Ignore this part of the exchange, Tom:
(Full disclosu I made my own Rohloff shifter, but I'd
have the same comments if I were using the stock control.)

This is interesting; the control is my least favourite part of the
Rohloff (next to the kinesthetic "feature" of the agricultural way it
works). Why did you make your own control? Does it have any advantage
for other bicyclists?

I found your site and saw your DIY Rohloff shifter grip; answers my
questions. -- AJ

On Apr 28, 2:02*am, Andre Jute wrote:
On Apr 28, 1:36*am, Tom Ace wrote:

On Apr 27, 5:11*pm, Andre Jute wrote:

No human can change gears as efficiently as Shimano's Cyber Nexus.

It might be a personality thing. *

Well, no, it's a pretty obvious conclusion. The human will always be
seconds slower on each gearchange than electronics can be.

Oh great. *In addition to weight weenies, we can have seconds weenies..

I used to have a fancy Ciclosport HAC4 (it broke a week or so after it
ran out of warranty and I decided not to replace it because it just
wasn't worth the EUR300 it cost back then). Among its facilities was a
comparative laptimer, and you could download data to the computer to
draw fancy graphs. I discovered that when I switched from Shimano
Nexus 8 speed to the Cyber Nexus, same but auto, I cut about ten per
cent off the shortest ride I did, even after I adjusted the overall
effort control precisely to give me the same respiration rate at
various points along a ride I took four or five days a week. There's
nothing to account for it except that the gears are automatic and
worked better than my (admittedly slack) gearchanging on the directly
comparable bike except for manual gears that went before.

An alternative is CVT which, with your cadence, puts effort control
right under your thumb, as in the Fallbrook NuVinci CVT. Chalo several
times mentioned the high weight of the NuVinci hub but I don't see the
problem; it is clearly a commuter/daytourer's hub, so the weight
doesn't matter all that much.

It's not just the weight, it's the efficiency of the NuVinci too.

In any case, I'm with Pete Cresswell. *I'd much rather choose
when to shift.

Does the CyberNexus know to shift at the dead points
of the pedaling cycle (cranks near vertical) ?

No. It's a very simple system really, which is possibly what makes it
work so well. I measures speed and inclination and takes in the
constant of the effort level the cyclist has chosen. Its adjustment
method is to change earlier or later to maintain that effort level.
Its genesis is clearly in racing cadence control. It is almost as if
Shimano knew that one day they would put a cut down version in a
premium Dura-Ace group.

Shifting the Rohloff reminds me of releasing a camera
shutter (rangefinder, not SLR) -- not in terms of the
effort required, but in the sound and in how quickly it happens.
(Full disclosu *I made my own Rohloff shifter, but I'd
have the same comments if I were using the stock control.)

This is interesting; the control is my least favourite part of the
Rohloff (next to the kinesthetic "feature" of the agricultural way it
works). Why did you make your own control? Does it have any advantage
for other bicyclists?

Andre Jute
*http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/Andre%20Jute's%20Utopia%20Kranich....