Trigger Shifter for Rohloff

[JimK]

Seems that these folks: http://www.ovotandem.co.uk/

are making a trigger shifter for the Rohloff:

http://www.velovisionmag.co.uk/showStory.php?storynum=1263

the mention is down the page maybe ten photos or so.

[Danneaux]

Well found, Jim; nice job! That's a pretty interesting implementation of the idea.

There's some other real gems at that link you posted as well. Among them, the 135mm Schmidt dynohub intended for Surly's fat-tire bikes...that is threaded so it could be used on the rear for the first time (provided one rrides Fixed), and a whole slew of SONs with single-sided mounts intended for use on trikes. I like the Szatuna Hungarian velocar very much, and the Urbix carriers for light bikes, though I'm not sure how their curves would get along with Ortlieb hooks, Schwalbe's new belted version of the Durano tire...good, intriguing stuff at SPEZI 2013.

I have made inquiry to the shifter's inventor and will report back as soon as I receive a reply regarding availability and price.

Best,

Dan.

[Andre Jute]

Beautifully made and finished. But otherwise I'm not impressed. First you have to punch a button to tell the switch which direction you're switching. It interferes with the ease and speed of Rohloff gear changes. Schlimmbesserung is portmanteau German for "an 'improvement' that makes things worse".

A simple two-way trigger would be so much simpler (and cheaper) to make and operate!

Andre Jute

[Andre Jute]

Further down Jim's interesting page, I love the laminated wood bike frame. Many years ago I designed and built a 68ft moulded wood yacht which I raced across the Southern Ocean several times, and in which I made passage around Cape Horn twice, and the hull is still sailing the Indian Ocean. Laminated wood is a very clever material, good as steel if done right, vastly superior to aluminum for bike frames. Prettier too.

Andre Jute

[Danneaux]

First you have to punch a button to tell the switch which direction you're switching

I thought that too at first, Andre. However, a closer look reveals the buttons likely just flip the ratchet pawl, so the movement would take place in essentially one move: Press on the button to flip the ratchet, then continue the same press to move the larger lever in the same direction.

I'm hoping the ratchet-release would allow multiple shifts or "sweep shifting" if one continued to press or pull.

It looks like a brilliant adaptation. It would sure be nice to get hands on one to see. I'm hoping for a reply soon.

Schlimmbesserung is portmanteau German for "an 'improvement' that makes things worse"

"Spes fontes aeternaml" *

All the best,

Dan. (...who loves seeing intriguing, tantalizing stuff like this that sometimes comes to market)
*Hope springs eternal

[Slammin Sammy]

Wow! What a revelation!

Whoever said European engineering was dormant hasn't been paying attention. I'm lusting after one of those pretty little shaft-drive recumbents. Simplicity in design, low weight, low maintenance, no gummy chain. I love the little rack suspended in the back. Sigh...

I'm going to look her up when I get over there in September. (Hope my wife doesn't find out...  )

Sam

[Andre Jute]

I'm hoping the ratchet-release would allow multiple shifts or "sweep shifting" if one continued to press or pull.

Of course we all wish that your hope will be realized. Me, I think I will prepare by scouting out a new old stock triangular shifter, and also try one of Herr Rolhloff's newfangled round ones.

Andre Jute

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

I just received a very prompt email response to my query by Richard Cresswell at Ovo Tandem.

He says they are in the midst of making the first small batch of shifters and are using CNC production to reduce cost -- currently expected to be under £150.

He expects them to be in stock ready for sale in a couple weeks and will forward the link when his web page is up. I will post it on so all can see.

He has posted a YouTube video of the shifter in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxROkCIreMQ&feature=youtu.be It appears to work very smoothly, allows sweep-shifts, and left-or-right mounting (probably by flipping the unit) and a multitude of placement options including the possibility for an STI-like setup on reversed 'bars. It would be terrific if it could be mounted near the inside of the brake lever on drop handlebars.

More as it becomes available.

Best,

Dan.

[John Saxby]

Thanks for this, Dan. The Ovo-shifter is intriguing--I could imagine mounting it close to the brake lever on my rando bars, or possibly on an auxiliary bar mount a little further inboard.  The more vertical mounting in the video made me wonder about rain and airborne crud finding its way into the ratcheting mechanism.  Trust/hope that the mounting will have shims to accommodate bars of different diameters.

In a hardly-related vein, I was interested to learn of your nautical background!  I've sailed across a few oceans, back in the day, but on big ships.  You might enjoy a very good read, written by Nicholas Coghlan, a former colleague of my wife -- Winter in Fireland: A Patagonian Sailing Adventure.  It's his account of sailing from Cape Town to Puerto Montt in Chile, including wintering over in Puerto Williams in the Beagle Channel on the opposite shore from Ushuaia. (I don't do watery stuff at such levels, though "messing about in boats" is good fun (see below).

J.

[Danneaux]

In a hardly-related vein, I was interested to learn of your nautical background!

Hi John!

That would be our Andre you have in mind; my nautical experience consists of time in a 17ft aluminum canoe, capped by a glorious entry into Vancouver Island's Esquimalt Yacht Club in the '70s with the glib reply, "Hawaii" uttered when asked where I had arrived from.

Though I dearly love the water, I don't swim (allergy to chlorine makes me impersonate a strawberry on exposure, and the rivers, streams, and lakes here'bouts are too often too cold for a beginner to learn. I can, however, float face-down indefinitely, a dubious skill at best), so spend less time on boats than I would prefer but truly enjoyed the photo of your own Wat'ry Adventures.

All the best,

Dan. (who too often goes...<glub-glub> in the water)

[John Saxby]

You're right, Dan. Mea culpa -- I managed to conflate you & Andre, if "conflate" is the word I (or you, or he) want...

Sunday mornings in early summer blur all the boundaries -- must be the sunshine  :-)

J.

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

I have heard from Richard Cresswell again, and he has kindly added a bit more information to answer our questions. He tells me...

...the lever has a separate attachment clamp which is screwed to the underside of the main body and can be positioned at intervals of 15 degrees which seems to allow enough adjustment to put the lever on most bars we have tried so far.

This would be ideal in allowing a variety of placements and might indeed make it possible to mount near a brake hood on drop handlebars. The brochure copy further adds...

Each movement can change two gears at a time – up or down. The action can be suited for the left or right handed and there is a full 360 degree adjustment to personalise the mechanism on the handlebars. Costing is expected to be around £150.00

I have Mr. Cresswell's permission to attach a still photo from his brochure, below.

Best,

Dan.

[Andre Jute]

That business in the canoe looks dangerous, John. I'm a sailor of the careful sort. There are bold sailors and old sailors but no bold old sailors...

Dan, I don't swim well either. Most serious sailors don't bother to learn. It won't save you in the Southern Ocean where the hypothermia will get you in eight minutes. It's like your Playa, but with icy water rather than clay-dust.

Andre Jute

[NZPeterG]

That business in the canoe looks dangerous, John. I'm a sailor of the careful sort. There are bold sailors and old sailors but no bold old sailors...

Dan, I don't swim well either. Most serious sailors don't bother to learn. It won't save you in the Southern Ocean where the hypothermia will get you in eight minutes. It's like your Playa, but with icy water rather than clay-dust.

Andre Jute

Ha Ha to You and Dan,

I paddled Grade 5+ for year WW Kayaking! (Class 6 for people in the USA) and at the time I was not a very good Swimmer too.
I almost died for the second time Kayaking down a Grade 5 Water Fall with a long swim after I landed up side down and pop my deck off 
O' Well I have leaned from that 

That is why my Phone Number is 0 - - K A Y A K S 

Pete... 

[NZPeterG]

O' I like the shifter be would like it under the Handlebars

Pete