Has anyone experience of converting a derailleur equipped bike to Rohloff? I realise chainset and changers will need to be swapped. The frame has vertical drop outs so I assume some form of jockey wheel will be needed. I run on 26" wheels and carry heavy loads, what chain wheel / sprocket is best? Can any one recommend a good UK bakeshop that does this? Many thanks
I run 622x60 Big Apples, heaviest load half a case of wine in each pannier basket, live up a steep hill, personally old and tired but too stubborn to push up hills. I find that a 38 tooth chainwheel and 16 tooth cog, the lowest Rohloff officially permits, does me well. Read Andy Blance's pages on the Rohloff, available on the Thorn site; that has a table of permissible gear ratios, and he explains how you can go lower at your own risk -- but it doesn't seem much of a risk, within reason. I thought about it but my German dealer refused to fit cogs outside Rohloff's guidelines (!) even at my risk, and when I got it the thing worked well, so I never changed the ratio though I ordered the parts with the bike and they're lying around.
The chain on a Rohloff bike is supposed to run from slack to very slack. I have slotted slider frame ends, and most of the cyclists here have eccentric bottom brackets on their Ravens, but you don't hear much about adjustments. I'm just wondering if you might not be able to get away without the jockey wheel, in which case you can use a Hebie Chainglider which will make the chain last just about forever, and avoid adjustment for a very long time, perhaps permanently.
Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/Andre%20Jute's%20Utopia%20Kranich.pdf
