Midsummer Rohloff Speedhub 14 madness

Carl Fogel wrote:

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

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

I suppose I should have qualified my comments to refer to planetary
gears rather than the awkward spur gear units shown above. I don't
know that anyone has mass produced anything but planetary gears in the
last 50 years.

Jobst Brandt

writes:

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.

Hmm. I'm sure a plastic box makes a watertight, durable and long lasting
home. It doesn't mean I want to live in one.

But for the engineering brigade - I am sure it is indeed very
functional.

On Sep 6, 7:52 am, wrote:

Does *anyone* like the look of them?

I like the overall look of the drivetrain better, yes.
I like the look of a wheel without dish, and I like
having one chainring and no derailleurs.
Derailleurs are ungainly contrivances.

Tom Ace

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

[snip]

Where have
you seen nuclear waste drums anyway?

[snip]

Dear Jobst,

D'oh! Don't you watch the Simpsons?

(Homer, Lenny and Carl roll barrels of nuclear waste and sing)

Homer: Rolling, rolling, rolling! Toxic barrel rolling!

Lenny: They're so hot and glowing!

Carl: We'll die!
http://www.tv.com/episode/290301/summary.html

Picture of nuclear waste drum log-rolling at Springfield Nuclear
Plant:
http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74430645/9529398

Cheers,

Carl Carlso--er, Fogel

Penny wrote:

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

You must have looked at a powdercoated specimen. The polished ones
are nicer in their details than other fat gearhubs, and to my eyes all
of them are unquestionably better to look at than a huge wad of filthy
sprockets.

Chalo

On Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:45:04 -0700, 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.

This is for a wheel with rohloff hub and "extras" for less than the prize
of the hub alone, doesn't seem unfair to me.


Tomas

"Tomas Pedersen" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:45:04 -0700, 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.

This is for a wheel with rohloff hub and "extras" for less than the prize
of the hub alone, doesn't seem unfair to me.


Tomas

I had a look at the item. Can someone more knowledgeable suggest why "DT
Swiss stainless straight guage spokes on the driveside, DT Swiss double
butted (2.0/1.8) on the non drive side with brass nipples" was
specified........surely there is insignificant (any?) dishing??
Hugh

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

Mine never have.

One of mind dripped oil on the rear disc rotor. Made for an
exciting few moments on a certain descent.

But they said that was bc it was an older model and that the
sealing scheme has changed since then. Indeed, they installed
the new seals and it has not dripped since.
--
PeteCresswell

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


In my little world, ugly is good. Reduces the theft appeal.

Most gratifying comment I ever heard was on my bread-and-butter
FS bike (whose frame cost enough to feed a small African village
for at least a month) by my son-in-law-the-farmer, who doesn't
ride but knows equipment: "Man, that thing looks like it's beat
to ****."
--
PeteCresswell

On Sep 7, 9:30*am, Tomas Pedersen wrote:
On Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:45:04 -0700, 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.

This is for a wheel with rohloff hub and "extras" for less than the prize
of the hub alone, doesn't seem unfair to me.

Tomas

Mavic wheel with Rohloff hub, OEM2, Speedbone, all controls, here
http://www.bikemarket.de/catalog/pro...oducts_id=1242
at EUR 959. A discount for a used item of 13.5% off the replacement
cost doesn't seem to me enough. Put another way, I'd rather pay
another EUR 130 and get the Rohloff factory guarantee, a guarantee on
the wheel, and peace of mind. After all, I pay half that much again to
get the guarantee on my Mac extended to three years, and the
suggestions are that a Rohloff will see my lifetime out, which a Mac
may or may not. (I did keep one Mac, an 840AV which Apple built to
industrial strength for music and reprographics industry applications,
for a decade or so, and it is still going strong in other hands.)

Andre Jute
I'm not cheap. Just poor.