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Rohloff wears out

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one arm bandit:
Thought you guys would be interested in a current thread from that well known bastion of truth.... Facebook.
From the Bicycle Touring & Bikepacking group. 3 posts by the same guy. Make of what you will

I have toured extensively on the rohloff. Unloaded it was fine. But on a heavy loaded bike they wore out too quickly. Went through three in a row. That is why they have a weight limit. Went to pinion gearbox and had zero issues in 32k miles and the same belt. Replacement belt is still in my panniers not used yet. My brother is at 37k with the same story and no belt wear out either yet.

They refused my second and third hub replacement and blamed weight limit. Something they used to mention on website, but no longer have it on there.

my bike and I were over the recommended weight limit. I agree. At the time I carried too much weight. I now ride much much lighter.

mickeg:
I never heard of a weight limit, other than the ratio of chainring to sprocket size limit based on weight.

If he travels that many miles on a bike that puts more weight on the rear wheel than a typical tandem, maybe he needs to re-think how he is doing his bike touring. 

I have never used a through axle bike, if that is a stronger axle design then perhaps that would be a better option.  I remember in the old freewheel days (with 120 or 126 mm hub spacing) that I would bend cheaper axles and I have seen broken axles on such hubs.

Or perhaps he was breaking flanges at the spoke holes and concluded that it was a weight problem when it might have been a wheel build problem?

David Simpson:
The quoted Facebook posts are quite thin on details. I'm curious about what exactly broke on the Rohloff hubs. And to break three in a row? Did the same problem happen to all three hubs?

There is a reference to a weight limit on the Rohloff website, which has now been removed. I don't recall any such limit, except in regards to the gear ratio (mentioned by George above). Does anyone recall such a limit?

Interestingly, he mentions that he has had no problems with the Pinion gearbox, but he also admits that he now rides "much lighter".

- DaveS

one arm bandit:
More from OP

Myself and bike at highest weight was 300lbs. The problem was that I was in extremely steep mountains and am quite strong rider. I was sure that other parts of the bike would give out first, but the internals failed. I did go through many brake pads as well. The belt drive was fine though. I have since lowered total weight to 200lbs. And switched to pinion gearbox without any problems.

another poster replied
Interesting. I'm 265lbs (bike+gear+body) before I add food and water to my bike, but was into the mid 400s when I travelled from Europe-Australia on a tandem with my ex-girlfriend. And I practically find the hilliest, roughest terrain possible!

mickeg:
I am around 180 pounds, Nomad is about 40, my load in Iceland was probably 100 pounds at the start (including water) when I had two weeks worth of food loaded on the bike.   So I probably had 320 pounds on the wheels on my Nomad.

I have known people that refuse to accept that some mechanical devices should not be treated harshly.  Some people like to shove hard on the pedals when they shift, will suddenly shove hard on the pedals to start from a stop, etc.  Maybe he was one of them.  I think there is more to it than we are hearing.  I do not have a facebook account.  (Or twitter or linked in or any other purely social media accounts, I do not count this site, Crazy Guy or Bikeforums.net as social media.)  So, I might be missing something.

My second bike as a kid had a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub, so I learned early on that you do not pedal or pedal only lightly when you shift.  When I went to the old non-ramped/pinned derailleur systems of the 60s and 70s, that training to only pedal lightly when shifting proved to be useful.  And I still shift that way.

A friend of mine got upset when his dynohub stopped working.  He complained that it was supposed to be waterproof, so he saw nothing wrong with pushing his bike across a stream that was waist deep in water.  Sometimes you don't get the full story right away and sometimes you never get it.

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