Germany gives green light to bicycle highways

Per Joerg:
A geared hub is still my dream. A Rohloff is expensive though so that's
more for when I need to replace the MTB some day. Not so easy with full
suspension but with a chain tensioner that's feasible. I'd buy it in
Europe though because this stuff costs less there. It would be a nice
excuse to shred some trail there which would have the added benefit of
turning it into a used bike.

If my wife ever found out that I had close to $1,000 in a rear wheel she
would have me certified and committed..... but I did it... not once, but
twice.... so both my rigid and my FS have Rohloff hubs.

Here's a review I wrote many years ago:
========================================

Pros:

- Wide shifts:
Probably a substitute for proper technique, but I can clean inclines
that I couldn't before. Hammer in to it in, say, gear 8, then jump down
to 4, then to 1 as needed.

Also, on long climbs I like to alternate in and out of the saddle which,
for me, is a 3 or 4 gear shift on each change. With the der I used to do
it a lot less frequently that I really like and in the spirit of "Gee, I
sure hope I don't miss this shift and take the saddle horn up my butt
(again...)".

Now I just snap those wide shifts without even thinking about it. Any
time, any place.- I'm always in the right gear, since shifting is
essentially trivial; seems like shifts take less than a fiftieth of a
second.


- No more rear cog problems: no taco'd cogs, no more vines/small
branches/grass wrapped around the cog/der.


- It *seems* pretty-much bombproof. Time will tell, but I was spending
more time than I cared to adjusting my der and bending a cog wheel while
riding was a PITA.


- Greatly-reduced frequency of missed shifts. "Reduced" and not "Zero"
because there is a 'gotcha' between 7 and 8 dumps you into gear 14 if
you forget and shift under load.

It pops back into the intended gear as soon as the load comes off, but
it's nothing you want to make a habit of doing. As I write this
little addendum, I cannot remember the last time that happened to me...
so, with a little experience, I'd say it becomes a non-issue.


- Ability to shift down when stopped. I think I make more than my share
of unplanned stops and I used to have to lift up the rear wheel and
rotate the cranks to get down to a starting gear.

Also, my technique sucks and probably won't get any better and it's nice
to be able approach an object and slow way, way down before negotiating
it without worrying about getting stuck in too high a gear to get over
it.


- I don't have to keep mental track of which chain ring I'm on. Sounds
trivial, but I don't have any brain cells to spare.


- Maybe not so much of a strength, but it should be mentioned somewhere
that 14 speeds are enough.

My original 44-32-22 der setup took me from 18.5 to 104.

With the Rohloff on a 44 I get 19.9 to 104.9 in nice even, uniform 13.8%
increments. That's only one less gear and, since I never used 104 it's a
wash for me.

With the 38 that I've since gone over to it's 17.2 - 90.6.
I don't get spun out in 90.6 until about 25 mph - and there's no way I
can hold that speed for very long anyhow.

I left the old 32 in the middle position just because it weighs next to
nothing and, on a big bump sometimes the chain drops (you're supposed to
have a front-der-like dingus up there to keep it from doing that ....but
I never go around to getting one) the 32 catches the chain. Also
allows shifting down to a usually-ludicrous 14.something if things get
really bad....

Cons:

- It costs an arm and a leg.

If my wife ever finds out I spent close to a grand on a rear wheel,
she'll start to doubt my sanity.

- This hub weighs a *lot*. It added 1.9 pounds to my already-heavy bike
- same rim/tube/tire/spoke gauge.
Anybody who says it only adds a pound must be using a really, *really*
heavy cog/hub/der/shifter setup. I was using SRAM 9.0 with twist
shifters.


- The installation instructions could use a re-write. I'm no rocket
scientist, and after studying them long enough I pulled it off - but it
could have been a *lot* easier.


- It's heavy. Are you ready for an 8-pound rear wheel?


- The torque arm mounting that came with it was decidedly un-German
(downright kludgy, I'd say...). Hose clamps!

Also sometime during the first hundred miles the little clevis pin that
held it all together disappeared. Wasn't a catastrophic failure because
the normal riding pressure pushes everything together.... I probably
installed the c-ring keeper wrong or something - but it seems like a
weak point. Replaced it with a marine shackle set in LocTite.

I have since discovered that there is a more elegant torque arm setup
that Rohloff calls the "SpeedBone". Uses the disk brake mount and does
not interfere with using a disk brake.

Late-Breaking News: After quite a few years, I have gone back to
the out-of-the-box setup that I called "Kludgy". It's simple,
it works, and it is more portable bike-to-bike than the SpeedBone.


- Evenly-spaced shifts: From me, this is strictly a theoretical "con",
but if somebody were in good enough shape to be riding in/having to keep
up with a pace line, they would want closer spacing in the upper gears.
It's no problem for me, bco my pathetic physical condition and riding
style (or lack thereof), but it's pretty sure tb an issue with a more
competitive rider.


- It's heavy.


- It's noisy, especially in gears 1-7. Supposedly this mitigates with
age, but it is still an issue with me at 1,000 miles.

Late breaking news: After 5,000+ miles the noise has mitigated, my
hearing has deteriorated, or I've been drinking less coffee or something
bc the noise is no longer an issue with me.


- It's definitely less efficient in gears 1-8.

There's a web site somewhere (in German) that supposedly graphs a
Rohloff against one of the Shimanos and claims no loss in most gears and
1-2% in the lower gears.

I would disagree with that web site's figures.


- Did I mention that it's heavy?

------------------------------------------------

Bottom Line:

This is definitely not for everybody and the torque arm thing bugged me
until I got the more elegant replacement..... but now I am back to
the torque arm.... so go figure on that one.

Having said that, I find that me and the Rohloff are a good match.

I've quickly gotten so used to getting any gear I want any time I want
and never having to stop and pull brush/branches out of my rear der that
I can't imagine going back.

It also appeals to the exhibitionist in me...

You, on the other hand, might hate the thing.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: it's heavy.
========================================
--
Pete Cresswell

On 2016-01-08 17:00, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Joerg:
A geared hub is still my dream. A Rohloff is expensive though so that's
more for when I need to replace the MTB some day. Not so easy with full
suspension but with a chain tensioner that's feasible. I'd buy it in
Europe though because this stuff costs less there. It would be a nice
excuse to shred some trail there which would have the added benefit of
turning it into a used bike.

If my wife ever found out that I had close to $1,000 in a rear wheel she
would have me certified and committed..... but I did it... not once, but
twice.... so both my rigid and my FS have Rohloff hubs.

Here's a review I wrote many years ago:
========================================


[very nice review]

Thanks, Pete. Yes, I know it's heavy but all the advantages you mention
like instant gear shifting even in standstill (maybe except for the 7-8
shift) and no stuff shredding through the works make it worth the
weight. I never care about weight. With the motorcycle-grade tubes,
rubber-sleeved liners, encapsulated almost mil-spec 60 watt-hour
battery, lights, rack, panniers, tool kit, first aid kit and heavy cable
lock the MTB is already close to 40lbs. A few more pounds don't matter.

The downside is the very high price and the requirement to spoke it in.
I really dislike building up a wheel and would probably let my bike
dealer do that. Then I'd also have to build some sort of tensioner
because of the rear suspension.

But it's good to know that you have a lot of miles into it and didn't
regret the investment.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Per Joerg:
The downside is the very high price and the requirement to spoke it in.
I really dislike building up a wheel and would probably let my bike
dealer do that. Then I'd also have to build some sort of tensioner
because of the rear suspension.

Spoking is about as easy as spoking can be because there is no dish with
these things.

Count on the tensioner - even with a rigid and just the right cog/chain
wheel sizes. Reason: even if you get the cog/chain wheel nailed, the
chain gets loose with wear and will start dropping towards the end of
it's life.

If I could have it my way, my rigid frame would have a chain tension
adjustment in the rear dropouts.... but it doesn't and I use a spring
tensioner. No problem... like you, I ride heavy and the weight of a
tensioner is insignificant.
--
Pete Cresswell