Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Rohloff Internal Hub Gears => Topic started by: flocsy on May 28, 2025, 08:51:02 AM
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Hi,
I purchased a 2nd hand bike 2 years ago. The seller changed the oil in the Rohloff hub at that time and I only rode it for about 500km, and it's in the storage room ever since. Do I really need to change oil because of the 2 years passed even if I only used it for so short milage?
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Do I really need to change oil because of the 2 years passed even if I only used it for so short milage?
What you should do and what you need to do are not necessarily the same. I recommend following Rohloff’s instructions to replace the oil yearly, just because Rohloff has very generous warranty if you have maintained the hub according to their specifications. Whether the oil really needs changing after two years of non-use is another question; interestingly, Pinion stopped requiring an annual oil change on their gearboxes, and now advises oil replacement based solely on mileage.
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Pinion stopped requiring an annual oil change on their gearboxes, and now advises oil replacement based solely on mileage.
Indeed, yet curiously they still insist on proof of an 'annual gearbox service' (their words) in the event of a warranty claim
To the OP. Rohloff oil is cheaper than Rohloff parts. Just change the oil to remove any doubts.
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I would. I might have risked the extra year, but do it now. Not using it (What a shame) is an opportunity for the oil to drain away from whatever it's protecting, and the change acts as a flush and a re-coating. If when you come to use it again, I'd give it another change if it's been stood for 6 months. If it's going to be a while before you use it again, I'd add the full 25ml of oil and if possible give the wheels a few turns every few weeks just to keep everything moving and lubricated.
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I'd change the oil every year even if the bike stands all year. The consideration would be the likelihood of condensation inside the hub when the ambient temperature changes, especially if your bike stands in a heated space in the winter.
Also, I'd spin the Rohloff wheel in gears three and five for a couple of minutes each, which coats all the gears even if the oil has drained to the bottom of the shell.
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Ok, so I'll try to find a place. Unfortunately (as usual) shipping to here is double the set's price. So I will try to get it to my hotel in my next family trip in Europe.
Do these sets (the oil) have an expiry date? I mean when it's in the bottle, unused. Can I buy 1 kit + 4 oil sets for the next 5 years, or will they have some problems after such a long time on the shelf?
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Do these sets (the oil) have an expiry date?
The bulk oils have a five year shelf life, though that might be from the date they're opened and is likely to be conservative.
In the UK the 250/125ml bulk oil kit is enough for 10 changes and about three times the price of the single shot of flush and oil. The syringe, pipe and grub screws are all available separately. Syringe and pipe last forever, some people prefer two sets so one is never used for dirty oil. Rohloff advise using a new grub screw each time, not everyone bothers to do so.
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I am using lube oil and cleaning oil that I bought more than five years ago. I bought the 250ml bottles. I have no concern about using it.
If you are not aware, Rohloff reduced their recommended volume of lube oil to half what it used to be, so if you buy new bottles now, that is why one of the bottles will be smaller than you expected.
https://www.rohloff.de/en/company/news/news/reduzierte-oelmenge-fuer-oelwechsel-ab-10-2023
I have been following the Thorn recommendation of 15ml of lube oil, and since I have the older larger volume bottles I plan to keep using the 15ml volume.
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Current the price of a single change 12.5ml / 25ml oil kit is around £25.
A larger 125ml / 250ml kit (for 10 x changes) is around £82……£8.20 per change.
Time for a Group purchase?
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Current the price of a single change 12.5ml / 25ml oil kit is around £25.
A larger 125ml / 250ml kit (for 10 x changes) is around £82……£8.20 per change.
Time for a Group purchase?
Originally there was only the options of a single shot or the 1ltr workshop cans, several of us on here did split workshop quantities and it was very worthwhile. I think the introduction of the 250ml size was cynically priced to reduce people doing so, by the time you've bought containers and added the extra postage the savings are less worthwhile.
I'm not sure where you've got your prices from, the oil prices from SJS are as follows, the other bits are available separately.
Single shot £16 = £16 per use
250/125 £55 = £5.50 per use
1000/500 £140 = £3.50 per use
I bought the workshop cans at the same time as my first Rohloff, split it three ways and it worked out at about £1.50 per change!
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SJS prices must be among the lowest. I got the prices I quoted from a short ebay search and they included delivery. The SJS price for a single shot comes to £19.49 with delivery so still a substantial saving to be made by a Group purchase of larger volumes….and no reason why the oil / cleaner has to be kept in a Rohloff bottle.
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SJS prices must be among the lowest. I got the prices I quoted from a short ebay search and they included delivery. The SJS price for a single shot comes to £19.49 with delivery so still a substantial saving to be made by a Group purchase of larger volumes….and no reason why the oil / cleaner has to be kept in a Rohloff bottle.
Nothing stopping you from trying it, here's someone who did so previously, but then the choice was a litre or a single shot.
https://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=1109.msg5277#msg5277
What can you offer now? If you buy 250ml and split two ways, spend a couple of quid on suitable containers, and re-post, someone is going to save £20 over getting twice the quantity. Buy a litre and split it four ways and the savings are £20 for the same quantity. I could be wrong, but I don't think those savings over 5+ years is very tempting. Back when the above thread was posted, it was a different story, saving £8 a year for ten years, at 2007 prices? But no one now is going to consider buying a single shot every year, are they? That's what I meant by the cynical pricing, there's still a saving to be made, but is it worth the hassle?
I haven't included postage from SJS, you shouldn't need to buy oil in a hurry so it can wait till you have a list.
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Up until now I have had to buy single shot bottles as the 10 shot bottle was more than I wanted, and I imagine others are in the same situation.
I live close enough to cycle to SJS to collect one 125/250ml set at £55 (PH’s figure) and I would want to split it with one other person. Add around £6 for signed second class delivery and the total price to them would be around £33.50 for enough for 5 oil flushes and change. Under £7 per year for 5 years. Cheaper if they can collect from near Taunton.
If anyone in UK is interested please PM me.
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Hi,
I purchased a 2nd hand bike 2 years ago. The seller changed the oil in the Rohloff hub at that time and I only rode it for about 500km, and it's in the storage room ever since. Do I really need to change oil because of the 2 years passed even if I only used it for so short milage?
If you have never changed it, the Thorn video is pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhmgqICNhU
I usually substitute a glass of wine for the recommended cup of tea.
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Yesterday was bike prep for the upcoming tour in Europe. So I did the oil change on my wife's Rohloff. This time I decided to put the wheel in the truing stand for better access to the drain plug. The rear rack makes it quite in accessible!
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I bought a 10 x change oil and flush kit from SJS, £55. No carriage as I collected. If anyone wants to share it please PM me, if not I will slowly use it up over then next 10 years!
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I bought a 10 x change oil and flush kit from SJS, £55. No carriage as I collected. If anyone wants to share it please PM me, if not I will slowly use it up over then next 10 years!
Just a reminder the service intervals are every 12 months or 5,000km. The 10x kit doesn't necessarily equate to ten years.
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Knowing what I know now, I wish that I had never bothered with the 25ml bottles and gone straight to the 250ml bottles (I appreciate that the bottles contain different quantities now)
When I first got my Rohloff, I used the small bottles for the first couple of changes as I didn't really know any better or how long I would be keeping the hub. Over the years I've come to realise that my Rohloff is a 'Keeper' and so buying the 250ml bottles became the obvious choice.
Time flies - It's surprising how quickly you're looking at a 250ml bottle containing just a dribble of oil.
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Knowing what I know now, I wish that I had never bothered with the 25ml bottles and gone straight to the 250ml bottles (I appreciate that the bottles contain different quantities now)
When I first got my Rohloff, I used the small bottles for the first couple of changes as I didn't really know any better or how long I would be keeping the hub. ...
I did the 25ml bottles twice but do not regret it. When I bought the 250ml bottles later, I needed the syringe, tubing, etc., that was needed to do the job. That stuff came with the initial 25ml bottle kit.
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I have now gone down the identical route to Tib and Mick above…..
5000km is 3125 miles which is a little bit more than my current annual mileage on my Rohloff bike so 250ml will definitely last me 10 years!
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For the new Rohloff owner, two of the small bottle and syringe and tube set are a good investment as he will anyway need two syringes and two tubes if he is to keep clean and dirty oil apart. The smallest bottles are also useful for measuring out oil, and the 50ml one as a temporary container until you dispose of dirty oil.
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For the new Rohloff owner, two of the small bottle and syringe and tube set are a good investment as he will anyway need two syringes and two tubes if he is to keep clean and dirty oil apart. The smallest bottles are also useful for measuring out oil, and the 50ml one as a temporary container until you dispose of dirty oil.
The £24 one shot kit comes with syringe, tube and grub screw, available separately for £11. People will spend their hard earned how they choose, but opting for the 10 shot oil and components from the start reduces the expense by £15. Though it's understandable some won't want the initial cost.
You can make greater savings if you don't mind going off brand, syringes are half that price on Ebay. I haven't found an alternative supply for the pipe with threaded end, I don't know where to look? There's some difference of opinion if a new grub screw is necessary each time, I don't bother and accept a tiny smear of oil may leak past it. If you do use an alternative, Thorn's ex-workshop manager explained, in a post somewhere, which thread lock to use, it's the cost of that which stops me replacing each time.
How are people disposing of oil? I'm advised to take it to the local tip where they have a motor oil disposal tank. I put mine in a 5ltr oil can, I have 25 years worth! It's not half full, like nuclear waste, I may leave it for the next generation to deal with.
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For both the oil changes which I have done I used a little blue locktite 243 on the grub screw. One screw should be reuseable many, many times - but I have a spare just incase I loose the original. Degreasing the threads on the grub screw helps and I put the clean grub screw gently into the hub, removed it and degreased it a couple of times to try to degrease the thread in the hub.
I can not see why there would be any problem taking the old oil to a council recycling place?
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For the new Rohloff owner, two of the small bottle and syringe and tube set are a good investment as he will anyway need two syringes and two tubes if he is to keep clean and dirty oil apart. The smallest bottles are also useful for measuring out oil, and the 50ml one as a temporary container until you dispose of dirty oil.
The £24 one shot kit comes with syringe, tube and grub screw, available separately for £11. People will spend their hard earned how they choose, but opting for the 10 shot oil and components from the start reduces the expense by £15. Though it's understandable some won't want the initial cost.
You can make greater savings if you don't mind going off brand, syringes are half that price on Ebay. I haven't found an alternative supply for the pipe with threaded end, I don't know where to look? There's some difference of opinion if a new grub screw is necessary each time, I don't bother and accept a tiny smear of oil may leak past it. If you do use an alternative, Thorn's ex-workshop manager explained, in a post somewhere, which thread lock to use, it's the cost of that which stops me replacing each time.
How are people disposing of oil? I'm advised to take it to the local tip where they have a motor oil disposal tank. I put mine in a 5ltr oil can, I have 25 years worth! It's not half full, like nuclear waste, I may leave it for the next generation to deal with.
A full oil change kit came with my new bike in 2013. Subsequently I bought the single use fluids only kit each year on an as-needed basis. I didn’t think my annual mileage justified bulk purchase and I was conscious of the 5 year shelf life I’d heard about at the time (although I’ve never seen any ‘use by’ date on the containers). However when I bought a second Rohloff bike in 2023 I did buy a 250ml twin pack (not long before the quantities changed). By then I’d also accumulated an ample collection of used only once drain screws, plus a few unused ones with preapplied thread sealant, as backups. Luckily, the additional bike came with a spare set of fluids plus spare syringe so I’m well kitted out for a while.
Disposal
The label on the Rohloff oil says it’s “readidily (sic) biodegradable”. Like you I’ve been disposing of the small amount of waste hub oil by putting it in my old car waste oil container to eventually take to the Sort-it tip. But is that really necessary if it’s biodegradable? The small amount I have each year could easily be soaked up in kitchen paper towel and put in the house non-recyclable waste?
Thread sealant
I don’t know what Rohloff actually use but the recommended thread sealant you’re thinking of is probably Loctite 511?
Filler tube
The tube itself is like the tubing I remember as a boy using to connect model aircraft engines to the fuel tanks though the diameter might be different. I’ve no idea where to look for the plastic screw-in end but in any event the Rohloff filler tube is available to buy from SJSC for £1.99.
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This is the Loctite info I was thinking of, though I thought there was a more detailed post, if there is I couldn't find it, Tony is correct, 511 is the right stuff, when I looked a little bottle was £30!
Blue medium strength loctite is fine on most bolts but not drain screws.
You need something oil proof that seals, your not actually looking to lock the thread.
Rohloff use Weicon AN301-72, you can use Loctite 511.
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Assuming you did not use 511, PH, what did you use?
Locktite comes in many different flavours and for a job like this (low undoing loads, no pressurised or hot oils or nasty chemicals) a lot of different types will work, but personally I would avoid a high strength one.
Good that 511 is suggested as it must mean that it works OK, but that does not mean that other types will not work.
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This is the Loctite info I was thinking of, though I thought there was a more detailed post, if there is I couldn't find it, Tony is correct, 511 is the right stuff, when I looked a little bottle was £30!
Probably cheaper to buy 10 Rohloff drainscrews at 25€20 (Bike24 price to France without port) and re-use once or twice before replacing.
Unless you can also use the Loctite for something else (not my case so far).
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The SJS video says Locktite 511:
https://youtu.be/fVhmgqICNhU?feature=shared&t=377
I have used the plain old threadlocker that is blue in color and labeled as removable. There are several brands besides Loctite. I have never tried to buy a specific version of Loctite. The last couple times I bought some thread locker I bought a brand other than Locktite.
I also put a piece of PVC electrical tape over the screw when I am done to try to keep dirt out of that location and out of the hole in the screw.
I do have a spare screw on hand in case I lose it. I do this work outside and have lost some tiny little parts on the ground in the past.
Last time I bought threadlocker, this is what I bought, see graphic:
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Assuming you did not use 511, PH, what did you use?
I don't use anything, the screw goes back as it came out. Though I use the Andy B method of oil change as detailed in the "Living with a Rohloff" booklet, so there isn't much oil sloshing around to leak out. I haven't used a new screw for at least 8 years, it's possible a small amount seeps out, but less than gets past the seals. I did consider the risk of it working loose, but that hasn't happened yet. The recommendation from DW not to use blue, was due to it not being a seal, I can't see it doing any harm, but if the screw doesn't need securing, and you're not using something that provides a seal, IMO there's no advantage to using anything.
The SJS video says Locktite 511:
https://youtu.be/fVhmgqICNhU?feature=shared&t=377
I'm not sure I'd seen that before. it's interesting that Rohloff say you don't need a new screw unless it's leaking, I thought the advice was to always replace.