Aluminium shifter to replace Rubber shifter

[onrbikes]

Not sure if anyone is interested but,
I've gone through a few of the rubber shifter and soon to go through another.
A good friend of mine has a CNC shop and will make me a couple once I get back from Sumatra.
Late September.

I too used to do machining for a living so envision the cost to come in at about 40Aud plus shipping.
Mind you it won't have numbers on it but will be similar to the Gille Berthaud, but large like the original black rubber grips.
It will also just be a replacement grip , not the entire unit.

Will put a photo up of the finished product

If interested do let me know via this page or a PM.

[mickeg]

I have tried several options to modify the round shifter, my current favorite is shown in the photos.

I put three beads of black Shoe Goo on it last year.  Shoe Goo is sold in USA as a viscous liquid that you can use to build up your worn out shoe soles.  Not sure if it is available in other countries, but there might be similar products elsewhere?

I am not trying to dissuade anyone from the Aluminum option, I am just describing what is working well for me as another option.  When my hands are wet from sweat and if I am not wearing gloves, I found it hard to grip the round shifter but the three beads of shoe goo give me excellent grip.

[onrbikes]

I totally understand the slippery surfaced thing and am looking at a partially knurled surface, like in the pic
If I make them out of Aluminium they'll last forever and not go gummy like rubber does.

I also have large hands and often shift using the larger diameter part of the unit.

[Pavel]

a rubber or other soft surface is sort of important to me as I ride mostly with my hand resting on the Rohloff grip and I don't use gloves in Summer because they don't ever dry out in our humidity. I like that aluminum is probably longer lasting and would take less grip to shift, but I wonder about the comfort level at the same time ( have no idea if it would be less comfy or perhaps even more).  I do know that when the hands are wet I've had cramps towards the end of the day trying to shift with the classic rubber shifter.  I never thought of shoe goo ... or of trying the Berthoud due to it's high cost. 

What price range might these come in at?  It never hurts to try new things ... except the pain in that skinny wallet of mine.

[John Saxby]

George, I think that Rohloff may have pinched your shoe-goo idea in making the new-ish "Wave" shifter knob. Mine is a couple of years old now, and works fine -- easier to use than the older design to which you applied the shoe-goo.

I always use gloves, though -- we members of the Celtic diaspora have to cover up whenever there's any sun, or even under a cloudy-bright sky.

[Danneaux]

Hi Fred!

I think it is always valuable to have more options available and I salute your efforts to make a new alu shifter cover, no matter how small the production run.

However -- speaking only for myself -- I have tried both the Co-Motion aluminum shifter (produced locally) and the Berthoud and found the aluminum was unpleasantly hot to the touch even with gloved hands for the desert conditions where I sometimes ride. I do like the idea of a larger diameter and wish Rohloff would produce a rubber cover in a larger size for this reason.

I switched from my original 2012 vintage standard Rohloff rubber cover to the wave style in 2014 and have been very happy with it. Now, if only it were available in larger diameter....

All best wishes,

Dan.

[onrbikes]

My wife has the wave and I too like it a lot.
I tend to wear my existing ones out every 5000km.

Interesting thought on the heat with an aluminium grip which I never considered.
I've actually thought of using a plastic (Delrin) that comes in a 4 colours. Black and white being the most popular.
Very long lasting but the white can get a dirty look after a bit.
Black may be best.

Cheaper than Aluminium

[Danneaux]

I've actually thought of using a plastic (Delrin)...

Ah! There ya go, Fred!I like this idea much better.

I have machined Delrin and found it a real joy to work with and it seems to be pretty neutral thermally. I used some Delrin stock to mill standoffs that were regularly exposed to high temperatures and I don't ever recall them reaching the hand-burning temperatures of silver or (worse!) black anodized aluminum. The latter got hot enough to leave burn marks where the relieved numbers could be seen on my skin until the burn filled with fluid and then peeled several days later leaving a pretty raw wound. Notsofun.

Aluminum is a remarkably efficient thermal conductor (one reason it is used for drinks cans). It is also not so comfortable in really cold conditions (-24°C/-12°F) or in freezing rain, even through full-fingered gloves.

All the best,

Dan.

[onrbikes]

I used to machine lots of the stuff. EAsy too mach but small bore diameters had trouble keeping good finishes.
But it has good lubricating properties especially as it needs to fit over the assembly.

Its cheap material and as you said very stable so will probably go down that line.

I've also thought Perspex but think it may be too brittle. Much tougher too but could look cool as its see through.

I only thought Aluminium as it ha stye look people want but as you said too hot.

[mickeg]

Before I put the three beads of Shoe Goo on my shifter, one of my prior experiments was to cut a piece of inner tube about 30 to 35 mm long (approximately), so I had a tube that I could stretch over the shifter.  If you use the right tube size, it could fit tightly and not slip on your Aluminum shifter, giving you something that is cooler to the touch.  But not sure if it would be easily grippable, it would of course cover up any knurling you do on the Aluminum.

This could be used to make a wavy one a larger diameter?

I got the idea for the three beads from Rohloff's original triangular shaped shifter, so I am not going to accuse them of stealing my idea to make the wavy version.

For long rides, I wear gloves.  But for example yesterday I rode my Nomad to a couple of stores to buy stuff, about 7 km total and I don't bother to wear gloves for short rides. 

[John Saxby]

I got the idea for the three beads from Rohloff's original triangular shaped shifter

All in the public domain -- trinities have a long history 

[Pavel]

I second the note about aluminum, especially in black being near un-bearable in the hot Southern sun; the South East in my case.  I dislike wearing gloves because the humidity here is so high  that they never dry out, but on a sunny summer day it is painful sometimes to move one's hands onto the bars section, as they get so hot, without gloves.  But the regular Rohloff shifter rubbed the area between finger and thumb raw on many days.  I'd hate to imagine hard aluminum and what it would do to my hands.

Also, Berthoude has that market covered imho, so another as well as angle may be the best approach for manufacturing something new. 

I'm most drawn to the whole grip rotating design, such as the Hase. ( https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifters/rohloff-shifter-with-full-length-grip-by-hase-in-germany/?geoc=US)
However I consider the price to be high to the point of offensive and I won't buy it.  Still, it could solve a lot of the problems of comfort as well as make gripping easier.