Thinking to buy a Rohloff

[Mike Ayling]

https://www.cycleblaze.com/forum/166/page/3/

Although this thread started out discussing 26" tyres, availability thereof  some Rohloff crept in.
Anyway the bloke who had the Rohloff oil leak half way from Canberra to Perth just continued riding and has just arrived back in Canberra so the residual 7mm kept him going.

Mike

[PH]

I pasted this from page 21 from the 2013 version of the Living with a Rohloff that I listed the link for above:

With the Rohloff hub, the first thing to understand is that the
internals are not supposed to run in an “oil bath” in the strict sense of
the term. The seals required, to prevent any light oil from leaking, if the
hub was filled with oil, would cause too much friction to be acceptable
to most human engines, which produce around 300w. It would be more
accurate to say that “the internals run with oil-coated surfaces, in an
environment, which is sealed from outside contamination.”
The internals of the Rohloff hub become coated with oil. It takes 7ml of
oil to coat all the surfaces. If you put 25ml of oil into a brand new (unlubricated) hub, ran it for 3 minutes and then immediately tried to drain
the hub, you would only be able to drain out 18ml of oil.
When you change the oil, if you put the 25ml of oil, that Rohloff
suggest, into the hub there will still be 7ml of oil adhering to the
internals...which is 32ml in total. 25ml of this oil will leak out slowly, as
an oil mist and when you come to perform the next oil change in a year,
or in 5000Km, there will be very little excess oil left in the hub. There will
always be 7ml adhering to the internals.

OK, I think we can get bogged down in this, the above is talking about 1) in my post above.  But just look and think about the part I've highlighted. If oil is leaking via worn seals, then it follows the hub is no longer "sealed from outside contamination"
It isn't anything to worry about in a new hub, but it did form part of the OP's question.  My experience is that mine started leaking at 90,000 miles. I'm taking extra care to flush it after a wet ride and do more frequent oil changes.  I ought to get round to having the seals repaired.  I know it isn't sealed from outside contamination, because it leaks out more than I put in!

[mickeg]

...
OK, I think we can get bogged down in this, the above is talking about 1) in my post above.  But just look and think about the part I've highlighted. If oil is leaking via worn seals, then it follows the hub is no longer "sealed from outside contamination"
It isn't anything to worry about in a new hub, but it did form part of the OP's question.  My experience is that mine started leaking at 90,000 miles. I'm taking extra care to flush it after a wet ride and do more frequent oil changes.  I ought to get round to having the seals repaired.  I know it isn't sealed from outside contamination, because it leaks out more than I put in!

Agree, if your seals are shot, they should be renewed, but probably at your convenience.  At 90,000 miles, I would expect the seals to be due for some work.

My Jeep pickup truck needed a replacement engine block (under warranty) at 69000 miles, my Land Rover D2 needed head gaskets at 60000 miles (not under warranty). 

If your only problem in 90000 miles is worn seals, that sounds pretty good to me.  I would have to live quite a few more decades to get that many miles on my Rohloff, most of my miles are on my derailleur bikes.

[martinf]

But just look and think about the part I've highlighted. If oil is leaking via worn seals, then it follows the hub is no longer "sealed from outside contamination"
It isn't anything to worry about in a new hub, but it did form part of the OP's question.  My experience is that mine started leaking at 90,000 miles. I'm taking extra care to flush it after a wet ride and do more frequent oil changes.  I ought to get round to having the seals repaired.  I know it isn't sealed from outside contamination, because it leaks out more than I put in!

Seems like your Rohloff is now in (old) Sturmey-Archer mode: add a few drops of oil per month, the oil that then leaks out flushes away most of the crud that gets past the seals.

[mel0]

Thanks guys!!! Really helping me in this change! For what I understand oil leaking is not a big issue especially if you take an eye on it. Also water isn't a problem. For what I read reliability is not a problem and there is no better opinion than who use the hub for long tour and have a good experience on it like you guys!
Also really like HB's Ogre 

[Prince of Darkness]

Just to back up what everybody else has been saying, I have been using my Thorn Raven Sport Tour for a number of years as my daily commute in Aberdeenshire, in all weathers, and have found it to be excellent in every way. No issues with water ingress and only the common misting oil leakage. Very low and easy maintenance, far less than with derailleur systems

[mickeg]

On oil leakage, as I noted above according to the 2013 version of Living With a Rohloff, even if the oil leaks out there is enough remaining oil to keep it lubed until the next oil change.

I have only had oil leakage problem once.  That was after I changed the oil and then went on an international airline flight, thus the hub had plenty of fresh oil in it.  I suspect that the bag that the wheel was in was laid flat and there were air pressure changes in the airplane hold which could have pushed oil out any leaky seals, and I suspect that a lot of the oil was pushed into the mechanism for the EX box.  During that trip I took the first attached photo.

My second international airline trip, I drained and rinsed the hub, but did not fill the hub with new oil.  Took the flight.  Upon arrival at my destination I added the oil to the hub.  Thus, no excess oil was in the hub during the flight, I had the customary minor coating of oil on the EX box during that trip, but it was not excessive.  I did not take a comparable photo on that trip, I cropped another photo and attached although the photo lacks detail on the hub.

My bike has S&S couplers, my wheels and bike frame were packed in a smaller case, not a full size bike box which is why I suspect my wheels are shipped horizontally when on a plane.

I should note that Thorn takes a dim view of the type of kickstand that I have on my Nomad, thus if you use the same type of kickstand on a Thorn bike that I use, you risk loss of warranty. 

[John Saxby]

Thanks for those notes, George, complete as always.

FWIW, I've not had any leakage from my internal-shifter hub on two return flights from Ottawa:  one to & from Berlin, and another much longer one (22 hrs in all!), to & from Brisbane.

Rohloff's service agent in Toronto changed my hub's oil seals this past winter (at about 17,000 kms) -- not strictly necessary, but a precaution.

The hub is now in its 8th season.  No leakage, only some slight misting on the drive side.

Cheers,  John