Rohloff bearings

[Sprocket]

Hello. I am thinking of buying or building a bombproof tourer that will eventually take me on a long tour to Asia, so of course I have to consider using a Rohloff hub. I am convinced of the durability of the gears, but I would like to know a little more about the wheel bearings. From looking at the cutaway drawings, I deduce that these are press in caged ball races rather than adjustable cup and cone. Are there special tools required for changing these? Are they rohloff specific races, or can I expect to be able to buy replacements from an engineers supplier? And finally, is bearing replacement the kind of job I could expect a friendly roadside garage in India to be able to tackle?
Thanks. Sprocket.

[marcg]

Try emailing Rohloff.
They are very helpful and enthusiastic about their hub.  They'll tell you about the bearing and its reference number.  Pretty well all bearings are standard sizes and you can order them easliy most places.  Get the number and then phone around for a quote.

[Sprocket]

Thanks for the reply. I had a good long look through the FAQ's on the Rohloff site and found what I wanted. The bearings are internal, and presumably run in the same oil bath as the gears. Shouldn't need replacing for the life of the hub. I guess that most hub gears work like this, but I haven't had any experience of them. I live and learn.