I'm Intrigued- has a Rohloff hub offended you?

Jac · Post by **Jac** » 9 Jan 2007, 1:26pm

MickF - i'm intrigued to know what you have against Rohloff hubs.
Has one offended you at some time.
Perhaps they are just better than your old fashioned deraillier - and need less maintenance.
Jennifer

Simon L6 · Post by **Simon L6** » 9 Jan 2007, 1:36pm

I think this one has been turned over and over. We split into two camps. Those who relished the reliability, and those who found the price outrageous. My feeling was that, as I'd not had a rear mech fail in forty years, the price was probably a bit of disincentive.

Jac · Post by **Jac** » 9 Jan 2007, 3:02pm

Yes - I can the pros and cons and its personal choice - but it seems a bit extreme to say that ones one 'is campaigning against them'

Rear mechs do fail. I had one fail quite spectacularly and it was only a couple of years old. It came apart, mangled itself in the chain and threw me off.

Terry T · Post by **Terry T** » 9 Jan 2007, 5:47pm

Mick, is it just the Rohloff you seem to hate or is it hub gears in general?

Post by **Mick F** » 9 Jan 2007, 8:15pm

Hang on a sec!

I think Rohloff are wonderful! Honest!

BUT (and I've said this till I'm blue in the face) 500% is too much for me.

£650 is also too much for me.

I ride a Campag Mirage Triple with a low of 30 front and 23 rear, and a top of 52 front 12 rear.

If I gear for a low I want, my top with a Rohloff would be 200 odd inches!

A waste of money and techology for me.

Please don't think I'm anoyed or upset, or hate hub gears. A normal derrailiyur(still can't spell that word) can be custom built at the drop of a hat, cheaply and easily for any ratio you might want. And I've never had one fail.

Regards,

Mick F. Cornwall

Terry T · Post by **Terry T** » 10 Jan 2007, 5:35pm

Very good point Mick, I hadn't even considered the ratio problem.

reohn2 · Post by **reohn2** » 10 Jan 2007, 8:48pm

I too have the same problem with the Rolhoff that MickF has when I looked at it.If Rolhoff were to make a closer ratio hub then I think they would really sweep up.on our tandems our lowest gear is 21in top(which we rarely use) is 104in(we would prefare around 90in for top),if we want the same bottom gear with Rolhoff ie 21in,our top would have to be 110in the nearest gear to our ideal top is 12th which is 85in leaving gears 13 and 14 redundant.We are left with 12 very usable gears but not as many as the deraileur equiped bike including overlaps.Even solo I think the spread is to wide for touring.one cannot afford to lose any gears out of 14.

I do think (from what I've read/people I've spoken to)that the Rolhoff is an extremely good bit of engineering and I think it is the future for cycling, but I think the option of a closer ratio hub needs a coat of looking at by Rolhoff and should n't be too hard for them to manufacture,the option of 36 and 40 spokes need also to be considered.

Picture this, the option of wheels with wide or close ratio hub and 32/36/40holes,other than racing these combinations would have the vast majority of cycling just about sewn up and the more they sold the cheaper the hubs would become.The potential is great.The penny will drop shortly.

Dai · Post by **Dai** » 10 Jan 2007, 10:32pm

I've never been offended by a hub but sturmey looked at me archly once.

Post by Si » 11 Jan 2007, 11:35am

I was offended by a Rolhoff. Picture the scene - late at night - very dark, cold, pouring with rain, mud everywhere, miles from home and one of the group has a rear wheel p*nct*re.

OK, don't mind giving someone 5mins to fix a p*nct*re, afterwall anyone can get one.

But when he also has to spend 10mins faffing to get the rear wheel out and another 10 mins trying to reconnect all the gubbins (inc disc brake), it gets a bit beyond a joke: ended up very very cold and very very very wet. And my dinner was in the cat when I finnally got home.

Or was the owner just a bit cack handed.

reohn2 · Post by **reohn2** » 11 Jan 2007, 11:58am

Si wrote:I was offended by a Rolhoff. Picture the scene - late at night - very dark, cold, pouring with rain, mud everywhere, miles from home and one of the group has a rear wheel p*nct*re.

OK, don't mind giving someone 5mins to fix a p*nct*re, afterwall anyone can get one.

But when he also has to spend 10mins faffing to get the rear wheel out and another 10 mins trying to reconnect all the gubbins (inc disc brake), it gets a bit beyond a joke: ended up very very cold and very very very wet. And my dinner was in the cat when I finnally got home.

Or was the owner just a bit cack handed.

Si, are there any tandems in your group?they can be quite slow on rear wheels in and out(depending on the drag break set up)I don't think punctures are an every day occurence (there I've said it now)so an extra 10mins once in a blue moon can't rate as minus against Rolhoff.I also believe there are two types of cable attachments and and one is much better than the other perhaps your friend had "the other".

Jac · Post by **Jac** » 11 Jan 2007, 12:51pm

When I tried to take off my rear wheel it only took a matter of seconds to disconnect and reconnect the cables. I dont have disc brakes - and it was in the garage as a practice not out in the dark - but can't understand why it should take so long.
I expect the cat was happy.

Post by Si » 11 Jan 2007, 1:52pm

Well, I was only poking light hearted fun at them - if anyone offered me a Rolhoff for free I'd bite their hands off :wink:

I think the trouble he had was that there is a bit that came away from both the hub and the frame, that makes sure that the disc is lined up in the caliper properly, and it was getting this back out and back into place that was the prob! Probably improve with practise.

Terry T · Post by **Terry T** » 11 Jan 2007, 6:20pm

Amateurs, what should we do with them?

Post by **Mick F** » 13 Jan 2007, 6:35pm

If anyone offered ma a Rohloff, I'd bite their hands off too!

Someone said in a previous post, on a very similar thread not many moons ago, that the Rohloff is brill for a 'multi-user/multi-use' bike.

That's what I'm building (slowly) with my Bright Red, Powder-coated, Mixte.

Mrs Mick F says that if we had £650 spare for a Rohloff, it'd be better spent on a new computer! (This laptop is getting poorly - maybe hard drive, maybe logic board, maybe it's just for the scrap heap!)(That's her being generous. What she actually wants is to go on holiday!)

But seriously, £650 is a bit steep. I emailed Rohloff late last year, and asked them if they had any plans to bring out a system that would be more suited to use on the road, ie closer ratios and a changer that would fit on dropped 'bars. They said "NO".

'Nuff said.

Rohloff won't get a look-in at £650 and 500% ratios.

Pity.

Mick F. Cornwall