# Internal hub engagement? Rohloff



## mimi1885 (Aug 12, 2006)

Can someone tell me what is the engagement for Rohloff? 
How many degree before it the hub engage. I'm thinking about getting a speed hub but I'm hoping to get something that has fast engagement, thanks


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## estutjaweh (Jan 3, 2008)

Degrees on the gear mech (the 8mm hex peg)? Well 360/8=45. This is impossible to change. The distance through which 45° travels can be altered through different diameter cable pulleys or shifter pulleys. 

However, is the fastest bicycle shifting system on the planet still too slow for you? What is your cadence???!


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## Toff (Sep 11, 2004)

You misunderstood the question.

He was asking for the max degrees the cranks may have to go before the hub engages. Its not related to shifting.

For example CK is 5 degrees.

I'm curious also about the Rohloff engagement.


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## mimi1885 (Aug 12, 2006)

Thanks Toff, thru google I read someone said it's the same as XT hub and that's was an old post so you are looking at 20-24 degree yikes.

To give you an idea
Hope pro II 15
Easton XC/ havoc 12
new xt/xtr wheelset 10
Crank bros 7.5
New Xmax sx 7, old SL 20
as you mention Chris King 5 degree
and the king of all Industry nine 3 degree with 6 pawls, 6 degree with 3 pawls

It's something you notice the first you ride with one but not a big thing until you go back to ride the old wheelset and you know what a huge difference it is. So, I want to find out before I get it.
Thanks


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

It's a little more difficult than that. I'm rusty on the subject, but I believe there are three different sets (rings) of pawls that may or may not be engaged in any given gear. I don't recall how many pawls are on each set. But they engagement points can't be easily described in terms of degrees of crank rotation (or wheel rotation), because they will vary based on gear ratio (even if there was only one ring of engagement points, the count would vary; cassettes, on the other hand, vary as measured at the crank, but **not** at the wheel).

In any case, it may have been one of my old posts you found comparing it to an XT hub, but this was missing most of the above details and was therefore mostly incorrect, and also Shimano has increased the number of engagement points in recent XT generations.

(I have tried sitting with my ear close to the hub and counting "clicks" as I turn the wheel backwards in each gear, looking for a pattern, and found that some clicks are loud, some are nearly silent, and some are one right on top of the other, making it nearly impossible to count.)


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

As per Nate, it depends on the gear you are in (and how many clutches are engaged). In the best gears, it's better than Shimano (old XT, not sure about the new). In the worst gears, it's pretty awful - and I'm pretty tolerant of engagement points. I was trying to ratchet up a skinning in (I think) 5th, and I was rolling back down almost as much as going forward. Switching gears on the fly worked fine.

If you like Chris King engagment, you won't like the Rohloff version.


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## estutjaweh (Jan 3, 2008)

Ok sorry.....my text was incorrect anyway being that a hexagonal peg has 6 sides and not 8.

Aside from the normal amount of variable play caused by an incorrectly tensioned primary transmission and/or a worn primary transmission.....

......the SPEEDHUB has 4 pawls and 3 seperate sliding clutch mechanisms - two of which are always engaged. The degrees before engagement are as SPEEDUB said, dependable upon which gear is engaged because this also changes the freewheel which is being used.

Then there is another problem...the oil viscosity (a variable depending upon the temperature and level of penetrated moisture, will also have an effect upon the speed at which these clutch mechanisms can slide up and down the axle.....as will the torque at which you have tightened the axle to the frame (this deforms the slotted, hollow axle enough to create excess friction for this component movement.

Failure to carry out an oil change at correct intervals will allow the amount of penetrated moisture to increase to dangerous levels (so will using a power wash system!). This water residue can react with the oil to form a frothy, sticky mess, it can also react with plastic parts which may then swell and rob the gear-unit of its required play. 

These 2 factors have the same effect however of causing the sun gears which are not running at a 1:1 ratio (i.e. engaged) to be rotated around their own pawl backwards (basically creating another freewheel) if riding in a dominant gear - 3,5,10 +12 (this backwards rotation can even be head whilst coasting as a dull clicking that dissapears when you change gear). If this happens, then the degrees it takes before drive re-engages is even longer because many components must firstly return to their "normal" position.

The question is unfortunately impossible to answer due to the amount of variables, both from the technical factory side and from cyclist use/misuse.


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