How Noisy Are Rohloff 14s?

[Psamathe]

Been through lots of technical options here and elsewhere and I'm now at the point of upgrading my Tadpole trike (ICE Sprint X Tour) to a Rohloff 14. Ratios, gear inches, etc. all 99% sorted.

But the one aspect some people have raised is that they are noisy in the 7 low gears (or maybe the high 7 - unsure but the main point is that people have said noisy in 7 of the gears).

How noisy are they in practice? I appreciate noise nuisance is a personal thing but do people who have them (or ride with others that have them) consider them noisy and is this a major negative?

(It's a lot of money so don't want to regret after buying!)

Many thanks
Ian

[PT1029]

Noisier in gears 1 > 7 (using a reduction gear).
I have had one for just over a year (standard solo/upright bike).
Before I bought mine, I had some experience of club riding occasionally with someone using a Rohloff, so I had an idea what to expect.
I find mine in 1 > 7 about as noisy or a tad more as riding adjacent with someone using a descent e bike (think Bosch etc), so not very noisy at all. I expect other riders behind will hear it a bit more than me, as it is behind/below me. gear 1 > 7 for me means a reasonable or steeper up hill.
The noise doesn't bother me, it also lets me know when I am half way down through the gears.
When in gears 8 > 14, totally quiet, quieter than derraileurs, I set the ratios so my cruising gear is 11 (direct drive). Also if behind someone who fluffs their gear change on a steep hill, you can smugly change into a much lower gear before re starting.
Would I buy another if needed? - yes.
If the noise does annoy you, just ride it for 30,000 miles or so, it will be queter once run in!

[slowster]

Sound intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. At a guess a person's head/ears are half the distance from the hub on a tadpole trike compared with an upright. Therefore however loud a particular* hub sounds on an upright, it will sound four times louder on a trike.

* I've often seen it mentioned that the hubs get quieter over time, so one that has done 20,000km will be quieter than a new hub.

I would not rule out a Rohloff because of this, but I would suggest that you be wary of relying on the experiences and perceptions of those of us who have Rohloff equipped uprights: there is probably no substitute for a test ride on a Rohloff equipped trike to judge for yourself.

As PT1029 states, the lower seven gears are much noisier, and I think gear 7 in particular is noisier than the others (although perception will be a factor as well as the absolute sound level, because the noise increase will be more noticeable shifting from 8 to 7). I think that when climbing, the lower the gear and harder the effort, the less attention people are likely to pay to any noise, because they are likely to be focused on the effort (heart pumping hard etc.). So if you choose the chainring/sprocket ratio to give you the quieter gears (8-14) when cruising and only use 1-7 for climbing, the noise of 1-7 may be much less of an issue in practice.

Headwear such as winter hats and helmets (if you wear one) can also make a significant difference to what you can hear/find noticeable.

[brumster]

Two points:
1. You'll get used to the noise
2. The hub will get quieter and smoother with use.

[pwa]

I read a lot about the noise, before I used one, and I was surprised when ours turned out not to be very noisy at all. Not nearly as noisy as the freewheel noise of road race bikes these days. At its loudest it sounds a bit like a purring, very easy to live with. Quite soothing, actually. If that is a concern, I'd not worry about it at all. People only mention it because it is a sound they are not used to with other gear systems, and not because it is loud or annoying.

[geocycle]

I’ve never really thought the sound of a rohloff on an upright to be an issue. I am aware of gear 7 and to a lesser extent gear 6 but it’s no more than a slightly grumbly derailleur chain and much less than most free hubs. Gears 1-5 and 8-14 are silent. It does get quieter with use and I understand the recent ones are quieter than the one I bought in 2006. Overall noise is a function of frame design and how it propagates the noise.

[PH]

I have three hubs, 22, 15 and 4 years old, mileages from 110,000 to 5,000. They each sound a little different, they also shift slightly differently. The youngest and least used hub is the quietest, the middle hub the noisiest. I'd find the noise in 7th irritating if I was going to be sat in that gear all day, but get the gearing right and you're likely to spend 80%+ of your time in the quietest gears above 7th, at least for me on my bikes, I don't know anything about recumbents.
Also note that Rohloff have recently changed the recommended oil fill, from 25ml to 12.5ml, something many of us had already been doing as it keeps things cleaner. The higher volume did slightly dampen the sound, enough that some have said they're sticking to the original guidance.

(It's a lot of money so don't want to regret after buying!)

If you're not in a hurry, you could look out for a secondhand hub, tidy looking ones tend to fetch 50 -60% of the new price, then unless they look battered don't fall much below that. I bought my middle hub secondhand six years ago, paid a fair price and would get at least that back if I sold it today. I would have been happy with secondhand for my newest, but the right hub didn't appear in three months of looking. Even if you go for a new one, the re-sale value is something to consider when assessing the risk.

[Brucey]

shimano used quieter helically cut gears in the reduction stage of their Alfine11 hub. Presumably they might have been concerned about the noise otherwise

[JohnR]

I agree with the previous comments. While the hub may be a bit noisy, particularly in gears 7 and below, to start with it will gradually become quieter as it gets run in. Mine is now at 11k miles and the noise is barely noticeable. A new Rohloff hub is quieter than some of the freehubs.

[plancashire]

I have a Rohloff set up so I use the noisier gears 1-7 only for slopes which are uncommon round here or when I'm tired at the end of a day. I notice the sound in 7 if I ascend the slope from the Rhein past Brands Jupp as it is reflected off the walls on either side of the road. My wife has a Rohloff too. When we are on tour and I'm behind it is difficult to tell if she's in the noisier lower range, even when I am close. She has never complained about it, and she's quite sensitive to noises.

Compared with noise on my old derailleur bike, wind blowing past my ears, traffic and crunching gravel it is trivial. You will learn to forget it and instead enjoy the many benefits of a Rohloff hub. My wife is much happier on hills since the derailleur bike was stolen and replaced by Rohloff. That makes me happier too.

An alternative to Rohloff is Pinion in some cases. I suspect it would be quieter as it isn't a hub gear and therefore has no rapidly spinning small planet gears.

[AndyB1]

My first bike with a Rohloff. When new 14 months ago, free wheeling down a hill I thought there was a tractor following me! It was that noisy when freewheeling. But the noise quickly settled and went, and now at 3600 miles it grates a little when pedalling in gear 7 but that is all. Chain noise in almost non-existant (with Chainglider) so overall it is quieter in all gears (except 7) than my derailleur bike.
It also feels smoother as with a Chainglider I have a clean, well lubed chain.
Gear spacing is good and changes are quiet and slick (providing the cables are not too tight).

I have a steel framed bike. I wonder if there would be more noise with an aluminium frame?

[plancashire]

Following up my earlier post, I have just checked noise from Rohloff and Pinion. According to someone who has used both, the Pinion does not have the "coffee grinder" gear the Rohloff has: Haben Pinion-Getriebe auch Kaffeemühlengänge? It does sometimes have other noises.

My expensive German hand coffee grinder (Commandante) is much much louder than my expensive German hub gear.

[Psamathe]

Many thanks everybody, all very helpful.

2nd hard would be a difficult (but not impossible) route as I believe ICE has an unusual offset alignment so custom wheel build (getting specs from ICE). Plus they use a customised twist changer for their bar arrangement.

Similarly I have no idea how easy it would be to add a pinion to the boom. Maybe a custom boom ...

Nice thing about buying new from ICE is it will all fit and work without hassle (so I lose no cycling time).

Sounds like noise is not an issue. It was mainly raised by somebody (very experienced with ICE recumbents) who was somewhat negative about the upgrade so needed to to be checked on.

Thanks for the help (and any subsequent experiences & thoughts).

Ian

[squeaker]

Used a well run in example on a S/H Nazca Fuego for a couple of years. Noise not an issue (speaking as a retired automotive NVH engineer), but the subjective feel of the gear change was.

[Brucey]

.......(speaking as a retired automotive NVH engineer), but the subjective feel of the gear change was.

would you care to elaborate? I'm curious now.