Rohloff 14 gear speedhub

does tech have what.....?
welcome to rohloff international

does anyone have experience with the tech search box on the upper left
screen?

My my my, another self-appointed usenet cop. Have any experience
posting, bigmouth? Guess not, since you couldn't get your smart-ass
remarks into one message. I did search & didn't find the general
commentary on the pros & cons of the hub which I was looking for. Only
one thread was in the ballpark, dating to 12/04. Is it alright with you
if I try for more recent experiences? If you feel any post of mine
doesn't meet your high standards for prior research, just ignore it. In
the mean time, [censored], [censored].

Dan

Quoted message said:

does anyone have experience with the tech search box on the upper left
screen?
does tech have what.....?

welcome to rohloff international

Dan said:

My my my, another self-appointed usenet cop. Have any experience
posting, bigmouth? Guess not, since you couldn't get your smart-ass
remarks into one message. I did search & didn't find the general
commentary on the pros & cons of the hub which I was looking for. Only one
thread was in the ballpark, dating to 12/04. Is it alright
with you if I try for more recent experiences? If you feel any post
of mine doesn't meet your high standards for prior research, just
ignore it. In the mean time, [censored], [censored].

Dan

Quoted message said:

does anyone have experience with the tech search box on the upper
left screen?
does tech have what.....?

welcome to rohloff international

Gene -- now let him have it for top-posting!

Good stuff...

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

At last years interbike dirt demo I rode a bike with one of these hubs. I
could feel no difference between it and a good derailleur system. It was a
nice ride. I'm sure the main reason these hubs are not more popular is the
price, over $900. I know if they were cheaper I would have one on my commuter.
---------------
Alex

Dan said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

I think Sheldon Brown could speak/write volumes about them:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/rohloff.html

May want to reach out to him....

Alex Rodriguez said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

At last years interbike dirt demo I rode a bike with one of these hubs. I
could feel no difference between it and a good derailleur system. It was a
nice ride. I'm sure the main reason these hubs are not more popular is the
price, over $900. I know if they were cheaper I would have one on my commuter.
---------------
Alex

Alex-Thanks for the reply. Yeah, it seems like a really good approach,
though I agree the ~$1000 cost is a bit off-putting.

Dan

Neil Brooks said:

Dan said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

I think Sheldon Brown could speak/write volumes about them:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/rohloff.html

May want to reach out to him....

Thanks Neil, I'll check it out!

Dan

Dan said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

TIA

Dan

Hi Dan;

I had a speedhub included in my build of a custom Sycip 29er. I have
been riding the thing for a year and my impressions are generally quite
favorable. First the bad: The hub is about one and a half pounds
heavier than a conventional XT set up. Also, weight distribution is
changed, with most of the weight now in the hub. I don't notice this
much, except in the rare case where I try to bunny hop and obstacle.
The hub is noisy in certain gears, as has been reported by others. I
have not really noticed any dimminution of this over time, although
Rohloff says it should lessen as the hub breaks in. I think that I can
discern some resistance, ie lower efficiency, in certain gears,
particularly, 5 and 6.

Now the good; I will not go back to the tyranny of the derailleur.
The chainline is straight, and tension is easy to adjust with the
Rohloff sliding dropouts. The look is very clean. My bike is often
mistaken for a single speed. Shifting is quick and smooth, and there
is no overlap in gearing. The rear wheel is dishless. Maintenance
involves changing the oil in the hub yearly, but of course one still
has to deal with lubing and caring for the exposed chain. I hope to be
able to get more life out of a chain, and after a year of fairly rough
riding I don't have enough stretch to warrant replacement. Others have
reported that the hub tends to leak. Mine doesn't. Even when laying
in a travel case for some days, I was unable to discern any leakage.
The thing works as advertised, and to date, I've had no problems with
it. I would go this route again in a heartbeat. I wish the Rohloff
folks would come up with a shifting solution for drop bars. Every
aftermarket solution I've seen is somewhat of a cludge.

tom baskin

[email hidden] wrote:

Dan said:

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

TIA

Dan

Hi Dan;

I had a speedhub included in my build of a custom Sycip 29er...

Tom-Thanks for the informative reply. At the moment I'm riding a Trek
hybrid I got in April after some years away from biking. I bought a
cheaper bike to start this go round since I didn't know the level at
which I'd be pursuing riding, now that I'm up to about 85 miles/week
riding every other day and with ~1000 miles on the bike I'm recalling
how much of an anachronistic PITA the whole chain/derailleur setup is.
I ride in some dusty environments (crushed limestone bike paths in part)
which makes it even worse. I'm thinking of putting a Rohloff on the
hybrid, figuring I can always move it to a better bike should I decide
to upgrade. From what I've read thus far, I'd absolutely jump at it if
1) it were a bit cheaper and 2) there was some way of eliminating the
damn chain all together (shaft drive, even a belt). The Sheldon page is
really helpful, I'm going to email him to get more specifics on fitting
one of these to my Trek.

Dan

Quoted message said:

Dan said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

TIA

Dan

Hi Dan;

I had a speedhub included in my build of a custom Sycip 29er. I have
been riding the thing for a year and my impressions are generally quite
favorable. First the bad: The hub is about one and a half pounds
heavier than a conventional XT set up. Also, weight distribution is
changed, with most of the weight now in the hub. I don't notice this
much, except in the rare case where I try to bunny hop and obstacle.
The hub is noisy in certain gears, as has been reported by others. I
have not really noticed any dimminution of this over time, although
Rohloff says it should lessen as the hub breaks in. I think that I can
discern some resistance, ie lower efficiency, in certain gears,
particularly, 5 and 6.

Now the good; I will not go back to the tyranny of the derailleur.
The chainline is straight, and tension is easy to adjust with the
Rohloff sliding dropouts. The look is very clean. My bike is often
mistaken for a single speed. Shifting is quick and smooth, and there
is no overlap in gearing. The rear wheel is dishless. Maintenance
involves changing the oil in the hub yearly, but of course one still
has to deal with lubing and caring for the exposed chain. I hope to be
able to get more life out of a chain, and after a year of fairly rough
riding I don't have enough stretch to warrant replacement. Others have
reported that the hub tends to leak. Mine doesn't. Even when laying
in a travel case for some days, I was unable to discern any leakage.
The thing works as advertised, and to date, I've had no problems with
it. I would go this route again in a heartbeat. I wish the Rohloff
folks would come up with a shifting solution for drop bars. Every
aftermarket solution I've seen is somewhat of a cludge.

tom baskin

http://www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm

Go down to the Hub Gears Rohloff category and you should find this item
Hubub drop bar adaptor for Rohloff twistgip for 39.99 Pounds.
Expensive but it would seem to be able to mount the Rohloff shifter
like a Grip Shifter. Does not seem to be to awkward.

(PeteCresswell) said:

Per Dan:

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

Yes. Been riding them for about 3 years now.

They are:
------------------------
- Ungodly expensive

- Heavy

- Noisy

- Less efficient
------------------------

Bought my second one last year.

Thinking seriously about a third.

You can read some reviews at http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/manufacturers/2998/

Thanks Pete, I'll take a look, great resource which I did not know
about. Has anyone actually measured the efficiency aspect? Even if
true, seems like it would have to be an amount significant only in
theory. Have you ever noticed that any of your hubs get warm at all in
use (which would point to waste heat/inefficiency)? Also, I see oil
leakage mentioned here and there. Have you experienced this?

Dan

(PeteCresswell) said:

Per Dan:
to me - as is the weight (mine added 2 lbs to the bike's weight). A guy who
races MTB told me that two pounds would take him out of contention on the hills.
But I don't race and could care less.

Well, I weigh about 170, the hybrid weighs, I don't even know, maybe 27?
So 2 #'s would be a little over 1%. Can't imagine I'd notice that.
No doubt his bike's alot lighter (maybe HIM TOO ;-) but frankly I
gotta wonder if even the racer guy would really notice 2#'s...

Quoted message said:

Only caveat I'd raise is the gear spacing. It's exactly the same between each
set of gears. Great for MTB, but if I were a road rider maybe I'd want
something that gave me tighter spacing at the high end and a couple of
widely-spaced grannies at the bottom.

Hmmm, I did note that the spacing was equal, but hadn't thought about
things like how it's usually spaced in sprocket ratios at the extremes.
How did you decide on the chain ring/rear sprocket sizes? This would
allow you to at least skew the overall ratio one way or the other. My
hybrid has a "granny gear", but I pretty much use the largest chain ring
& the 5 smallest rear sprockets most of the time.

Dan

Per Dan:

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

Yes. Been riding them for about 3 years now.

They are:
------------------------
- Ungodly expensive

- Heavy

- Noisy

- Less efficient
------------------------

Bought my second one last year.

Thinking seriously about a third.

You can read some reviews at http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/manufacturers/2998/
--
PeteCresswell

Dan said:

Has anyone actually measured the efficiency aspect?

Yup; see http://www.ihpva.org/pubs/HP52.pdf

I've been using a Speedhub on a road bike for a few years
and I'm quite satisfied.

Tom Ace

Per Dan:

Quoted message said:

Has anyone actually measured the efficiency aspect? Even if
true, seems like it would have to be an amount significant only in
theory. Have you ever noticed that any of your hubs get warm at all in
use (which would point to waste heat/inefficiency)?

I don't notice the efficiency thing. It's probably there... but imperceptible
to me - as is the weight (mine added 2 lbs to the bike's weight). A guy who
races MTB told me that two pounds would take him out of contention on the hills.
But I don't race and could care less.

Only caveat I'd raise is the gear spacing. It's exactly the same between each
set of gears. Great for MTB, but if I were a road rider maybe I'd want
something that gave me tighter spacing at the high end and a couple of
widely-spaced grannies at the bottom.

Quoted message said:

Also, I see oil
leakage mentioned here and there. Have you experienced this?

Yes. Brought it on myself. Didn't follow the instructions for
flushing/changing oil and wound up putting too much oil in the thing. This
caused a seal to leak. Somewhat disconcerting if/when it gets on the brake
disk.

As I understand it, the offending seal has been redesigned/respec'd and leakage
is not longer a problem. Certainly hasn't been on my first hub once I had the
seal upgraded and has not been on my second hub.

The zinger is that after you think you have drained all the oil from a hub,
there's still a significant amount clinging to the surface of the gears. If
you drain it, then add stated oil capacity amount, you will have over filled it.
The instructions for flushing/filling take this into account and if they are
followed there will be no problem.
--
PeteCresswell

Per Dan:

Quoted message said:

How did you decide on the chain ring/rear sprocket sizes? This would
allow you to at least skew the overall ratio one way or the other. My
hybrid has a "granny gear", but I pretty much use the largest chain ring
& the 5 smallest rear sprockets most of the time.

I've been through a few rings: 32, 34, 38, 44 - depending...

The basic principle is that I use a ring that has me spun out in the highest
gear at a speed that I can't maintain for any length of time - but, of course
that's subject to variables like the surface I'm riding on, what kind of shape
I'm in, what kind of tires are on the bike, how "spinney" I am....and so-forth.

Right now, I'm running 34 on my FS and 44 on my commuter. Next time I need a
new chain, I may move up to 38 on the FS.
--
PeteCresswell

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

TIA

Dan

Sorry - don't have any...but they did 🙂
http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Hub/product_68271.shtml

--
Michal 'saruman' Strzezik
[email hidden]

(PeteCresswell) said:

Per Dan:

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with these
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?p=PRODUKTE/SPEEDHUB

Thanks Pete, you've given me a lot of info to ponder. Nothing like real
world feedback from someone who's "been there". I appreciate your
thoughtful replies.

Dan