New Rohloff external box won't shift

[il padrone]

Hi, new to this forum and just completing a Thorn Raven Nomad build. I'm in Australia and, to save $$$ I have bought most parts on-line, including the Rohloff from Bike24. Now I have a problem

Brand new and it's not working  I've got all the cables connected up, checked and double checked but I cannot shift it out of 14. I can shift the gears manually with a spanner. The cables rotate the external box barrel fine. When I use a spanner on the boss for the internal connection the gears shift, but it does seem stiff. I just cannot rotate the barrel inside the shifter box when I have it connected to the hub...... Grrrr!!

What am I doing wrong? I was hoping to take the bike for a test run tonight but no chance now.

Cheers
Pete

[julk]

With the EX Box disconnected, try rotating the handlebar changer to 14 and then rotate the gear fully anticlockwise with a spanner. Refit the Ex Box and you should have 14 gears available if the cables are fitted the correct way.

Do you have the manual to see the diagrams for how the cables should be fitted?

[il padrone]

Thanks, but, yes I've done that. Also rotated the gear fully clockwise to 1 and connected the EX box set at 1 - still no shifting.

I've checked and rechecked the cable set up. I have the manual. As it came from Bike34 (Germany) it's all in German, but I've downloaded the English manual PDFs from the Rohloff website.

Pete

[JimK]

Also rotated the gear fully clockwise to 1 and connected the EX box set at 1

Certainly worth trying at least one cross-wise combination, set the shifter to 1 and the hub to 14. Something somewhere could be upside down or backwards!

[rualexander]

Make sure that the removable part of the ex box (the bit with the cables and barrel in it) is fitting flush against the fixed part of the ex box, with no gap between the two.
When I put mine on first I had a bother getting it to change then noticed a slight gap, a bit of twiddling of the shifter away from the no.14 position while pressing the removable part in place lined things up and it fitted flush with no gap. Everything works ok now.

[il padrone]

Thanks for the replies. Yep tried those.

Set the gear hub to 1 and shifter to 14 - no go  . Bit silly really as I can see which direction the barrel is turning and relate that to the gear boss turn direction.

It is a fiddle to get the external box seated, but I have that right.

When I use an 8mm ring spanner to turn the gear it is a fair push, on the end of a 140mm spanner. The leverage is much more than the shifter (~2mm radius) acting on the similar radius barrel in the external box. Is there any reason the internal shift should be so tight? Can it be loosened up in any way?

[julk]

That sounds much too stiff, I could turn my previous one (ex box model) easily with a 9cm long 8mm ring spanner.

Sounds like you have exhausted the obvious possibilities and it is time to move onto the warranty services for the hub.

[il padrone]

Yahaaahhh!!

Success! Such a tiny thing, and all my own fault 

When I took off the torque arm plate to rotate the position of the external box a little cog came out. I thought I replaced it correctly but it turns out it was reversed and hence the external shift not working.


  All good now. Thanks to everyone who gave some tips and hints.

Cheers
Pete

[JimK]

All good now.

Congratulations! And thanks for giving us the details - I'll keep an eye out for that little cog if I go probing in that area!

Jim

[julk]

Well done!

Enjoy riding that new bike

[Andre Jute]

Lucky escape! I came in here too late to give misguided advice!

I carry a specialist bicycle open wrench, 10mm once side, 8mm the other, very short and thin, but forged nonetheless, not that rubbishy punched-out Park Tool thing, for the few nuts and bolts on my bike, and the Rohloff emergency gearchange. This just suits my present toolkit.

However, if you don't need the 10mm capability (careful -- most bikes have 10mm nuts somewhere, mostly in crucial places, or some really silly, unnecessary place, like on the adjustment clips for mudguard stays), a particularly nice 8mm shifter to carry for the Rohloff emergency shift, because there is no possibility of slipping but it doesn't weigh as much as a ring spanner, is the 8mm socket with fixed male 1/4 inch hex drive in this kit:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10197
It is a good kit, by itself, and very flexible, in that you can exchange one of the bits for a T20 you buy separately, but a bit heavy. So I just used to use the 8mm socket from it with this (it isn't a toy, it is a serious tool; mine has taken years of abuse and is on its fourth bike now):
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=2926

Hobbes

[il padrone]

Thanks for that.

I already carry a nice short little 8mm spanner - open one end, ring the other. It's also the same size for any adjustment of the SKS mudguard nuts and a couple of nuts at the drop-out/stay connection.