Midsummer Rohloff Speedhub 14 madness

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer

Andre Jute wrote:
I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

I could walk into a shop and get one for 900 Euro new, discounted
probably less.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Mine never have.

Andre Jute writes:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer


Does *anyone* like the look of them?

Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.

Penny wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer


Does *anyone* like the look of them?

When they're red and mine, yes.

Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.

I dislike the look of the Nexus 8 hubs with that "I've had one too many
sausage" ribbed look. But they work well enough.

On Sep 6, 5:53*pm, Tosspot wrote:
Penny wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer

Does *anyone* like the look of them?

What do you expect? It's a tube full of gears. There are not too many
ways to style it. The Rohloff way is at least functional in sub-
Bauhaus manner. The Nexus 8 hub, though more consciously styled, isn't
much better. Some of those long thin SRAMM hubs look more like
conventional hubs but that is all. The only even marginally successful
hub styling (beside the standard type of hubs) is the rounded dynohubs
from Shimano. But the test of industrial design is to make a
suggestion for improvement that doesn't impair function, and i can't
quite see it. They did the best they could with the shape the gubbins
dictated.

When they're red and mine, yes.

Ha! I have polished ali and black Nexus 8 hubs and the black one makes
so much of a better impression.

I note that Andy Blance of SJS cycles, the designer of the Thorn bikes
of excellent reputation and longevity, not a guy to spend money on
fripperies, suggests that his customers pay extra for the black
Rohloff because the black will last as long as the gearbox while the
polished ali will tarnish years before the box dies.

Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.

At best described as functional, a bit agricultural. But it was
created for offroaders, and what can be more agricultural than their
riding conditions?

I dislike the look of the Nexus 8 hubs with that "I've had one too many
sausage" ribbed look. *But they work well enough.

Actually, now that you mention it, if I were judging a design
competition, of all the rear hubs mentioned in this thread, I'd give
the prize to the Rohloff for being honestly ugly, not overstyled
beyond its function. After all, it is only a rear hub in a bicycle,
not a work of art and, without the Nexus transverse ribs, the Rohloff
will be easier to clean.

Form dictated by function, a euphemism for ugly.

Andre Jute
My most recent book about design in action is Arbeiten mit
Gestaltungsrastern, Die Struktur im Graphik-Design, published by
Verlag Hermann Schmidt in Germany and Rotovision in Switzerland.

Andre Jute writes:

On Sep 6, 5:53Â*pm, Tosspot wrote:
Penny wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer

Does *anyone* like the look of them?

What do you expect? It's a tube full of gears. There are not too many

I dont "expect" anything.

ways to style it. The Rohloff way is at least functional in sub-
Bauhaus manner. The Nexus 8 hub, though more consciously styled, isn't
much better. Some of those long thin SRAMM hubs look more like
conventional hubs but that is all. The only even marginally successful
hub styling (beside the standard type of hubs) is the rounded dynohubs
from Shimano. But the test of industrial design is to make a
suggestion for improvement that doesn't impair function, and i can't
quite see it. They did the best they could with the shape the gubbins
dictated.

I'm sure. And I dont like the look of it personally. I was just
expressing my own view. I assume that is allowed?


When they're red and mine, yes.

Ha! I have polished ali and black Nexus 8 hubs and the black one makes
so much of a better impression.

I note that Andy Blance of SJS cycles, the designer of the Thorn bikes
of excellent reputation and longevity, not a guy to spend money on
fripperies, suggests that his customers pay extra for the black
Rohloff because the black will last as long as the gearbox while the
polished ali will tarnish years before the box dies.


Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.

At best described as functional, a bit agricultural. But it was
created for offroaders, and what can be more agricultural than their
riding conditions?

I dislike the look of the Nexus 8 hubs with that "I've had one too many
sausage" ribbed look. Â*But they work well enough.

Actually, now that you mention it, if I were judging a design
competition, of all the rear hubs mentioned in this thread, I'd give
the prize to the Rohloff for being honestly ugly, not overstyled
beyond its function. After all, it is only a rear hub in a bicycle,
not a work of art and, without the Nexus transverse ribs, the Rohloff
will be easier to clean.

Many people like the aesthetics of the traditional set up. And I dont
think that is something to be ashamed of.


Form dictated by function, a euphemism for ugly.

Andre Jute
My most recent book about design in action is Arbeiten mit
Gestaltungsrastern, Die Struktur im Graphik-Design, published by
Verlag Hermann Schmidt in Germany and Rotovision in Switzerland.


--

Penny who? wrote:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic
tubes, but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay
for close to what it would cost new from a German discounter:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370

670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

It's better than SA three-speed hubs in that regard, but don't try to
make it an "oil bath" operation or it will leak.

Does *anyone* like the look of them?

I can't imagine styling a gear hub any other way than a cylindrical
tube with spoke flanges. If that doesn't please then it is denying
that form follows function in simplest terms. A tube is the ideal
torque transmitter and the Rohloff does that admirably.

Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.

Why didn't you see it as a torque tube with spoke flanges? Where have
you seen nuclear waste drums anyway? The main criterion is whether
the hub works reliably and does not carry any gratuitous features that
add weight.

Jobst Brandt

Penny wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer


Does *anyone* like the look of them?

Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.


This video clip is neat:
http://www.rohloff.de/en/download/video/mix/striptease/index.html.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”

On 06 Sep 2008 21:11:45 GMT, wrote:

I can't imagine styling a gear hub any other way than a cylindrical
tube with spoke flanges.

[snip]

Dear Jobst,

Imagine a pear-shaped hub gear that gave SpokeCalc nightmares:

http://www.43bikes.com/fortythree/du...dursley-17.jpg

http://www.43bikes.com/fortythree/du...rsley-hub1.jpg

"The pear shaped flanges [of the early Pedersen hub gear] required, it
is said, twelve different lengths of spoke and although the company
provided spoking charts they were not popular with wheel builders of
other firms. A letter in October 1907 from W.J.Ashworth, then
Commercial Manager of the Pedersen Works, to Mikael Pedersen, states
that manufacturers were 'disgusted' with the trouble in building these
hubs into wheels and were refusing to buy."
http://www.dursley-pedersen.net/gear...hor-John-49575

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Sep 6, 7:29*pm, wrote:
Andre Jute writes:
On Sep 6, 5:53*pm, Tosspot wrote:
Penny wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

I'm long familiar with the crazy prices on Ebay for thermionic tubes,
but here's a Rohloff Speedhub 14 selling second-hand on Ebay for close
to what it would cost new from a German discounter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140261830370
670 Sterling is about 830 Euro or 1185 USD.

When I stop being flabbergasted, I'll have to wonder again if the
Rohloff will drip oil on the tiles.

Andre Jute
Observer

Does *anyone* like the look of them?

What do you expect? It's a tube full of gears. There are not too many

I dont "expect" anything.

ways to style it. The Rohloff way is at least functional in sub-
Bauhaus manner. The Nexus 8 hub, though more consciously styled, isn't
much better. Some of those long thin SRAMM hubs look more like
conventional hubs but that is all. The only even marginally successful
hub styling (beside the standard type of hubs) is the rounded dynohubs
from Shimano. But the test of industrial design is to make a
suggestion for improvement that doesn't impair function, and i can't
quite see it. They did the best they could with the shape the gubbins
dictated.

I'm sure. And I dont like the look of it personally. I was just
expressing my own view. I assume that is allowed?

In industrial design there are only opinions. Anyone who claims there
is a hard and fast rule is trying to sell you a pup. Oh, admittedly,
in some subbranches of industrial design there are widely accepted
rules but none of them are today universally accepted. For instance,
in reprographics, in the specialist trades of graphic design and
typography, there is a very large contingent who still honour Beatrice
Webb's concept of the crystal goblet, that a designer's personality
should not obscure the message. There is an equally large contingent
who believe in "cutting edge design", i.e. doing whatever their devil
tells them and screw the client and his product, and they either teach
(hard luck on the next generation of designers) or whine about how
nobody appreciates them and give each other prizes for minority ad hoc
little speculative designs that no one ever sees.

Andre Jute
A safe pair of hands

PS OBLIGATORY ON-TOPIC REMARK That applies to Rohloff's Speedhub 14
too, whatever it is I just said.

When they're red and mine, yes.

Ha! I have polished ali and black Nexus 8 hubs and the black one makes
so much of a better impression.

I note that Andy Blance of SJS cycles, the designer of the Thorn bikes
of excellent reputation and longevity, not a guy to spend money on
fripperies, suggests that his customers pay extra for the black
Rohloff because the black will last as long as the gearbox while the
polished ali will tarnish years before the box dies.

Someone recommended one to me recently and I remarked that it looked
like a discarded nuclear waste drum. Aesthetically yuck.

At best described as functional, a bit agricultural. But it was
created for offroaders, and what can be more agricultural than their
riding conditions?

I dislike the look of the Nexus 8 hubs with that "I've had one too many
sausage" ribbed look. *But they work well enough.

Actually, now that you mention it, if I were judging a design
competition, of all the rear hubs mentioned in this thread, I'd give
the prize to the Rohloff for being honestly ugly, not overstyled
beyond its function. After all, it is only a rear hub in a bicycle,
not a work of art and, without the Nexus transverse ribs, the Rohloff
will be easier to clean.

Many people like the aesthetics of the traditional set up. And I dont
think that is something to be ashamed of.



Form dictated by function, a euphemism for ugly.

Andre Jute
My most recent book about design in action is Arbeiten mit
Gestaltungsrastern, Die Struktur im Graphik-Design, published by
Verlag Hermann Schmidt in Germany and Rotovision in Switzerland.

--