Woooo mama.... actually, that's a bit less than I was guessing, 9 lbs.
--
Slacker