F***ity b*****ks, a 'hoffin' disaster

[geocycle]

You take it off every year? May I ask why?
Honest question - not trying to be a smarty pants

No sorry that was ambiguous.  I change it roughly every 10000 miles which will next occur be in about another year!

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

Pushing doesn't help, longer levers dont help.  I've removed 100's as you can imagine in all sorts of conditions and never failed or broken a driver.  As Dan said its sharp jolts on the chainwhip thats required and making sure the skewer is rock tight so there is 100% no way the tool can slip.

If you return the hub/wheel to me I can replace the driver shell and return within a day or 2 free of charge if its a hub from us or for a small charge else, just post it to me with a covering letter.

1 day I will get round to doing a video of my own on removing the sprocket.

[jimmer]

Dear All,

Just shown Dave's answer to my wife, who is now starting to understand why I spent what she thought an unconscionable amount on the Catalyst all those years ago.

I ordered a new removal tool before setting out for Cannock this morning. The 'hoff wheel is now on it's side in the shed absorbing penetrating oil. I'll give it another try before sending it back to SJS.

Jags, after toasting the Park chain whip (the same as the one in Jim K's photo) I fashioned one from a 4' length of 2" x 4". He may have been able move the world but I defy even Archimedes to shift my sprocket.

I deployed as much shock and awe as a lummox can muster. I was careful and stealthy in my approach from the other end of the shed and made a final leap onto my unsuspecting quarry. A ninja I am not.

Yours, James
  

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

That Park chain tool is what I use, have bust the chain off a few times doing cassettes, I just bolt a new bit of chain onto it with M4 nuts and bolts.

[JWestland]

The manfriend bust a chainwhip trying to undo cog on his fixed wheel bike. Seems a...classic problem. Local bikeshop may have a Massive F-er of a Brute of a Wrench.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread26713.html there's a doorframe tip here...don't know if that works, never tried it.

[jags]

never had a problem myself removing cogs or cassettes but then again i neve over tighted them in the first place .oh btw the law of the lever does work obviously your doing it all wrong.

few smiles in there before i get lashed for that comment.

[il padrone]

never had a problem myself removing cogs or cassettes but then again i neve over tighted them in the first place .

It's not the tightening that really does it, but rather the torque from very low gears* - at least on a derailleur rig, dunno about Rohloff.

[edit] * with a freewheel set-up (fixed/old cluster) not with a cassette.

The door-frame trick was what I once used on a freewheel (cluster) many years ago. But it was a tree at a remote roadside. I also had the cluster tool and just a 6" shifting spanner. The cluster had been used with a granny-gear 26t ring so the torque tightening it on would have been very high and I had done plenty of steep low-gear work. The trick to getting it off was bracing the wheel against a tree trunk, then jolting the shifter with a sharp jolt from a brick. It took 3-4 slams but it worked  

[JWestland]

Jags obviously doesn't cycle everywhere fixed else he'd know fixed cogs tighten themselves over time 

[Andre Jute]

The trick to getting it off was bracing the wheel against a tree trunk, then jolting the shifter with a sharp jolt from a brick. It took 3-4 slams but it worked  

If you're taking a brick to it, you'd better remember right which direction you want to turn it in to undo it...

Andre Jute

[jags]

never rode a fixed to be honest my sons bike is a fixed he loves it just not my thing.
yeah i can see how it would tighten over time but you should neve let it get it to the point where its seized.

[JWestland]

It may not be seized, whatever it is the chainwhip couldn't handle the heat 

I doubt I can get my cog off after a year and a half...hrm...time to grease that me thinks

[il padrone]

Always grease the threads on a cluster. The lower the gear you use (and the more power from your legs) the tighter the cluster will go on, but the gear is more critical. Rarely ever actually seizes on, just damn tight.

[JWestland]

I do and so does the manfriend however...the cog on his fixie was pretty determined to stay on 

Mine should come off except there's no chain whip atm as it snapped

[jimmer]

Dear All,

One of the Rolhoff's great, and much touted, appeals is that it requires little maintenance. Notice I did not say no maintenance. I'm not going to leave the smooth running of the third most expensive thing I own to blind faith in German engineering. The sprocket was unscrewed (with only moderate throbbing of the superficial temporal vein) and copper greased about a year ago. I'm running 40 - 17 and am not Chris Hoy so the input torque isn't huge.

The wheel's still soaking.

Yours, James

[revelo]

I'm in the midst of doing my annual bike maintenance and so happened to remove my own Rohloff sprocket yesterday. I used a Pedro's Vice Whip rather than a regular chain whip. Because the vice whip tightens onto the sprocket, there is no chance of it slipping. Then I sit down on the floor with the wheel in my lap, put my barefeet against the bottom of the rim (with spokes between my toes), and pull in a rowing action. And yes, jerking is more effective than steady pulling, as long as you don't slip in the process.

Regarding the question about removing the sprocket each year, I think you'd be a fool not to given the sorts of problems being discussed in this thread and discussed elsewhere on the internet. Even with copious grease or anti-seize applied, there is the possibility of this washing off at the very edges of the sprocket and then the metal seizing up there. It seems obvious (to this amateur mechanic) that the more frequently you unloosen the sprocket, the sooner you'll catch any problems before they get really severe.

http://www.amazon.com/Pedros-Vise-Whip/dp/B002NVRIXQ