will this work?

[ians]

Hi
I have an On-One inbred which I'm thinking of converting to Rohloff.  Now, as it has vertical dropouts I could bite the bullet and buy a new Rohloff, with a chain tensioner and the bit of meccano stuck on the side to sort out torque problems - at least £700.

Or - Bob Jackson Cycles will fit an OEM (sliding) dropout for £120 - so could I (with the costs of the additional grips and cables - say £100) swop the rear wheel from my RST for when I want to go off-road?  This would save around £500.

Bob Jackson thought this wouldn't work - that I could only do this if I had the external box Rohloff - but I can't see why.

Anyone enlighten me?

Ian

[PH]

They told a friend the same thing, it is of course complete nonsense.  They also posted on the old C+ forum that the reasons for their using the sliding dropouts was EBBs make it harder to change a wheel! With the cables and chain in place it'd be a very quick job to move the wheel over.  All the adjustment will be on the bit’s that stay with the frame. Though you might need to get fast at changing tyres.  I know of two people using their Rohloff in different bikes, one Raven/Tandem the other Raven Sport/Custom MTB.
It's a pity One-One no longer make the sliding dropout model, would have been the perfect answer.  The £120 sounds a bit dear and unless that includes cable stops and a re-spray it's going to look messy.  Might be worth a chat with framebuilder Lee Cooper, he rides and builds Rohloff bikes;
http://l.a.cycles1.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/index.jhtml
Are there any affordable Rohloff specific MTB frames available?  I know Kinetics used to sell the Rotor ones, but not anymore.  It could be worth waiting until the details of the new Thorn MTB are released.

[ians]

Thanks PH - very helpful.  I've had no problem changing the rear wheel or tyres so don't mind that.    And I like my inbred - and I really like my rohloff.

ian