On Monday, April 13, 2015 at 11:29:50 PM UTC+1, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, April 13, 2015 at 1:04:51 PM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:

Among my correspondents there's a well-known Rohloff exponent up the road from you in Eugene.

You can find many unusual things in Eugene. https://www.bikefriday.com/ From the FAQ https://www.bikefriday.com/bicycles/faqs/ :

"ROHLOFF SPEEDHUB: A completely internal gearing system: single front chainring, no front or rear derailleur, no cassette, 14-speeds evenly spaced (no overlapping) gears, yet with as wide a range as a triple chainring. Operated by a single grip-type shifter. Was developed for mountain bike downhill competition.

Advantages: Bulletproof, wide range of gears.
Disadvantages: Heavy (typically almost a pound heavier than the SRAM setup), expensive, more drag and a whirring noise which is music or menace to your ears depending on whether you're a fan or not. Needs to be run in: after the first 500-1000 miles, the oil should be changed out -- a simple procedure."

More Euegen Rohloff bikes: http://co-motion.com/index.php/bikes/americano-rohloff Check-out the site, they have a bunch of Rohloff bikes -- Eugene is a f***** Rohloff Mecca! Little did I know! It's $5645 as pictured minus the S&S couplers. Not cheap. Rolf is in Eugene, too. http://www.rolfprima.com/#built -- but no Rolf Rohloff. Ken Kesey was in Eugene, but only his statue remains. http://petehelzer.com/kesey.htm

My chum is friendly with the Co-Motion guys but found it more economical to import a bike from England when he wanted a Rohloff. Americans have some rather weird ideas on pricing bikes...

Andre JUTE