Rohloff hub

[Gee]

I’m considering a bent with a rohloff hub. The seller has offered to take the wheel out and sell it with a standard rear wheel. I’d then have to fit a standard groupset etc.

I was just wondering about the pluses and minuses of the rohloff, it’s the 14speed one.

What is the gearing like? Is there enough range? How does the weight compare to having a full groupset, e.g a compact double?

[UpWrong]

For me, the attraction is being able to change gears when stationary. If that's important to you then worth having. Otherwise the efficiency and simplicity of derailleurs is preferable in my book. But I've not tried a Rohloff whilst I'm confident with maintaining derailleurs, although in my book 9 speed Shimano systems never deliver good indexed shifting even after careful derailleur realignment.

[bikes4two]

Is the seller reducing the price for removing the Rohloff? I ask, as the Rohloff is worth a fair bit second hand (new, they are £1200+ ish from SJS Cycles) so you could just stick with it and try it out.

The Rohloff is a very reliable piece of kit with minimal maintenance (I have two of them - one on a tandem, one on a solo) albeit it is a weighty piece of kit.

If the gear range needs altering for your needs, the rear sprocket can be changed from anything from 13 to 21 teeth.

Maybe have a play with something like Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator here to see what can be achieved versus derailleur?

[steve6854]

I recently changed over to a Rohloff on my Streetmachine. I much prefer the hub gear, but there are disadvantages. First, when new the gear changes seem to be more "sticky". Also when climbing you have to back off pressure to change down. That can be difficult on a short sharp steep ascent. Provided you plan in advance, 99.9% of the time it's fine. As for gearing I'm running 18.5 - 92 in and I find it just right for me. Just occasionally I find tha the right cadence is between gears.

[Tigerbiten]

On a bent chain line is less important due to the length of the chain.
So running a 30/39/50 triple with a Rohloff will open the range up an extra 4 gears.
That will open the full range to around x8.75.
You can use the 16t or smaller sprocket with the triple and keep below the recommended 1:1.9 chainring/sprocket ratio.
So with a 26" back wheel and a 15t sprocket you're look at 14.5"-127".
The Rohloff chain tensioner will cope with the 20t difference in chainrings.

Luck ...........

[rotavator]

To determine if the range of a Rohloff is sufficient for your needs is straightforward, assuming that you are an experienced cyclist and climb hills regularly. Simply take the lowest gear that you need to climb the steepest hill, then multiply by 5.26 which is the range of the Rohloff hub gear, to find out what its highest gear would be. Then ask yourself is this top gear high enough for the flats and descents. e.g. if you need a 20" gear to get up the worst hill, then your top gear would be 5.26 x 20 = 105.2".

Pros and cons v. derailers:
Pros:
Can change gear when stationary: handy if you have to stop while climbing
Less cleaning
Less maintenance
Indexing never needs adjusting
Chain hardly ever falls off
No rear derailer to be bashed, bent or broken
Very reliable
Rotary shifter is less vulnerable to damage than STI etc shifters on drop barred bikes

Cons:
Expensive
Heavier than a derailer system with similar range.
Less range than a derailer system with triple chainrings
Gears 1-7 are noisy, especially 7

[slowster]

when new the gear changes seem to be more "sticky"

Do you have any slack in the shifter cables? Rohloff suggest screwing in the cable adjusters by up to ~2mm. The resulting slack allows the hand to gather a bit of momentum before it hits the resistance of the indexing in the hub/shift box.

[squeaker]

I recently changed over to a Rohloff on my Streetmachine. I much prefer the hub gear, but there are disadvantages. First, when new the gear changes seem to be more "sticky". Also when climbing you have to back off pressure to change down. That can be difficult on a short sharp steep ascent. Provided you plan in advance, 99.9% of the time it's fine. As for gearing I'm running 18.5 - 92 in and I find it just right for me. Just occasionally I find tha the right cadence is between gears.

I ran one for 2 years on a Nazca Fuego. Gearing (after adjustment and shorter cranks) was 18 to 94GI which was fine for me, as I've never seen the point of pedalling downhill, unless racing.
Main dislike was the mushy feel to the gearchange (Rohloff gripshift with rather long shift cables) in comparison with a conventional derailleur and SRAM twist grip where the single shift cable is always under tension.
Due to the rear suspension a chain tensioner was needed.
Chainline to the chainset was nice (triples can cause issues with a low racer), as was the ability to select any gear whilst stationary - except that pre-stop low gear selecting remained a necessity on all my other bikes / trikes, so I continued doing it with the Rohloff...

[Tiberius]

'rotavator' has pretty much nailed it apart from, in my experience, the noise he mentions in gears in 1-7 and I've heard this said before.

I've owned my Rohloff hub from new (seven years) and I've changed the oil on the dot every year (3,000 miles intervals) My hub is not noisy at all and runs silky smooth. I follow EXACTLY the Thorn advice re the oil change, this may/may not effect the noise of the hub.

They're brilliant things and I absolutely love mine. It has become one of the very few things in my life that I just KNOW will not break down.

[geocycle]

My rohloff has now done bout 50,000 miles. It’s a fantastic bit of kit that suits most touring and utility needs. It’s not one for fast day rides but great for carrying luggage when weight is not an issue. Being able to change when stationary is nice. It was a bit noisy in gears 6 and 7 but now I’d struggle to tell you what gear I’m using. It’s been completely reliable.

[bikes4two]

With regard to the bit of noise experienced in gears 1-7, I have a Rohloff on an aluminium framed tandem with some quite large tubing and on a steel step-thru frame.

The Rohloff is definitely nosier on the tandem and I do wonder if this is down to the 'ringing/echoing' of it being in an aluminium frame?

(I also have a TSDZ2 mid drive electric motor in a steel frame and it is considerable quieter than the TSDZ2 in my mate's aluminium MTB - again, is this the alu tubing making things noisier?).

[Tiberius]

With regard to the bit of noise experienced in gears 1-7, I have a Rohloff on an aluminium framed tandem with some quite large tubing and on a steel step-thru frame.

The Rohloff is definitely nosier on the tandem and I do wonder if this is down to the 'ringing/echoing' of it being in an aluminium frame?

(I also have a TSDZ2 mid drive electric motor in a steel frame and it is considerable quieter than the TSDZ2 in my mate's aluminium MTB - again, is this the alu tubing making things noisier?).

That's an interesting point.

My Rohloff was originally used in a steel frame and is now in a titanium frame. No noise in either.

I've never used it in an alloy frame.

[PH]

I was just wondering about the pluses and minuses of the rohloff, it’s the 14speed one.

Seems to me you have the perfect opportunity to find out for yourself. Second hand ones fetch a good price, so much so that when I was looking I concluded it wasn't worth the saving over new. If you decide it's not for you, it won't be hard to sell.
It might be worth investigating how much effort changing to a derailleur system would be. Has the frame been designed to accommodate either, or is one a compromise? If it's an easy swap and the price reflects the value and costs, I'd recommend you trying the Rohloff.

I like mine and do most of my riding on them, but there are pros and cons and whether it suits you depends on which you prioritise. You asked about the gear range, but not the spacing, if there's one thing I could change that would be it, there are times when it would be nice to have smaller gaps at the top end and bigger ones at the bottom. The weight increase of 200 - 300g (compared with a decent triple offering a similar range) isn't something I notice, though some might. For me, everything else is on the positive side, my oldest hub is in it's third frame, 19 years old and over 100,000 miles, still runs faultlessly. The expense, which some consider a con, should be weighed against the economy of using it, both in cost and time spent.
Gear changing has been mentioned - you get used to it, it doesn't take long before you stop thinking about it, it requires a momentary easing off, it then changes in that moment, whether that's on gear or them all. On a hill, I'll change gears as the gradient varies in circumstances that I wouldn't attempt to with a derailleur and it's nice to change up a fistful as you crest the hill. When I get back on a derailleur bike I feel disadvantaged.