For a number of years I’d been intrigued by the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14, however considered it a bit too expensive for me. But then in 2008 I finally bought one from TNC Hamburg (Germany) who at the time seemed to offer the lowest price.
The 14 speed Rohloff hub is oil lubricated, uses a 2 cable pull-pull system for gear changing and has a great record of reliability.
Back in 2008 I didn’t know much about the different versions of the SPEEDHUB and purchased one with internal gear mechanism, torque arm, chain tensioner and hollow axle for use with a quick release spindle similar to that shown above.
Initially I laced the Rohloff hub into a 700c rim and built up a bike around a Dawes Galaxy frameset (see picture right). This frame has vertical dropouts and so I had to use the chain tensioner and the torque arm to stop the hub rotating. I used straight handlebars making it easier to fit the Rohloff gear shifter. The end result was OK, but not brilliant. The SPEEDHUB worked well and it was great having 14 evenly spaced gears operated by one shifter, but I prefer drop bars and a simpler setup.
I already owned a
Carrera bike with 26″ wheels and an Ahead threadless headset arrangement, so could mount the Rohloff gear shifter separately on a Thorn accessory bar below the drop bars. I rebuilt the Rohloff hub into a 26″ rim and the result is shown right. This setup was a big improvement on the previous experiment, but wasn’t perfect because it still required use of the torque arm and chain tensioner.
By 2009 I was getting to like the Rohloff hub, but wasn’t sure of my long term commitment to it. And I still wanted to simplify the setup by dispensing with the torque arm and chain tensioner. I considered buying a Thorn Rohloff specific frame with an eccentric bottom bracket, but eventually settled on a Kona Explosif frame with sliding dropouts (see picture right). Now I could discard the torque arm and chain tensioner, this was a much better arrangement.
Although the Rohloff internal gear change mechanism worked fine, I never liked the gear cables hanging off the nearside rear V-brake boss and it could be fiddly reconnecting the gear cables after replacing the rear wheel. So in 2011 fitted a Rohloff external gear mechanism to the hub (see picture right), this too was an improvement.
Then this year (2012) I purchased a gear shifter for drop bars made by French company Gilles Berthoud, which is approved by Rohloff, and a pair of Thorn handlebars specifically suited to this shifter (see picture right). I deliberately fitted the shifter on the left side of the handlebars to allow me to use the front brake and change gear at the same time; and this arrangement works well for me.
I started this project back in 2008 and it’s taken me 4 years to get to a point where I’m reasonably happy with my Rohloff setup on the bike. My advice to others would be; if you are sure you want a bike with a Rohloff hub then just buy one of the many excellent Rohloff specific framesets or bikes that are available.
In early September 2012 we went on a cycling camping/hotel holiday in Normandy, France. In the past camping hasn’t been a favourite of mine, but we had good weather and the trip worked well. However I concluded if we are going camping again we both need to have our bikes setup better (i.e. have front as well as rear panniers). And although the Kona’s sliding dropouts worked well for chain tensioning. I always thought the arrangement looked a bit unsightly. So I’ve just ordered a Thorn Sterling frameset.
October 2012: Swapped all components from the Kona, but had to replace the Shimano 105 Hollowtech II chainset because the cranks fouled the wider chainstays on the Sterling.
greytonne 