Rohloff - What's YOUR Opinion ?

[JimK]

Regarding the possible problem of the bike computer not registering a correct speed when going fast

My basic Cateye Micro Wireless seems not to register speeds below 2 mph! I figure it's just a feature of the electronics. I am down in the 2 - 3 mph zone quite a lot, but not too often below 2 mph, so it doesn't really bother me. 

[Kuba]

Hi Ian! Hi Kuba!

Just wondering...d'you have an idea how much distance your Rohloffs have covered?

I'm thinking a worn-in hub could be a key determinant in the apparent friction.

Hi Dan

My Raven Tour has so far covered about 7,000 km and the first 74 km/h was in the first year I owned it, with less than 2,000 km on the clock... That said I freewheel as often as I can get away with. Still, I would say I didn't notice much drag out of the box on mine, up or down the hill.

Cheers

Kuba

[Danneaux]

Thanks, Kuba and all!

I really think it was a speedo error. I was just down playing with it and it is plainly missing counts at high speed. The o-ring mounting of the sensor and wiggly magnet are not ideal. I've got everything mounted near the hub to give it the best chance,  but it's all pretty shaky. Things are mostly fine at normal touring speeds, though sometimes I find it just isn't registering a speed at all, despite the gap appearing the same.  At higher speeds, it just ain't catching all the passes. I really think a screw-on magnet and zip ties to solidly mount the lot would do wonders.

Best,

Dan.

[richie thornger]

As I mentioned in another thread.
I just wouldn't be touring if it wasn't for Rohloff. Bad experiences with dérailleurs in the past and a less than willing mechanical mind put me off geared bikes for a long time.

ROHLOFF,ROHLOFF,ROHLOFF.

Can't recommend the combination of a Thorn and a Rohloff enough.

My two second hand Thorn Rohloff's have taken someone who hadn't ridden a bike in 20 years across Europe and through Iraq in the winter and down through Iran in the summer. Never a problem.
You also get a brilliant Thorn community backing you up
Not only that my first Thron raven which I sold has since taken someone from New Zealand back to the UK.

I take my Thorn, my Rohloff and My Thorn community for granted sometimes. Then I engage with other biking communities and ride other bikes and I'm so so happy about what choice I've made.

[daviddd55]

I really like my Rohloff, and have covered about 35,000km over the past 9 years, including a year and 20,000km riding around Australia, and I'm just finishing a 4000km tour of NZ. It's more reliable than dérailleur I reckon, but I have a couple of gripes. (1) I find it very difficult to change gear when the rubber shifter is even slightly worn and especially when my hands are sweaty...in hot countries pedalling uphill for example. (2) the rear cog is a pig to get off when it's worn out. Oh, and (3) oil is leaking out all over the place at the moment...but that might be because of the mileage covered and an overhaul may be needed. I'm expecting that will be done for no cost to me since these units are guaranteed for life as I understand it.

[bike_the_planet]

I finally took the plunge and bought a Rohloff Sppedhub way back in 2007 and fitted it to
 a 2000 Thorn Nomad.

On my first outing up a steep hill, the lower gears crunched and slipped rather,
leaving me wondering what I had done wrong.

But then everything fell into place and I appreciated the advantages
of hub gears I had forgotten since my Sturmey Archer days: instant gear changes
to any gear even when stationary!

Over the next few months it performed quite well with the very occasional slipped
gear, but gears 5,6 and 7 felt like I was pedaling through molasses. 4 was much better,
3 slightly worse, 1 and 2 were good. I virtually gave up using gear 7 and would jump
from 8 to 5 or preferably 4  because of the drag

At the same time I fitted a Rohloff to my wife's bike and she fell in love with the simple
gear changes and, apart from a slight oil leak that was fixed, has enjoyed the simplicity.

In 2008 we spent 4 months touring Europe and towards the end back in the UK on a family
visit in the UK gears 1 - 7 started slipping violently to the point that they were
unusable. I received many helpful suggestions from this forum, but ultimately had to send the hub
back to Rohloff in Australia (current home for me). I'm relieved that the slipping didn't happen
on our tour otherwise it would have definitely have soured my trip!

Rohloff's only verdict was that they found a small amount of what they believe to be
Loctite in the hub somewhere. Curious given that all I had done was some oil changes -
I can't understand where that could have come from. Since then to be fair, the hub has n'ere
skipped a beat. However, after around 15,000 kms and one sprocket change, gears 5, 6 and 7
are still very noisy and draggy and I still don't use 7 if I can avoid it. Freewheeling in gears 8-14 is
very noisy too but I can live with that. People definitely hear me coming though!

Having ridden my wife's hub, I definitely have a noisier and draggier version - luck of
the draw I guess. I'm glad she got the good one though - her knees aren't the best.

We are both taking the bikes to France for two months later in 2015 and it's the final
test for my Rohloff. If the hub hasn't quietened and become smoother by the end of this trip,
it's back to good old derailleurs for me. Shame though, the instant, convenient gear changing, particularly
in traffic, is a real boon.

Glad to hear that others' experiences have been very positive.,

Tony

[Relayer]

A couple of posts on another thread prompted me to think about Rohloff hubs and what it means to me. Rather than writing a long winded essay on the merits and demerits of the Rohloff, I have merely made bullet point lists of the pros and the cons based on my experiences when I owned one:-

Pros
1.   Reliability
2.   Low maintenance
3.   Chain life
4.   Reversible chain rings
5.   Gear changing while stationary
6.   Belt drive compatible
7.   Equal steps between gears

Cons
1.   Cost
2.   Ergo/STI 'Brifter' changing not available
3.   Weight
4.   Poor shifting under load
5.   Efficiency in gears 1-7 questionable
6.   Not all Rohloffs disc brake compatible
7.   External gear mech disc compatible hubs also need Rohloff specific disc rotors to run disc brakes
8.   Not good Value For Money for low mileage cyclists or when multiple bikes owned
9.   Frames with non Rohloff dropouts may require:-Torque arm, monkeybone, speedbone, EBB or the dreaded chain tensioner
10.   Needs sent to Germany for major repairs / conversions
11.   Increased weight at the back of the bike, changes handling
12.   Geometry changes with EBB adjustments
13.   Needs chain guide (Rohloff part 8290) in certain circumstances

Clearly there are more cons than pros here, but some items on each side are much more significant than others.  At the end of the day all that matters is whether the Rohloff is good for the use you have planned for it, and whether you get your money's worth out of it (assuming value for money matters to you).

I think the Rohloff is particularly suitable for city riding/commuting, expedition touring, cross country riding, and winter riding.

Would I get another Rohloff?  I don't have any plans right now, but I would never say never.

Jim

[jags]

enough cons there jim to put me off.im sticking with shimano never a minutes bother with it.

[Hubs]

There's always challenges in pros and cons!

For instance, having as a con that a Rolloff doesn't use someone else's proprietary changer system; it can be a preference, but it's a real hard felt choice, right there.

Not all Rohloffs are disc compatible..true enough, but the same can be said for other designs of hub, IGM or not

Rohloff hub needs a disc that fits it.. again, true enough, but as they are available from a number of manufacturers, is it an issue?

Geometry changes..it does, but not as much as when I move around on the saddle.

Needs a chain guide in some circumstances..it may well, but theres a parallel discussion on chain lines and 1X11 grossest and, to be honest, the single chainring single sprocket arrangement seems to need less help than most.

Under load changing - it does need a technique to make it work ( to be honest, a technique involving removing the load briefly, which I now do on derailleur bikes as well) but given the number of missed, draggy, half cut changes on the derailleur bikes over the years, I would bet I've got a better % success rate on the rohloff.

And of course there's stuff which is absolutely right - rearward weight bias, component cost, specialist repair requirement, all of which may or may not be an issue.

We all have things which are more or less important to us, and its bound to change from individual to individual. However, most of the stuff here isn't material to me, or is minimal risk (like specialist repair cost) so I'm still in the happy camp! Your mileage may vary.

[Andre Jute]

enough cons there jim to put me off.im sticking with shimano never a minutes bother with it.

I'd have a derailleur bike as well, but I won't stand the expense of all those wasteful replacements, and waste of cycling time of a derailleur system, while my Rohloff just soldiers on forever with almost zero attention. Those are the real con and pro.

[JimK]

another pro: wide range of gears without coordinating multiple shifters. Playing with front and rear derailleurs to keep everything in range and ready... it is not so terribly difficult, but when I am getting well exhausted after a long ride, I start cross chaining more and more.

Plus, "gear changing while stationary" doesn't quite capture it. I can zip through maybe five shifts while the bike rolls maybe half a turn of a wheel. I can run through all 13 shifts very quickly. There are some roads around here that switch quickly from probably +5% to -5% with about a 200 yard period. It's practically impossible to manage with a derailleur. OK, a strong rider can just muscle through the mess, standing on the up hills etc., with plenty of range in torque and cadence. But for a weak rider with narrower limits, it is nice to be able to get the help of the gears even for such short distances. 

[jags]

But lads u make it sound like changing gear is the B all and end all of everything cycling .its only just another component on the bike no more than that.if you have a good range of gears on the rear cassette 12 to32 bobs your uncle at an eight of the price ,yis are all been brainwashed by these rohloff hubs there good but there no that good.

anto

[bobs]

Oh yes they are

[jags]

can't agree bob sorry.

[bobs]

Have you tried a Rohloff in order to compare them.

Bob