Rohloff Rebuild Delivery & Insurance Costs

[Fred A-M]

Hello, and yes, it's been a while! 

I need to send a Rohloff hub to SJS for a wheel rebuild.

SJS recommend Parcel2Go, but as soon as you acknowledge with any of the carriers that there's an £800 hub concerned, they want to charge you £50-60 in insurance for the priviledge of transporting your parcel safely, which is what they should be doing in the first instance - it just feels like an absurd racket designed to make you feel insecure about sending a high value item.

Does anyone have any enlightening thoughts or suggestions?  I note that SJS only charge £4.95 for the return of a built wheel, so it seems that they are happy to make the decision to go uninsured for you as default. 

Cheers,  Fred

[macspud]

Royal Mail Special Delivery™ Guaranteed by 1pm

Tracked and signed for

Insured up to £1000 for loss or damage

£12.00

Buy online @ https://www.royalmail.com/personal/sending-parcels/

[Fred A-M]

Thanks very much  - don't know why I didn't think of that myself really! 

However, ref managing expectations of cost, it's worth noting that they appear to have revised the default insurance down to £500, which I'm guessing is since you last used the service.

With additional insurance to cover £1,000, seems to be suggesting £27.60 based on info given for the quote.  Can just about live with that for peace of mind.

Thanks again, off down the PO without delay.

Fred

[Matt2matt2002]

Just out of interest and I hope you don't mind me asking but what's the background/ reason for the hub service?

[Fred A-M]

Not at all, no problem -  rimwear on the original CR-18 rim supplied with my RST 12 years ago.  That sounds long but I've not used the RST for at least 3 of those years and generally only used it for commuting say 40 miles a week for most of it's lifetime after having done a few cycle tours in the first few years. 

I had the very first spoke breakage last week and thought, without having the tool or nous to scientifically gauge exactly how critically so, that the rim looked fairly worn - a bit prematurely in my opinion. 

So ultimately peace of mind is the prompt I guess & the fact I wasn't prepared to have a spoke fixed by anyone who isn't Rohloff savvy - am also minded to think that if one spoke has broken, others will follow soon and so thought I may as well get the wheel rebuilt.

Cheers

Fred
 

[mickeg]

...
So ultimately peace of mind is the prompt I guess & the fact I wasn't prepared to have a spoke fixed by anyone who isn't Rohloff savvy - ...

I think the original build on a wheel is important to be done by someone that knows what is unique to a Rohloff wheel.  (I built my own, but I did read every word in the Rohloff instructions to wheel builders first, and I used Sapim nipples.)

Just my opinion, but replacing one broken spoke should be easily done by just about anyone.

...

If your concern is in part rim wear, I am quite happy with my CSS rims.  If you go that route, don't forget to order a set of brake pads and maybe a spare.

[Matt2matt2002]

Many thanks.
I had read your post as a hub rebuild.
Quite agree with you thinking re spokes.

[macspud]

Thanks very much  - don't know why I didn't think of that myself really! 

However, ref managing expectations of cost, it's worth noting that they appear to have revised the default insurance down to £500, which I'm guessing is since you last used the service.

With additional insurance to cover £1,000, seems to be suggesting £27.60 based on info given for the quote.  Can just about live with that for peace of mind.

Thanks again, off down the PO without delay.

Fred

Actually no, I just looked it up at time of replying. £11 for £500.

Go to linked page, click on get a price, then UK, then parcel, then upto 2kg, then upto £1000, then tick box Only show me services with a signature (optional), then see prices. There will be 8 choices, the first choice is:

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm    Up to £1000 for loss or damage    Tracked    £12.00*    Buy online   
(Prices marked * are exempt from VAT. All other prices are VAT inclusive.)

[Fred A-M]

Mickeg - I sadly don't have the time to learn beyond basic mechanics, and as just posted elsewhere on this forum, my experience of self-proclaimed Rohloff experts has been less than satisfactory unfortunately - my experience is also that the average shop bike mechanic simply doesn't know what they are doing when they are dealing with Rohloffs - you are clearly above that level.

However as alluded to, it's not just about fixing one spoke (and truing the wheel), it's about about addressing the overall perceived wear and tear of what I perceive to be a reasonably worn wheel and getting a job done that doubtlessly needed doing within a few months in any case.   

Matt, no worries and thanks for clarifying. 

Macspudd - too late unfortunately, it's been and gone at the more expensive price, though I did ask at the PO, and they came up with the same quote as I did onliine - will bear in mind in future to look more closely however - thanks again for your interest.

Cheers all

Fred

[Fred A-M]

MacSpud- thanks for your perserverance - just looked at my receipt, and my well-packaged box came in at 2.43kg, where as you are looking at a small parcel max 2Kg  which does has default insurance at £1000 -  I had to send mine as a medium parcel.

So the moral of the story is that if you can pack your Rohloff at less than 2Kg you are quids in - bearing in mind that the Rohloff weighs somewhere just shy of 2kg, that's a challenge but not impossible I guess.

Cheers

Fred 

[macspud]

MacSpud- thanks for your perserverance - just looked at my receipt, and my well-packaged box came in at 2.43kg, where as you are looking at a small parcel max 2Kg  which does has default insurance at £1000 -  I had to send mine as a medium parcel.

So the moral of the story is that if you can pack your Rohloff at less than 2Kg you are quids in - bearing in mind that the Rohloff weighs somewhere just shy of 2kg, that's a challenge but not impossible I guess.

Cheers

Fred

Ah that explains it. I was thinking that 200g for packaging would be enough and 2kg would cover it.

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

I note that SJS only charge £4.95 for the return of a built wheel, so it seems that they are happy to make the decision to go uninsured for you as default. 

Please kindly be noted this is not the case, being a large company we have separate goods in transit insurance that covers everything we sell/send, because we send 1000's of parcels this is much cheaper than the couriers charge for a one off parcel as out average parcel value is taken into account (most things we send are much cheaper than a Rohloff hub). Its also worth noting as a company we are responsible for its safe return so if we took the decision to send uninsured we would have to foot the bill in cases of damage or total loss.

[Fred A-M]

I note that SJS only charge £4.95 for the return of a built wheel, so it seems that they are happy to make the decision to go uninsured for you as default. 

Please kindly be noted this is not the case, being a large company we have separate goods in transit insurance that covers everything we sell/send, because we send 1000's of parcels this is much cheaper than the couriers charge for a one off parcel as out average parcel value is taken into account (most things we send are much cheaper than a Rohloff hub). Its also worth noting as a company we are responsible for its safe return so if we took the decision to send uninsured we would have to foot the bill in cases of damage or total loss.

Thanks for clarifying Dave, yes that was the advice I was I given in a subsequent conversation with SJS and should have updated accordingly.