SimpleOne Rohloff Conversion

[Daniel Molloy]

Hi group,

I thought I would share this Rohloff conversion we just finished at Cycle Monkey. As a former Rivendell employee and current Rohloff user I'm a little biased, but I think it turned out great. We cold-set the rear triangle without any problems. Alex Wetmore converted his Quickbeam to a Rohloff a while back, but there doesn't seem to be much info online about it anymore. Fair Disclosure: I currently work at Cycle Monkey, and am only posting here since I believe it counts as relevant and interesting Riv Content.

http://cyclemonkeylab.blogspot.com/2013/09/rivendell-simpleone-rohloff-speedhub.html

Thanks!

[Tom Harrop]

That's great.

Did bending the rear triangle from 120 mm to 135 mm spacing on such a nice bike make you anxious at all?

[blakcloud]

That is very interesting. I am sure your customer will be really happy.

I just have one question. (Apologies if this gets answered before my question gets posted). Why did  you run the cable along the top tube rather than the way you did on the Sam Hillborne? The Quickbeam does not look as elegant. 

[Daniel Molloy]

Although we've cold set many steel bikes before, 120mm to 135mm is a pretty big jump. Fortunately, steel is quite malleable and forgiving as we all know. According to the mechanic who completed the cold setting, the process went quite smoothly. We made sure to check everything several times during the procedure. The dropouts ended up aligned with no problems.

[Daniel Molloy]

On the Sam Hillborne, the customer wanted a SPEEDHUB with an external gearbox that features full length shift housing, allowing routing under the chainstays and downtube.  With this SimpleOne, the customer wanted a SPEEDHUB with an internal shiftbox, due to a slight weight and cost savings, so we used the cantilever brake post to anchor the shift cables and ran the housing along the top tube.  Both methods function the same, it's simply a matter of personal preference for the cable routing.

[blakcloud]

Thanks Daniel for your answer. I didn't know there was internal and external shift/gearbox difference in the hubs. I take back my response as not being as elegant! I guess it is nice to have choices. Nice job on both bikes. 

[hobie]

Could also set it to 132.5mm

[Montclair BobbyB]

First, congratulations; that's an ambitious mod.  The basic concept is cool (i.e. being able to switch between single-speed and internal-geared), except cold-setting a 120mm spaced-frame to 135mm to me is pretty extreme. A big part of the appeal of the S1/QB is that it IS a single speed and it has 120mm rear spacing.  If you want gears (let alone a 14-speed Rohloff), why are you starting with a 120mm SS frame and (forever) altering its genetic structure? And how can you ever go back to SS (in good conscience) as a 135mm-spaced SS???  Besides, there are other gearing options without having to cold set.  For example, you can get creative with a dual-speed freewheel and double crankset to at least stretch your SS into a 4-speed.  Or you can choose a 126mm internal-geared hub (like a SRAM/Spectro P5 or S7; granted not a Rohloff, but a nice durable hub).  I use a Patterson 2-speed crankset which extends my S1 to climb moderate hills. Add an S7 hub, and you've got formidable gear range.

OK, blah blah blah... fact remains you've already created a Simple-14.. at the very least that's audacious, diabolical and totally Frankenbikish, worthy of props... so I'll give that a big Dr Evil "MBWAAAHAAAAH"!!!

Peace,
BB

On Wednesday, September 4, 2013 5:55:53 PM UTC-4, Daniel Molloy wrote:

[Ron Mc]

the cold-set itself is only 1/3-inch on each side - the trick to it is keeping the alignment.  Great-looking bikes and I'm jealous - thanks for showing them.  

[oceano...@gmail.com]

For a little more context, I live at the top of 84 in Woodside and I commute to work everyday (was Palo Alto, now Redwood City). This SimpleOne was my first Rivendell, but when I moved to Woodside I largely stopped riding it and purchased an Atlantis. A single speed in the mountains isn't exactly the greatest commuting option. I biked up Old La Honda once, it wasn't terribly fun. Back in early August I messed up the fork of my Atlantis so I needed a way to continue commuting. Given that I live in a tiny place, buying a third bike wasn't really enticing. This SimpleOne has lots of sentimental value at this point so selling it never really crossed my mind. I had been intrigued with a Rohloff conversion for quite some time though, and this was the perfect opportunity to try it. The past few weeks have been really great, plus I noticed my commute times have improved by 2-3 minutes. For what it's worth, my SimpleOne has a wider gearing range than my Atlantis. Crazy. Anyway, I won't be going back to a single speed anytime soon, that's for sure. 

- Geoff

[Eric Platt]

Another one who is totally jealous.  There is now an "out" if I ever get bored with my current setup on the SimpleOne. 

Eric Platt

St. Paul, MN

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[BSWP]

Say, after 10 months, how's the Rohloff/SO combo working out? I'm thinking about my next frame, and how to gear it...

- Andrew, Berkeley

[Jim Bronson]

It looked like it was working great when he visited Austin a couple of months ago and rode a 100K RUSA permanent populaire with about 5 other guys including myself. Him and another Rivendell rider on a geared custom rode off the front on the way back from the turnaround.  Although they ended up behind us slowpokes when they took a wrong turn.  ;)

I took a couple of (bad) pictures of it but it looked like the Rohloff was meant to be there.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down!

[Hudson Doerge]

i'm a little curious about this set up as well. i love my SO, but as we are wont to do, tinkering is never far from thought. though luckily my lacking wallet should keep my SO a 1x1 for the foreseeable future.

[oceano...@gmail.com]

It's been working out quite well. I currently have a 48x18 drivetrain which is more than adequate 95% of the time. When heavily loaded down and climbing hills steeper than a 10% grade (http://www.strava.com/segments/609531) I occasionally long for something a little lower, but the plan was always to keep the bike as a commuter and only do overnights with it, not to tour. The hub itself has been rock solid. Changed the oil once, and brought it back to Cycle Monkey once to deal with a leak - apparently a seal had failed, but it was covered under warranty. 

At one point I had a Grand Bois Cypres tire on the rear which was not a great idea. Way too many flats. Changing a rear tire flat with a Rohloff takes me 25 min. at best so I switched to a Pasela PT and that basically fixed the problem.