Or is anybody willing to be a £29 pound guinea pig?!
I have no problem spending 29 quid or its euro equivalent on a necessary tool, but I'd hate to waste the money on a tool that doesn't do the job and has no other use. I see now, on a further search on the net, that the purpose of the Pedros vise whip can be paraphrased as holding derailleur sprockets steady while undoing the locking with another tool. Whereas, if I understand the Rohloff process correctly, the purpose of the chain whip/vise whip is to unwind the sprocket while another spanner holds the gubbins steady. (The Rohloff process is the same as one does with the Shimano IGH sprocket.)
Good idea in principle - could the amount of leverage available be an issue for some?
Yes, I wondered what sort of a pipe one could fit over the back end of a molegrip for extra leverage. But see my note above about the Pedros vise whip being intended merely to be the steadying tool rather than to perform the rotation.
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So as not to be a guinea-pig in Senor Pedro's lab, I think I'll just take the experienced advice here and buy a Park chain whip to replace the one (probably from the same place that makes Lifu chain whips, already found inadequate by a poster in the main sprocket thread) that came in my Velomann toolkit.
I already have a 24mm spanner. I also have a substantial machine vise, which I can attach to a Workman stand; if that fails, I can go use the vise at my LBS, who hails from the blacksmith era of bicycle mechanics.
All this is probably, as Julian says, a bit premature, if, as you all seem to believe, I'm likely to find on removing the chaincase that the sprocket is in good nick. However, I have two other full chaincases on other bikes (different sorts of chaincases, not Utopia Country as on my Rohloff-equipped bike) and on both of them the Shimano sprockets were pretty worn after 2k miles or so, and the chains were definitely kaput; this isn't a service problem as those chains were respectively oiled or white waxed according to use, and were used only on clean roads, an altogether very disappointing performance for a hub gear drivetrain inside a fully enclosing chaincase. So I'm not counting any chickens until they hatch; it might be my riding style or weight causing the excessive wear in the Shimano HGB setups, in which case my Rohloff sprocket won't last as long as yours appear to do. Better prepared than surprised, followed by days of idleness while I wait for parts to arrive.
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I must say though that I feel better about the process now that I've found a support group. On hand of my experience with the Shimano sprockets, I was anticipating viewing the Rohloff sprocket with some trepidation, now much lessened.
Thanks to all who helped out.
Hobbes
