A similar motorized Rohloff gear change was offered by Edsan Automation in Australia, and discussed on the Thorn Forum at
Cable-less Rohloff gear shifting for all handlebars, including drops, with links to further discussion in Dan's reply to my original post.
However, I wasn't overly impressed with mere electrically-assisted gearchanging in that case, as I'm not in this one. I'll explain why in a minute. But, first of all, it is realistic and sensible to ask what this new version offers that the Australian one, now apparently off the market, didn't.
As far as I can see, only the Rohloff name on it. With that, of course, comes an assumption of solid construction but the Australian version that none of us bought seemed pretty solid too.
THE GOLD STANDARD ANY ELECTRONIC GEARCHANGE IS MEASURED AGAINSTI have a bike with fully automatic electronic gear-changing under either the control of the sensors or my override, which further offers electronic adaptive suspension, all of it, including its power reserve for the computer in charge of all functions, driven by the hub dynamo, so that no external power source is ever required for any of the many programs you could select on the fly, in motion. Explanations of all the components and their operation is in the photo essay at
André's Trek Navigator L700 "Smover" with Electronic Automatic Gearbox and Electronic Adaptive SuspensionThis whole bike, including delivery and components and labour for minor reengineering to make the bike suit me exactly, was less than the cost of a Rohloff gearbox. Shimano's full-auto Di2 system on this bike is the one from which the road bike manual Di2 (electrically-assisted gear changes) was cut down. I have never grasped the advantage of this cut-down system on a road bike, but presumably it won't sell if there is no advantage, but the advantage on a Rohloff-equipped touring bike is obscure. The full-on auto Di2 system, by being in the right gear all the time, cut a minimum of 7 minutes off a routine 45 minute ride I took daily at that time, and overall I calculated that the full-auto box was worth between about 15-22% in time saved, but then I'm a masher who hangs on to gears too long, so people with a road background will very likely find the gain in efficiency less than I did.
In short, the full-auto Di2 system was worth it to me, a gearhead and intellectual whose head is often elsewhere than on which precise gear he is in.
However, this full-auto Di2 gruppo (it wasn't an add-on to an HGB but a complete custom system, even the hub dynamo is special) was never offered direct to the public and, the last time I looked, several years ago, even its most enthusiastic OEM adherent, Royal Dutch Gazelle, were not offering it on even one bike. And this after the managing director of Koga Miyata said that one day all bikes would have fully automatic hub gearboxes! The commuter and holiday touring public didn't see the point and didn't buy into her dream.
Note that this gold-standard failed in the market place, except for a cut-down version for road bikes, which I'm not even sure is useful for anything more than bragging rights.
The most vulnerable part of the Smover setup, not incidentally at all, was the cabling. Any time the thing would not change gear, the first item to be investigated was the cables. Admittedly that only happened without obvious cause twice in two years and was soon traced to a loose plug, but after a crash several of the cables were disturbed.
IS THERE A POINT TO A ROHLOFF WITH AN ELECTRIC MOTOR?Oh yes, there is. A Rohloff is the strongest hub gearbox you can buy. I wrecked two 8-speed Nexus gearboxes just with the power of my legs. A road-legal electric motor is nominally a third of a horsepower but it routinely delivers a full horsepower for fleeting periods, or even seconds at a time if you fit a big battery.
However, 6 or 7 of the Rohloff's gears are superfluous unless you ascend Alps daily; for normal commutes or day rides 3 or 5 gears will probably suffice once you fit the mid-motor.
Mid-motors like the 8FUN BBS that some of us have fitted have their own electronic programs under the rider's thumb, which, if you buy your motor set from the right vendor, you can alter inside the on-bike computer to make the response fierce or meek as a lamb; even if you have one of the German idiot-compliant preset-computer models, all you need to get at the programs is a special cable and a laptop and some datasheets you can download, and bingo, you have control over the motor's torque curve. Effectively these programs work as a selfstanding electronic gearbox with 5 gears, plus the override throttle as a sixth, totally progressive gear, much like a constantly variable, clutchless gearbox, which works well with putting the Rohloff in gear 11 and leaving it there, except for the steepest hills, when one puts the Rohloff in 8th at the bottom and regulates bike speed uphill with the five electronic gears of the mid-motor system. All of this assumes that you're pedaling, not just busking on the battery. (I in fact use my heart rate as the control on my gear change on either box: it's a very flexible system.)
In short, with an electric mid-motor you need the Rohloff not for the number of its gears, their spacing, or its range. You do need it for its indestructible strength.
WHAT ROHLOFF SHOULD OFFER FOR AN ELECTRONIC GEARCHANGE TO MAKE SENSEIf I understand correctly, the new version with the Rohloff name on it uses cables. Why? Cables are not only vulnerable, they're more fragile than tubing, and they're aesthetically unsightly.
Most people who lash out on a Rohloff have a phone with Bluetooth 4, or won't boggle at the expense if it makes their hobby more attractive. Or, if Bluetooth and apps don't suit the rugged Rohloff image of
near-permanent engineering, how about radio control? (I would prefer radio control as I already use my iPhone to display health functions on my handlebars.)
Beyond cleaning up the visual aspect, the most important function the Rohloff electrical control should offer is protection for the gearbox against the torque of the mid motor. My understanding is that the Bosch/Panasonic mid-motor has a true torque-measuring device built in, whereas I know for a fact that what the Chinese motors like the 8FUN claim as a torque control is simulated in software. Now, there are maniacs in America who use 750W (nominal rating, actually peak, instantaneous output possibly three times that) motors with Rohloff HGB, and I haven't actually heard of breakages but there are lots of warnings against using the Shimano HGB with hefty electric motors, same as I imply above in this post.
It may be for this reason that the Rohloff switch module is aimed at the Bosch mid-motor bikes, that they already have software and hardware the switcher can tap into to protect the gearbox.
Or it may simply be that the Rohloff electrical switcher has no power of its own and relies on tapping some off the motor supply.
Torque protection for the gearbox by itself would justify a hardware set of say €150-200 (the Australian radio-controlled switch was multiples of that...) when you fit an electric mid-motor to a Rolloff-equipped bike.
I doubt Europeans can bring in a low-unit item for that much.
For any more, I'd want full-auto, sensor-driven, self-powering gear-changing, such as the full-auto (plus adaptive suspension!) Di2 Groupset — of which even the mighty Shimano, with the major Dutch and German and American bike manufacturers onside, could not make a go at the top end of the market (there is a successful Trek ladies' shopping bike with a 3-speed Di2 Shimano full-auto box).
CONCLUSIONMaybe they'll sell a few of these remote Rohloff gearbox switches to cafe racers, but I don't see any real value here: it's just a well-made remote switch.
Even if the thing is made full-auto, cable-free, and torque-sensitive, with the likely resulting price for low production runs, I just don't see it selling to real tourers. It simply isn't that difficult to change gears with the standard single rotary control on a bare Rohloff box.
Torque control, absent a high volume of broken Rohloff boxes when fitted with mid-motors (unlikely), is too esoteric for cafe-racers to worry about, and I don't think there are enough gearheads to justify even a short run after we have already seen that the Rohloff can withstand any reasonable, and plenty of unreasonable, torque.
WILL I SPEND MY OWN MONEY ON IT?Someone else can take one for the forum.
