something I've just noticed is that the rohloff gear change is on a seperate post/bar to the handlebar. Is this standard for a rohloff? if not how do you find it in comparison to everything being on the one bar?
I assume mounting the shifter off the bars is less common with a Rohloff than placing them on the bars themselves. I placed it on a separate Thorn accessory bar because the bike was initially built up with drop bars and I wanted try something other than the Hubbub drop bar adapter or a split drop bar.
I then changed over to a Titec H-bar. You can mount the Rohloff shifter on the H-bar directly...I have this setup on my Surly Big Dummy - shown above. It works well, but doesn't leave much room on the bars for the grip so I had to hack down an Ergon grip to fit. During a tour last summer I had a nerve injury in my left hand which was partially due to not removing my left hand from the bar much [I'm right handed]. I figure by mounting the Rohloff shifter on the left side of an accessory bar I have to remove my hand from the bar frequently to shift which will keep blood flowing to my left hand and prevent another similar injury [I also improved my bar padding/grip to spread out the bar pressure].
So far the accessory bar mounted shifter has worked well. It is fairly easy to grasp and change gears. Having said that it is not as easy as if the shifter was on the bars - particularly if the road is rough or you are going over obstacles as you have to remove your left hand from the bars.
I don't shift uber frequently on tour so this doesn't bother me a great deal. I'm happy to change cadence [within reason] to change bike speed and on a tour you don't need to change gears as often as you do in town [where I've been riding my Nomad recently].
I'll keep the shifter where it is for a while and continue to evaluate it. If I want easier access I may try it on the left side of the Titec H-bar.
safe riding,
Vik
www.thelazyrando.com
