Recent Posts51
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: Fitting Rohloff to old bike?
« Last post by mickeg on October 30, 2025, 06:06:23 PM »First of all, one topic you did not mention is spoke pattern. Make sure that the wheel builder reads the Rohloff instructions for wheel builders. I had my bike in a bike shop, a mechanic was looking at it and said that he was going to build up a Rohloff wheel for a customer. Then he said he was going to use three cross, but was curious why mine was two cross. I asked him if he had read the Rohloff instructions for the wheel builder, he said he had experience and did not have to read anything about building wheels. I then told him if he built up the wheel the way he planned, his customer might have a lot of spoke breakage. I have no clue what he did. Point being, if your mechanic says he does not need to read the Rohloff instructions, find a different wheel builder.
I built up my wheel over a decade ago, I think now Rohloff specifies Sapim spokes where they did not when I built mine. Sapim Polyax nipples, I would suggest them.
The Rohloff puts a lot of torque on the frame, so you probably need the hub with that long torque arm.
My bike uses the EX box. It is easy for me to fit new cables. I am clueless about the internal cable, so can't comment on that.
I see no reason you can't use a couple zip ties for cable guides. But if you had the kind of hub with internal cable, you would need some cable housing stops.
Yes, 135mm. I suspect that the nutted hub would work, but I would go with the quick release. Hub does not come with a quick release, you would need to add the skewer to your shopping list.
I used 36 spoke for my bike, it is used for heavy touring. For your purposes, you may prefer 32 as some rims are getting hard to find in 36. But if your rim is readily available in both 32 and 36, use whichever you prefer.
You did not ask about gearing. You need to figure out what gear range you want so you can chose the chainring size for your crankset. I use a 44T chainring for riding near home on an unladen bike, but I change to a 36T for loaded heavy touring. This is the Thorn forum. Thorn uses 17T sprockets by default, but Rohloff comes with 16T.
You did not mention chainline. I think there is some info on that in the Rohloff printed materials, but I built my bike over a decade ago, I do not recall the details on how I picked bottom bracket spindle length.
I see PH just posted a response. I agree with everything he said.
I built up my wheel over a decade ago, I think now Rohloff specifies Sapim spokes where they did not when I built mine. Sapim Polyax nipples, I would suggest them.
The Rohloff puts a lot of torque on the frame, so you probably need the hub with that long torque arm.
My bike uses the EX box. It is easy for me to fit new cables. I am clueless about the internal cable, so can't comment on that.
I see no reason you can't use a couple zip ties for cable guides. But if you had the kind of hub with internal cable, you would need some cable housing stops.
Yes, 135mm. I suspect that the nutted hub would work, but I would go with the quick release. Hub does not come with a quick release, you would need to add the skewer to your shopping list.
I used 36 spoke for my bike, it is used for heavy touring. For your purposes, you may prefer 32 as some rims are getting hard to find in 36. But if your rim is readily available in both 32 and 36, use whichever you prefer.
You did not ask about gearing. You need to figure out what gear range you want so you can chose the chainring size for your crankset. I use a 44T chainring for riding near home on an unladen bike, but I change to a 36T for loaded heavy touring. This is the Thorn forum. Thorn uses 17T sprockets by default, but Rohloff comes with 16T.
You did not mention chainline. I think there is some info on that in the Rohloff printed materials, but I built my bike over a decade ago, I do not recall the details on how I picked bottom bracket spindle length.
I see PH just posted a response. I agree with everything he said.
.