DoctorTattoo

Hi all,
I searched quite a bit on this forum and have yet to find a thread dedicated to Rohloff owners so I thought I would start one. Perhaps we can build a thread full of recommendations, thoughts, concerns and other general talk about the hub. I am not an expert on the Rohloff but I have owned one for going on three years and I am sure there are others that have had one for much longer.

What is everyone's opinion on a dedicated thread?

Thanks,
Shawn

fietsbob

>insert opinion here< https://www.cyclofiend.com/working/20...clark1008.html

O4 bike, this bike had a 03 era nylon seal , leak .. R'off USA (now part of Rohloff Speedhub Wheels, Sales and Service from Cycle Monkey)

replaced the seals with current, & industrial standard Neoprene.

bike went thru 2 others before I got It.. in 08. low cost because the seller passed along the leak problem ..


now I also got a good deal on a Built to order Bike friday , (refused by ordering guy because they didn't like the powder coat color)

disc brakes on that one .. trekking bars on both..

Particularly Liked the sequential shifting when riding through the winter deluges under my cyclists rain cape.

16t cog on both , 26" wheel has a 39t chainring, 20" wheel has a 53t, so, gear range is about the same..




'/,

Dan Burkhart 

I have two, but they don't get used a lot, because they are overkill for much of the riding I do. My 3 and 5 speed IGH bikes see a lot more service.
That said, when I choose horses for courses, they are certainly up to the task. I have a long tail cargo bike (Surly Big Dummy) with one. When my grandsons were smaller, I hauled the two of them around on it, and the Rohloff was perfect for that.
The other one is in a LWB recumbent and that is also a good application for it.

DoctorTattoo

Interesting, I wasn't aware there were issues with seals in earlier models. My Rohloff is actually on my second frame. My first frame was a Surly Troll and chain drive. I had 44/16 on it with a full chain case. My current frame is belt drive with 50/20. I think the 50/20 suits my terrain better. I love the ability to switch gears at a stop or switch as many as I feel required.
Shawn

DoctorTattoo

Nice, I have been looking into cargo bikes and really like the big dummy long tail style. I often wonder if a long tail would be up to the task with a custom seat for my 11 year old handicapped son on the back. Have you ever attempted a larger person than a child on the rear of your dummy?

Dan Burkhart 

It may not have been clear from my previous post, but I carried my grandsons two at a time on the back until last year when they were 10 and 8. I could still do it, I have the gears, the platform would accommodate them, and I'm confident the wheels are up to it, but they are no longer interested. They would rather ride their own bikes.
I have carried 200 lb plus adults on the back for short distances, like around the block, and it did not collapse.
Just be sure you have confidence in your wheel builder to make you a strong wheel set.

fietsbob

A Long John / Bak Fiets with the load in Front allows a Lower center of gravity for the heavier weights ..

sitting atop the rear of a Long tail is of course a Higher center of gravity.


Bike Friday's Haul-a-Day uses 20" wheels to lower things a Bit. Extracycle has a 26 front 20" rear design Now, towards the same Goal.


Aaron Goss in Seattle showed drilling 16 more holes in a 32 hole Rohloff hub shell then mating it to a 48 hole rim
for Using in a Long tail the spoking pattern is crows foot groups of 3 2, 2 cross, and the radial spokes in the new holes .

For 26" rims
(R'off recommends 1 cross with 20" rims, My BiFri single is like that ..)

Dan Burkhart 

The rear wheel on my recumbent is a 20" laced 1x. Worked out well.

Scummer

My commuter has a Rohloff with a Carbon Gates drive, since I ride it daily, no matter what the weather is. I needed something, that I didn't have to maintain on a weekly basis. So far, 2000 miles later, only had to adjust the belt tension once. Nothing else done, haven't cleaned the drivetrain once as it's not required. The belt is kinda self-cleaning, I guess

John Lesar

I had a Rohloff on a Big Dummy too. (since sold)
It worked well but was complete overkill. I probably used 4 of the 14 speeds.
I used an Alfine 8 speed now.

DoctorTattoo

I agree it can be total overkill but I use every gear in mine just not everyday. When I was in the states last year I realized just how rare they are in the US. I got comments everything from "Nice single speed." to "Is that one of those E-bikes?" It made a lot of the rides interesting.

DoctorTattoo

I just did the Gates Carbon Drive upgrade to mine. Only maybe 150km on it but so far I love it! I had a Hebie chain glider on it before the belt and always worried it wasn't lubed enough or water got in or whatever.

fietsbob

M Bike Friday-Rohloff pocket Llama has a Chain tensioner..

I'd need a new frame to play with a belt. It's not an expense Im willing to bear.

New chains dont cost Much & I can flip over the cog and chainring to wear it Twice as Long.

GamblerGORD53

In 2013 I built a custom tour heavyweight around a Sturmey Archer 5w and then in 2014 I got a Rohloff14 that has the necessary 7 low gears for touring. Worth every last penny spent. I've been using 1/8 chains with mostly 48/16T --- 23 to 120 GI. but with go down to 46T for future tours. Had 48/18T with the SA 5w. Only real drag for me is 7th gear used for starter inclines. Other than strange noises here and there, it has been completely awesome over 8500 miles now, 4200 in Asia. At any speed up to 42 mph it WILL put to shame ANY figgiddy/ clunkity/ frail derailler POS. My SA 5 has done 45.8 mph, a bit faster overall with way fewer moving parts.

2 oil changes is all my Rohloff has required, and cogs. It gets looser and faster all the time. It totally baffles me how many geezer guys put a 40 or 38/17T on them like they are going to pull Surly's out of ditches or something. ha. People just want to think IGHs are meant to be slow ... NONSENSE. Several days in China I did hill repeats, 1st gear up and 14th gear down. I only use this one bike, all day centuries+ or grocery hauling, all the same to me. My loaded bike was 120 lbs, seldom a problem.

My only complaint is where they put direct drive, 11th, with only 3 gears higher. I have to go 21 mph to be in 11th.
Oh well, it's good for racing girls ... ha.

DoctorTattoo

Yes, one thousand times YES! I really think it should be 8 maybe 9. 11 is far too high! However this change would greatly change the hub in other areas I'm not willing to sacrifice.

I'm completely used to the noises in 7 or below. However when people are with me and hear it they think I'm having problems.

One Person I met in the USA didn't believe me it had oil in it let alone required oil changes.

Shawn

fietsbob

you grasp the engineering right? 3_ 3 speeds and a big reduction gear.. then run thru the 3 _ 3speeds again ..

of the 9, 3 are the same 1:1, so only 1 (11th) is used.. leaving 7 (7 is high in low range) 8th is low in high range

4th is 1:1 with the reduction gear stage engaged.

My Mountain Drive crank is a big reduction gear in low range, The Brompton 3 speed is used twice, so a similar function

just not as well integrated .

DoctorTattoo

Yes, That is what I meant with the change would greatly change the hub in other areas that I wouldn't want to sacrifice. Movement of 1:1 keeping the even 13.5% jump between gears would probably require 2 or 4 additional gears to be added thus increasing the weight further. There are a few people I have read about that run the Schlumpf mountain drive along with the Rohloff however it seems that with that setup gears begin to get redundant or very close to redundant.

There was talk of a lower weight and less geared Rohloff being released, but it never happened.

Shawn

DoctorTattoo

Are you running the Rohloff recommended "snubber" for the gates? My shop says its really not needed.

Shawn

Scummer

I am. Just because i like the safety aspect of the snubber.

enigmaT120

I'm interested in one, but how hard are they to install on a bike with normal drop-outs? I'm almost ready to put my third cassette on my Fargo.

dieselrover

Just got mine built. Less than 30 miles on it so far. I need to swap out the cantis for some V brakes (with different levers), but otherwise, I'm happy. Eventually, it'll get used for some touring, but I've removed racks and fenders for now while I'm still adjusting/tweaking.

I opted for the cinq5 drop bar shifter, but I probably should have gone for the co-motion. I'm going to build a folding bike (montague boston frame) and move the wheel from bike to bike, so the original shifter will get used there. Unfortunately, my commute requires a folding bike and my Dahon i7 will probably not make it through another winter.

fietsbob

RohBox is another interesting adaptation GEBLA brifter paddles pull the cables ..

https://www.google.com/search?q=RohB...-46oGenInHM%3A

dieselrover

Just wanted to update the thread a bit. The Nashbar frame was always a temporary solution. I had intended to finish stripping and polishing a Cannondale Optimo cyclocross frame, but happened across a Titanium frame at a good deal and swapped everything over to that instead. My road frame is Ti and I realized that's what I really wanted.

I bring this up because there was some discussion elsewhere about Rohloff noises on different frame materials. There was some speculation that Al frames would resonate a lot more and sound a lot noisier. I can confirm that is indeed the case. My hub isn't that loud, but in the lower seven gears, there is some noise. I have only about 600 miles so far, so that's to be expected, but on the Ti frame, the upper 7 gears are dead quiet and the lower seven are considerably more muted.

Stripped and polished the frame and did the swap on Saturday and rode the 80 mile route of the Harlem Valley Rail Ride yesterday. Oh man there's no comparison between Ti and Al.

The one thing I need to do is re run the shifter cables to be able to use the cable stops on the top tube. I didn't want to run that risk right before a big ride. That will clean up the top tube appearance quite a bit and possibly reduce the friction of the system as well.

DoctorTattoo

My current frame is Aluminum and the previous was Steel. Perhaps my hub is finally getting broken in but I don't notice any additional noise with the Al frame, even in the bottom 7 gears. Mine is even more silent now due to the Gates.


I originally wanted a Ti frame but never did end up finding one. Maybe the next frame will be Ti.


Shawn

DoctorTattoo

Not very difficult with any drop out as long as the width is correct at 135mm. You must also have some sort of way to secure the axle from rotating using one of the several mounting kits from Rohloff or a few other places that make kits. Lastly, you will need a way to tension the chain. I assume when you say normal dropouts then you mean vertical dropouts, with those you will probably need a chain tensioner such as:
https://www.rohloff.de/en/products/s...ner/index.html


Shawn