Per jbeattie:
>With all that said, and if you like the twist shift/gear range, the Speedhub is really sturdy and a low maintenance drive train -- and does save some costs on disposables like cassettes, chains, chain rings. The weight penalty on a mountain bike is supposedly only about 300 grams (after cutting a chain ring, rear derailleur and big cassettes). You'll loose 300 grams off your wallet, so no real weight penalty for a mountain bike.
My experience is that it added 1.9 pounds to a bike where it replaced a
SRAM 9.0 setup with twist shifters.
Here's a review I wrote a looooong time ago:
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Pros:
- Wide shifts:
Probably a substitute for proper technique, but I can clean inclines
that I couldn't before. Hammer in to it in, say, gear 8, then jump down
to 4, then to 1 as needed.
Also, on long climbs I like to alternate in and out of the saddle which,
for me, is a 3 or 4 gear shift on each change. With the der I used to do
it a lot less frequently that I really like and in the spirit of "Gee, I
sure hope I don't miss this shift and take the saddle horn up my butt
(again...)".
Now I just snap those wide shifts without even thinking about it. Any
time, any place.- I'm always in the right gear, since shifting is
essentially trivial; seems like shifts take less than a fiftieth of a
second.
- No more rear cog problems: no taco'd cogs, no more vines/small
branches/grass wrapped around the cog/der.
- It *seems* pretty-much bombproof. Time will tell, but I was spending
more time than I cared to adjusting my der and bending a cog wheel while
riding was a PITA.
- Greatly-reduced frequency of missed shifts. "Reduced" and not "Zero"
because there is a 'gotcha' between 7 and 8 dumps you into gear 14 if
you forget and shift under load.
It pops back into the intended gear as soon as the load comes off, but
it's nothing you want to make a habit of doing. As I write this
little addendum, I cannot remember the last time that happened to me...
so, with a little experience, I'd say it becomes a non-issue.
- Ability to shift down when stopped. I think I make more than my share
of unplanned stops and I used to have to lift up the rear wheel and
rotate the cranks to get down to a starting gear.
Also, my technique sucks and probably won't get any better and it's nice
to be able approach an object and slow way, way down before negotiating
it without worrying about getting stuck in too high a gear to get over
it.
- I don't have to keep mental track of which chain ring I'm on. Sounds
trivial, but I don't have any brain cells to spare.
- Maybe not so much of a strength, but it should be mentioned somewhere
that 14 speeds are enough.
My original 44-32-22 der setup took me from 18.5 to 104.
With the Rohloff on a 44 I get 19.9 to 104.9 in nice even, uniform 13.8%
increments. That's only one less gear and, since I never used 104 it's a
wash for me.
With the 38 that I've since gone over to it's 17.2 - 90.6.
I don't get spun out in 90.6 until about 25 mph - and there's no way I
can hold that speed for very long anyhow.
I left the old 32 in the middle position just because it weighs next to
nothing and, on a big bump sometimes the chain drops (you're supposed to
have a front-der-like dingus up there to keep it from doing that ....but
I never go around to getting one) the 32 catches the chain. Also
allows shifting down to a usually-ludicrous 14.something if things get
really bad....
Cons:
- It costs an arm and a leg.
If my wife ever finds out I spent close to a grand on a rear wheel,
she'll start to doubt my sanity.
- This hub weighs a *lot*. It added 1.9 pounds to my already-heavy bike
- same rim/tube/tire/spoke gauge.
Anybody who says it only adds a pound must be using a really, *really*
heavy cog/hub/der/shifter setup. I was using SRAM 9.0 with twist
shifters.
- The installation instructions could use a re-write. I'm no rocket
scientist, and after studying them long enough I pulled it off - but it
could have been a *lot* easier.
- It's heavy. Are you ready for an 8-pound rear wheel?
- The torque arm mounting that came with it was decidedly un-German
(downright kludgy, I'd say...). Hose clamps!
Also sometime during the first hundred miles the little clevis pin that
held it all together disappeared. Wasn't a catastrophic failure because
the normal riding pressure pushes everything together.... I probably
installed the c-ring keeper wrong or something - but it seems like a
weak point. Replaced it with a marine shackle set in LocTite.
I have since discovered that there is a more elegant torque arm setup
that Rohloff calls the "SpeedBone". Uses the disk brake mount and does
not interfere with using a disk brake.
- Evenly-spaced shifts: From me, this is strictly a theoretical "con",
but if somebody were in good enough shape to be riding in/having to keep
up with a pace line, they would want closer spacing in the upper gears.
It's no problem for me, bco my pathetic physical condition and riding
style (or lack thereof), but it's pretty sure tb an issue with a more
competitive rider.
- It's heavy.
- It's noisy, especially in gears 1-7. Supposedly this mitigates with
age, but it is still an issue with me at 1,000 miles.
Late breaking news: After 5,000+ miles the noise has mitigated, my
hearing has deteriorated, or I've been drinking less coffee or something
bc the noise is no longer an issue with me.
- It's definitely less efficient in gears 1-8.
There's a web site somewhere (in German) that supposedly graphs a
Rohloff against one of the Shimano's and claims no loss in most gears
and 1-2% in the lower gears.
I would disagree with that web site's figures.
- Did I mention that it's heavy?
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Bottom Line:
This is definitely not for everybody and the torque arm thing bugged me
until I got the more elegant replacement.
Having said that, I find that me and the Rohloff are a good match.
I've quickly gotten so used to getting any gear I want any time I want
and never having to stop and pull brush/branches out of my rear der that
I can't imagine going back.
It also appeals to the exhibitionist in me...
You, on the other hand, might hate the thing.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: it's heavy.
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Pete Cresswell