It's good to see Rohloff have actually been doing a modicum of R&D, even though it looks like a simple tweak/stretch of the existing concept. OK we did get a new twist shifter, again not a huge hit in R&D terms.
Discussions on these boards in the past have concluded that the Rohloff design is so good that they are highly unlikely to revise it significantly any time soon ... so therefore high investment in R&D isn't necessary, which always makes me wonder when the price of the darn things might drop.
Colour televisions, automatic washing machines, bagless vacuum cleaners, personal computers ... the list of things that were very expensive when they first came out, only to drop in price dramatically later is endless; here's hoping Rohloff's tin cans (regular and stretched) get a bit cheaper in future.
P.S. Shimano trickle down technology means that we can get Dura Ace / XTR gear much cheaper in a couple of years when it gets down to Tiagra / Deore. As brummie said, we could be getting 21 gears in a new Rohloff and the 14 speed at Shimano Alfine prices.
