Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Rohloff Internal Hub Gears => Topic started by: Andre Jute on April 22, 2015, 02:39:36 pm
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WIIIIIIDE Rohloff for Faaaaatbikes, if nobody else has reported it yet:
https://www.bike-components.de/de/Rohloff/Speedhub-500-14-XL-32-Loch-Fatbike-Nabe-p42416/
(https://static.bike-components.de/cache/Rohloff-Speedhub-500-14-XL-32-Loch-Fatbike-Nabe-sc-c58b917f3a16341772cf4973eba517c3.jpeg)
Now why wasn't this one around when I was designing geribikes?
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You'd think there's room for some more gears in there !
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You'd think there's room for some more gears in there !
My worry is that electric green sheen on it, which looks just like those huge buzzing flies you find on cowdung. Here's hoping it is merely an artifact of the photographer's lighting.
See it here, with some technical data: https://www.bike-components.de/de/Rohloff/Speedhub-500-14-XL-32-Loch-Fatbike-Nabe-p42416/
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Just when I thought the fat bike would just be a passing fad, Rohloff decides to make sure its not.
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My worry is that electric green sheen on it...hoping it is merely an artifact of the photographer's lighting.
I have seen one in person, Andre, as FatBikes are becoming very popular here on the beaches in summer and on the slopes of ski resorts in the mountains in winter. The tire was a 4.8in Surly Knard*.
The Rohloff FatBike hub was the usual understated but very elegant architectural black anodizing that appears on my Nomad's own Rohloff hub in standard width. Not even a tinge of green was evident in outdoors lighting.
No worries, I think; you can go ahead and buy one now. ;)
All the best,
Dan.
*If you are interested in FatBike tires, a good survey of some of the more popular ones can be found here:
http://fat-bike.com/category/components/tires/
The Kenda Juggernaut is remarkably light for its size: http://fat-bike.com/2014/12/new-kenda-juggernaut-tires-first-look/
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Just when I thought the fat bike would just be a passing fad, Rohloff decides to make sure its not.
It's really fascinating to watch how standards freeze and thaw and flow and refreeze. I have seen a few fat bikes but have yet to ride one. Seems like a perfectly reasonable idea. Always risky though, to jump onto a new bandwagon too quickly. I hope Rohloff doesn't get burned! I have no idea what they invested in design, tooling, marketing, etc. to get this on the street.
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Here is the Rohloff page about this hub, which is called the Speedhub XL.
http://www.rohloff.de/no_cache/en/products/fatbike_rohloff_speedhub_xl_mtb/index.html (http://www.rohloff.de/no_cache/en/products/fatbike_rohloff_speedhub_xl_mtb/index.html)
It appears that they add a middle section to the shell to make it wider, and perhaps merely add spacers and a wider axle inside? Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem too difficult to make the hub wider.
- Dave
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yeah in principle it ought to be quite simple. But lemme tell you at the grunt level how simple in principle can turn into a regular nightmare in practice. It's a little song and dance I have to give my boss on an all-too-regular schedule!
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When I visited the Rohloff factory last May, they had one fitted to a fat bike on a test rig. Very impressive the testing they were doing.
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...in principle it ought to be quite simple. But lemme tell you at the grunt level how simple in principle can turn into a regular nightmare in practice.
Rohloff do specifically state it is not possible to convert a standard hub to a fat one...
Best,
Dan.
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yeah in principle it ought to be quite simple. But lemme tell you at the grunt level how simple in principle can turn into a regular nightmare in practice. It's a little song and dance I have to give my boss on an all-too-regular schedule!
Conceptually simple engineering (a longer central section, a longer axle, a spacer) can work out pretty expensive if the unit numbers to justify the development and testing (often mandatory) don't eventuate.
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It's good to see Rohloff have actually been doing a modicum of R&D, even though it looks like a simple tweak/stretch of the existing concept. OK we did get a new twist shifter, again not a huge hit in R&D terms.
Discussions on these boards in the past have concluded that the Rohloff design is so good that they are highly unlikely to revise it significantly any time soon ... so therefore high investment in R&D isn't necessary, which always makes me wonder when the price of the darn things might drop.
Colour televisions, automatic washing machines, bagless vacuum cleaners, personal computers ... the list of things that were very expensive when they first came out, only to drop in price dramatically later is endless; here's hoping Rohloff's tin cans (regular and stretched) get a bit cheaper in future.
P.S. Shimano trickle down technology means that we can get Dura Ace / XTR gear much cheaper in a couple of years when it gets down to Tiagra / Deore. As brummie said, we could be getting 21 gears in a new Rohloff and the 14 speed at Shimano Alfine prices. ;)
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The fact is Rohloff pay German labour costs not far east wages.
Is 10 speed Shimano any better than 8 speed? I gave up after 8 speed.
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No worries, I think; you can go ahead and buy one now. ;)
Regrettably, I'll have to take a raincheck as all my money and time is going into another project: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=10883.0
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Does this follow current trends in body size ? :(
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Hi All
More new standards are coming to bikes for 2016!
One of the new standards is Boost 148 http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/trek-and-sram-roll-out-wider-axle-standard-41352/ (http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/trek-and-sram-roll-out-wider-axle-standard-41352/)
Also New Standards for road bikes too!
Kiwi Pete