Recent Posts

Pages: 1 ... 8 9 [10]
91
Lighting and Electronics / Re: likely water damage in Son 28 on tour any advice
« Last post by Jornw on December 10, 2025, 08:54:01 PM »
Hi,
I have an alternative theory, based on personal experience with my Edellux front light and SON 28. My light went out during a very wet bike trip in Norway. Back home, I opened the light and found much moisture inside, partly covering the electronics. Further forensics showed the the elastomer O-ring, normally sealing the front glass to the housing, had become brittle and broken at several locations. (I suspect that the O-ring material was chemically incompatible with cosmetics carried out by previous owner. This could include applying a polishing wax or even worse, spraying frame with a chemical). I dried the light internals and installed a new O-ring. My Edellux has worked flawlessly since. More details can be found elsewhere on this forum.

To elaborate my theory;  it would not come as a surprise if the moisture in the light also affected the current supplied to the "Sinewave". Perhaps the SON 28 was perfectly innocent after all.
92
Cycle Tours / Sri Lanka 2026
« Last post by Andyb1 on December 10, 2025, 08:14:33 PM »
Airline tickets bought.   Railway tickets to LHR bought.   Raven sorted.  Leaving UK in early Feb 2026.
Horrible flooding in SL so I wondered about cancelling but as I go in 2 months time I am continuing.
Details in my CycleBlaze Journal

https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/srilanka26/
93
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by Andyb1 on December 10, 2025, 05:25:54 PM »
Just a thought……the OP had a problem with gear slippage in the lower ratios and then changed the oil (and adjusted the chain) which sorted the problem……then found the oil leak.

Could an oil leak have been there all the time (and emptied the hub of oil) which has now become more obvious with new (more) oil in the hub?

Did much oil come out when the hub was drained or was it dry?
94
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by UKTony on December 10, 2025, 01:12:41 PM »


If I'm looking at the inside surface of ex-box face on, do I turn the ex-box nut clockwise or anti-clockwise for gear 14?
The simple answer is anti-clockwise to get to gear 14.
95
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by mickeg on December 10, 2025, 11:59:39 AM »
When I put my EX box together and do not get all gears, say if the shifter only goes from 1 to 12, I put the hub into that gear the shifter says is gear 12.  But I know that I actually put it in the highest gear that way, so I take the cover off the EX Bos, then turn the shifter to 14 and reassemble.

Or if the shifter only worked from gears 4 to 14, same concept.  Set it at 4 which is the lowest gear, take the cover off the EX Box, set to gear 1, reassemble.

Takes less than two minutes, no tools needed.
96
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by PH on December 10, 2025, 10:56:40 AM »
If I'm looking at the inside surface of ex-box face on, do I turn the ex-box nut clockwise or anti-clockwise for gear 14?
I can't remember, but there's no need to.  You can change gear with an 8mm spanner while the wheel is in the dropout,  turn it to one end, turn the pedals, turn it to the other and you'll know.  I frequently forget to change gear before disconnecting and do the above, it takes a couple of seconds. 
97
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by swayzak on December 10, 2025, 10:21:12 AM »
Thank you

It sounds from what eveyone has said that it's probably not worth doing a repeat oil change 7 days after the previous change to cure this issue (apart from peace of mind maybe)?

If I'm looking at the inside surface of ex-box face on, do I turn the ex-box nut clockwise or anti-clockwise for gear 14?
98
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by JohnR on December 10, 2025, 09:55:24 AM »
From memory, use a spanner to turn the gears to one of the limits, turn the shifter to the corresponding limit and then fit the ex-box. Finally check if you have the full range of gears.

I've had the leakage problem in the past. You may want to draw off a little oil from the hub. As already noted, there doesn't have to be a lot of oil in the hub to be able to keep everything lubricated. There's the risk that when doing a flush and refill of ending up with more oil in the hub than at the start unless you've been patient in trying to extract every drop.
99
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by swayzak on December 10, 2025, 08:44:07 AM »
Thanks for that - reassuring!

After further inspection this morning, I found v similar black watery fluid underneath the Ex-box so suspect the "leak" was coming from here (not the port on the main hub

However whilst investigating this I stupidly put the shifter in gear 1 (not 14) before detaching the ex-box and cleaning it a bit

Now it won't reattach properly - how do I realign things to gear 14 so I can attach it back correctly?

Can I push the ex box on as far as possible then use shifter to move the ex-box to gear 14? Or do I need to use a spanner on the ex-box?
100
Rohloff Internal Hub Gears / Re: ?oil leak
« Last post by Andre Jute on December 10, 2025, 08:07:58 AM »
When my hub was new, I had a frightful moment when there was what appeared to be a pool of oil underneath it. If I'd been living near the supplier or the manufacturer of the bike, I would have delivered it back to them that day with a rocket and a demand they fix it at their own expense. Fortunately for my dignity, I live in Ireland and there was no instant means available to return the bike to Germany.

On investigation over several occurrences of the disturbing event, I noticed a preponderance of water and very little oil in the small pool. Since the hub had not been submerged, I started wondering about environmental factors. The bike was standing in a passageway in my town house, near an outside door of wood but a large half-circle of glass over the door, causing the bike to be alternatively in sunlight -- it was a pretty hot summer shading into a muggy autumn -- and colder shadow. Cycles of heat and cold could account for a small pool of water on the stone floor. We also saw it in the winter, when the heating goes off at night.

In those days I filled with the recommended 25ml of Rohloff's own All Seasons Oil.

Someone on the forum mentioned to someone else in another matter that the Rohloff vent is through the axle.

So here I then had two facts which together would account for a pool of water with a little oil in it.

Over time, as I understood more and more about Herr Rohloff's extreme devotion to the Engineer's Religion, also called Cover Your Ass, which in this case was practically expressed as, "12ml in the hub is enough for me, but thee are required to put in 25ml."

I filled with less and less oil and eventually the problem disappeared when I got down to filling with 16ml of oil. It's years since I last saw evidence of the "leak". These days I fill with 14ml to allow for spillage because measuring and inserting the permitted 12ml isn't a certain procedure in domestic conditions when you don't have the hub on a bench before you.

*****

It is a well known fact that once the gears inside a Rohloff box are coated with the correct oil, it's good to go until the next service interval at 5000km/3000m or one year, whichever comes first. Extra oil swishing around is superfluous.

*****

My advice is therefore not to panic, to perform a full service with 14ml of Four Seasons Oil, ending with fitting a new stud in the Rohloff oil port, and to watch whether anything comes back out in the next few days.

*****

You must take your own counsel with an expensive hub, but I would not hesitate so soon after putting fresh oil in the hub, if waiting for a service kit or stud to arrive, to ride the bike as long as the piece of tape PH advises is across the port (more to keep dust out and stop oil getting on the braking band of the rim, than to protect the gears against running dry). The logic here is that even the Cleaning Oil is actually also a running oil, specifically for very cold ambient conditions, and some of that, plus some of the All Seasons Oil that you put in, will be sticking to the gears.

Good luck.
Pages: 1 ... 8 9 [10]