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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by swayzak on December 09, 2025, 09:38:59 PM »
I do not understand your post, did you ride your bike and park it at work without the small screw?  If so, a puddle does not surprise me.

No the screw was in (the old screw, with less sealent on it), and fairly tight. I tightened it a bit more (but am aware overtightening is bad)

As I said, the small black pool on the floor beneath the hub seemed more watery than oily, which puzzled me a little...
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by swayzak on December 09, 2025, 09:35:39 PM »
Put a piece of tape, any sort, over the screw after cleaning around it with isopropyl or something similar.  That won't stop any oil leaking, but it'll make it obvious if that's where it's coming from.  I'm skeptical that enough oil would get past the grub screw to form a pool, but you won't know till you investigate further.
How old is the hub?  My oldest one started leaking after about 15 years, but it's very inconsistent, sometimes it was after a long ride, sometimes when I'd just been to the shops, sometimes not for weeks, I tried to be consistent in the way I parked it, but it didn't make any difference. I occasionally think about getting it fixed, but instead just follow the oil change method in the Living With a Rohloff booklet, basically give it a better flush and drain most of the oil back out,  it's been fine doing that for the last 6 years.
It's up to you, but I wouldn't bother doing another oil change till it's due (I'd also not be buying kits, it's a very expensive way to buy what you need) Rohloff themselves say if all the oil were to leak out there's still enough coating the parts to be fine till the next change.

Thanks
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by mickeg on December 09, 2025, 06:06:51 PM »
My hub has always had a bad leak.  I have a side stand for my bike, the bike leans slightly to the left when not in use.  And the leakage appears to come out of the EX box.  I am pretty sure that I have a bad internal seal on my Rohloff.  The exploded diagram shows a seal that keeps oil from leaking into the hollow axle for the quick release skewer.  And my skewer is always covered with oil, thus I suspect that seal is what leaks on mine.

I do not understand your post, did you ride your bike and park it at work without the small screw?  If so, a puddle does not surprise me.

I use blue (removable) threadlocker on my Rohloff oil screws.  On this forum, Dave W. (former employee of SJS) commented that what I was using was oil soluble threadlocker and that I should use something else, but I keep using it anyway.  I often put a piece of black electrical tape over the screw after I change the oil, mainly to keep the screw clean so I do not have grit inside where the Allen key goes.




 
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by PH on December 09, 2025, 02:25:42 PM »
Put a piece of tape, any sort, over the screw after cleaning around it with isopropyl or something similar.  That won't stop any oil leaking, but it'll make it obvious if that's where it's coming from.  I'm skeptical that enough oil would get past the grub screw to form a pool, but you won't know till you investigate further.
How old is the hub?  My oldest one started leaking after about 15 years, but it's very inconsistent, sometimes it was after a long ride, sometimes when I'd just been to the shops, sometimes not for weeks, I tried to be consistent in the way I parked it, but it didn't make any difference. I occasionally think about getting it fixed, but instead just follow the oil change method in the Living With a Rohloff booklet, basically give it a better flush and drain most of the oil back out,  it's been fine doing that for the last 6 years.
It's up to you, but I wouldn't bother doing another oil change till it's due (I'd also not be buying kits, it's a very expensive way to buy what you need) Rohloff themselves say if all the oil were to leak out there's still enough coating the parts to be fine till the next change.
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by swayzak on December 09, 2025, 12:08:53 PM »
Sounds like a leak from the screw - a bit of a coincidence to suddenly get a leak from some other place.

What volume of oil did you put in?   The recommendation used to be 25ml but is now half that.   If you had put in 25ml you may be OK?

I am now using blue hylomar gasket sealant on the plug.  It is a non-setting sealant and seems to work well both as a sealer and to stop the plug undoing, and is easily found in UK.  Obviously clean the plug and hub threads first.

Thanks - I used the volumes (and instructions) provided in the kit from SJS cycles
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by Andyb1 on December 09, 2025, 11:53:45 AM »
Sounds like a leak from the screw - a bit of a coincidence to suddenly get a leak from some other place.

What volume of oil did you put in?   The recommendation used to be 25ml but is now half that.   If you had put in 25ml you may be OK?

I am now using blue hylomar gasket sealant on the plug.  It is a non-setting sealant and seems to work well both as a sealer and to stop the plug undoing, and is easily found in UK.  Obviously clean the plug and hub threads first.
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / ?oil leak
« Last post by swayzak on December 09, 2025, 10:50:36 AM »
Hello

As per my other post re chain slippage, I changed the Rohloff oil at the weekend

Rode it into work today for the first time this week & a small pool of black liquid gathered under the back wheel (noticed by a colleague about an hour afer I arrived)

Thing is I lost both new & old grub screws during the oil change (I find it quite fiddly putting them back in, and my eye sight is not what it used to be)

I then found the old one (which had a small amount of sealant on it) so had to use that

So I suspect this was insufficent & the black pool was an oil leak (although it didn't seem particularly oily when I cleaned it up) :(

How critical is the quantity of sealant in preventing Rohloff leaks?

I have purchased replacement kit so the hub should be nice and clean after a 2nd change in 7 days!
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: Rohloff Gravel bike recommendations?
« Last post by PH on December 06, 2025, 05:23:26 PM »
Obviously just me, but I can still not understand why drop bars are used when riding off road.  But then I have never tried.
I don't get it either, though I'm usually of the opinion that things I don't get are probably not aimed at me.  It isn't just the drop bars, the other common elements of the sorts of Gravel bikes I come across - steep seat tube, short chainstays, short headtube, fast steering - wouldn't suit me either, on or off road.  However, there's a long tradition of drop bars off road, it's always been the default for cyclocross and it's the norm in all the nostalgic Rough Stuff Fellowship photos.
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: Strange behaviour with 12 year old Rohloff Thorne bike
« Last post by UKTony on December 06, 2025, 03:36:38 PM »
👍 thanks for the feedback.
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Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: Rohloff Gravel bike recommendations?
« Last post by swayzak on December 06, 2025, 02:09:02 PM »
I (simplistically perhaps) thought a gravel bike is basically a road-style bike (eg drop handle bars) which is made to cope with a larger variety of surfaces (and the transition between)

eg smooth(ish) tarmac roads, pavements, cycle paths, gravel tracks

Higher clearance, slightly wider tyres etc than road bike

So allowing a more flexible ride (surface-wise)

I might be wrong though!
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