Gears. Rohloff v Others ?

[ton]

just been out for a ride on my fargo, fitted with a rohloff. it is the bikes first birthday today ( sad feck mode ).
i have ridden 5200 miles on the bike. and i have not had 1 single mishap with the gears all the time. nothing, no ghost shift, or gear slip. just nothing all year. in mud, without oil, dirty, clean. which is obviously brilliant......

BUT, i found myself missing the speedy snappiness of a good old rapidfire trigger shifter. no idea why. cant put my finger on it.

so reliability or snappy speedy gear changes ? what would you choose ?

and can anyone using normal gear put their hand on their heart, and with all honesty say that they have gone a whole year of riding without a single gearing mishap or problem.

[woodsmith]

Rohloff user on my ECR and deraileur user on the road bike. Never used trigger shifters so can't comment on that aspect but I've always found the Rohloff shift to be more than fast enough. On those occasions when I get caught out on the road bike and need a sudden down shift at low speeds, I realise what a mechanical abortion the derailleur really is. I love the Rohloff for its ability to change gear when stationary. Is it perfect? No, not by any means, but the small weight penalty is offset by the almost fit and forget nature in practice. The first time I took the ECR out on some proper trails in the Peak District I met a fella coming the other way, pushing his bike with a wrecked derailler after a rock had hit it, and I knew I'd made the right choice.

[ScotRoutes]

and can anyone using normal gear put their hand on their heart, and with all honesty say that they have gone a whole year of riding without a single gearing mishap or problem.

Me - and its not because I'm always carrying out lots of pre-emptive maintenance either.

I do check chain stretch and cassette/chainring wear occasionally and replace as required. Other than that, the chain is maintained in a lightly-oiled state.
I like my cables to be free as friction-free as possible and so might end up with longer loops than bikes might come as new. I don't change them very often though.
I set my rear mechs up with an alignment tool but I don't re-check them unless they are being replaced.
The bikes don't get washed all that frequently - mostly when I'm likely to be riding non-local (I'm paranoid about transmitting tree diseases).

The one thing I have discovered is that jockey wheels actually wear out. Prior to moving to Aviemore, this really wasn't a thing. I put it down to soil types.

[firestarter]

I prefer the feel of normal gears but I sure do miss my rohloff

[lune ranger]

I’ll let you know in a year Ton. I just built up my first non- Rohloff bike for long distance riding in 20years. It was fine in the interest of saving weight. I wonder if it’ll be worth it.

[Cyclepeasant]

Rohloff or hub gears always a winner with me!
However,have to admit,never damaged or had a failure with derailleurs on any MTB!

[BigdummySteve]

Hi Tony, I ran hub gears for many years, first an alphine then a rohloff on my bigdummy. After thousands of miles on the BD (including a jogle) I moved the hub onto my ECR, like yours it was faultless throughout. When I got my Fargo it was a bit of a shock, the biggest one was not being able to shift multiple gears at once, I got caught out several times, I’d fly down a hill and then not be able to shift down before I got into gear crunching or stalled. Then there was the indexing, you actually have to adjust and maintain normal gears!
Eventually after much swearing and frustration (and a handy bonus from work) I swapped out the gears for SRAM AXS Eagle with Red shifters/ brakes, I also fitted the ‘blips’ so I can also shift from the tops.
Honestly it’s the best system I’ve ever used, faultless for over two years, it’s an absolute joy to use.it’s very fast shifting and that shifting is controlled by a gentle tap on either shifter. It’s so easy and fast that I definitely shift lots more, I’ll even shift halfway through a corner, it’s almost like it’s thought controlled. The other feature I like is the multi shift, mine is set to go go through the whole block on down shifts (when I hold the right paddle it will carry on up shifting until it hits 12th or I release it) for the up shifts into lower gears I’ve set it to shift 3 gears when holding the shifter in. I found it was so quick that sometimes it would shift faster than the chain could keep up when pedalling at low rpm.
The other great thing is the overload clutch, if you hit the mech it just moves in then returns to its original position with a little zip noise, it’s saved my mech at least twice.

Personally I’d either run a rohloff or AXS, I do love the directness of normal gears, that said I do miss that bullet proof reliability. The AXS shifts perfectly in mud, the rohloff however will keep shifting even when completely clagged in the worst mud, that was very apparent on the last day of Spain coast to coast ride, it rained and the mud was so thick I ended up walking, the other two guy on rohloff’ just carried on as normal..

I think you’d miss the rohloff, once you get the technique right it shifts pretty quick, I’d preload the shifter then time the shift at the top of the pedal stroke where there’s less pressure. This became automatic and took quite a bit of unlearning. After 5 or six years on the rohloff I was probably quicker and smoother than on a normal mech..

[lune ranger]

Carrying on from Steve. I’ve been riding my derailleur bike a little now and keep fluffing the shifts.
My Rohloff gear changing muscle memory is so strong, that instead of keeping my hands on the drops and using the Campy Ergo shifters I automatically move my right hand towards a non-existent Rohloff twist shifter when my brain wants to change gear!

[woodsmith]

Carrying on from Steve. I’ve been riding my derailleur bike a little now and keep fluffing the shifts.
My Rohloff gear changing muscle memory is so strong, that instead of keeping my hands on the drops and using the Campy Ergo shifters I automatically move my right hand towards a non-existent Rohloff twist shifter when my brain wants to change gear!

Muscle memory or whatever it is is incredibly strong. Last year on my road bike I amazed myself by reaching for the downtube mounted shifter, something which i last used in the mid 80's.

[ScotRoutes]

1880’s?

[woodsmith]

1880’s?

Hardly, as that is before the invention of the derailleur.

[ton]

i had a look on the internet today for a 2 x set up to replace the rohloff with.
so i would need the following.
1 x new rear hub or complete wheel.
1 x 12 spd rear mech
1 x 12 spd cassette
1 x 12 spd chain
1 x 12 spd shifter
i found a few. with the new hub or wheelbuild it would run out about £500.

i will be sticking with the rohloff.............

[ledburner]

i had a look on the internet today for a 2 x set up to replace the rohloff with.
so i would need the following.
1 x new rear hub or complete wheel.
1 x 12 spd rear mech
1 x 12 spd cassette
1 x 12 spd chain
1 x 12 spd shifter
i found a few. with the new hub or wheelbuild it would run out about £500.

i will be sticking with the rohloff.............

so will I ...
Over the last 20 years
4 chains, 7 speed...Sachs /sedis Sram etc
4 chainrings, 1 worn, rest for gearing & egg ring, different chainsets..
3 of Frames. 26" steel,26" alloy, alloy 29"
3 rims (26" rim brakes x2 & 29.x1disc brakes)
4 sets of jockey wheels.
1 front mech when I tried running it 2x14 sp.

[ledburner]

i had a look on the internet today for a 2 x set up to replace the rohloff with.
so i would need the following.
1 x new rear hub or complete wheel.
1 x 12 spd rear mech
1 x 12 spd cassette
1 x 12 spd chain
1 x 12 spd shifter
I found a few. with the new hub or wheelbuild it would run out about £500.

i will be sticking with the rohloff.............

Or go single speed.
I can do the conversion over the internet for you.
As your of this forum, I'll drop the consultation* fee to £25, if you take the time-limited offer in the next 24hrs. . £0 Hardware ,workshop and carriage costs guaranteed.

* To cover reaseach about leaving it in gear 7.
[Dooh, I never good with secrets.]

[arkay]

I've never ridden a Rohloff. Do they have much of a delay when shifting? I gather you can change gear when stationary which would help avoid the "oh bugger I've stopped in the wrong gear" faff of spinning the wheel to change.

I made the mistake of trying to change halfway across the cassette while pedalling up a steep bank in the middle of Wales last year and sheared my mech hanger right off. Luckily the hanger did its job and saved both frame and mech, and even more luckily I had a spare that fitted the correct bike! Would have been a very long walk indeed.

[lune ranger]

No delay really. I think they quote 0.3seconds per shift in the literature and you can shift as many gears as you like at a time - limited only by how much you can rotate your wrist. 4-5 at a time is easily doable.
When you start using one there is a certain amount of adaption needed as they don’t shift very well under heavy load. I don’t remember that as it’s been 20+ years since I got mine.

[ianatstanage]

just been out for a ride on my fargo, fitted with a rohloff. it is the bikes first birthday today ( sad feck mode ).
i have ridden 5200 miles on the bike. and i have not had 1 single mishap with the gears all the time. nothing, no ghost shift, or gear slip. just nothing all year. in mud, without oil, dirty, clean. which is obviously brilliant......

BUT, i found myself missing the speedy snappiness of a good old rapidfire trigger shifter. no idea why. cant put my finger on it.

so reliability or snappy speedy gear changes ? what would you choose ?

and can anyone using normal gear put their hand on their heart, and with all honesty say that they have gone a whole year of riding without a single gearing mishap or problem.

I have a Thorn Mercury with Rohloff and a Whyte MTB with Shimano XT x 11.

Both get a fair bit of use and abuse and both keep changing gear nicely.

The Rohloff is slower to change, not least as I have the twist grip mounted on the headset, so I have to take my hand off the bar.

I do get the very occasional gear slip/crunch with the Rohloff, but otherwise it is fine.

I have had it since 2016 and I think I am on my 3rd chain.

The Shimano XT is also very reliable, even when the derailleur is clogged with mud.

The chain, chainring and cassette are currently very worn, but it keeps on working just fine.

I am on my 4th chain since 2018 with the Whyte.

I am contemplating changing the Thorn for a 650 touring/gravel bike.

Not sure that I will choose a Rohloff again.

At circa £1,200 I am thinking that the added value is hard to justify.

Ian

[lune ranger]

At circa £1,200 I am thinking that the added value is hard to justify.

Ian

I’d find it very hard to buy a Rohloff now at £1200. I have two and both put together didn’t cost that (disregarding inflation at least).
But I wouldn’t pay £700 or £800 for suspension forks or £1000 for carbon wheels either yet many people do.
They both are still running though and one is from the last century. I reckon I’ve got pretty good value from it thus far. I wonder if any Di2 or AXS will last 20+ years of regular use.

[lune ranger]

At circa £1,200 I am thinking that the added value is hard to justify.

Ian

The money is already spent though isn’t it? You don’t need to buy another, just rebuild it into a 650b wheel and carry on.

[Mart]

not a rolhoff I know but I ran a 8sp Alfine for quite a few years. Can’t fault them for reliability

However…
When I switched back to a derailleur, I immediately noticed that the back end of the bike came alive!
For me the concentrated mass of a geared hub deadened the liveliness of the bike
Can’t see me going back to a geared hub.

[ianatstanage]

At circa £1,200 I am thinking that the added value is hard to justify.

Ian

The money is already spent though isn’t it? You don’t need to buy another, just rebuild it into a 650b wheel and carry on.

Good idea, but unfortunately it doesn't appear to work.
I borrowed a 650B wheel with a 50mm tyre, which is what I want, but it rubbed against the chain stays.
It appears that a lot of frames are nowadays designed to take either 700C or 650B wheels.
Sadly, back in 2016 Thorn were either 700C or 26" and dismissive to 650B.
They have since changed their minds (it's the same with disc brakes).
Thorn, in my opinion, make a quality product, but are very slow to adapt to new ideas.

[lune ranger]

I meant - Rebuild the Rohloff for your new 650b bike.
My original Rohloff has been on an Orange P7 26er with v-brakes, then it got retrofitted for disks and went on a Thorn eXXp, had a brief foray onto a Nicolai Helius 26er before moving onto a Surly Krampus 29+
The other one moves between a Fargo and Transition Rapture CX bike but retains the same rim whilst doing so.
There are some great shifter options for drop bars these days do you can ditch the stem accessory mount and have a much cleaner/more normal set up.