# Rohloff Trigger Shifter at Eurobike



## rockyuphill (Nov 28, 2004)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tfj77/sets/72157607161843171/

That looks suspiciously like it was prototyped with Lego hardware, I can only assume it will be more compact and refined before it becomes a product. :skep:


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## rockyuphill (Nov 28, 2004)

And a tweaky tangerine Tune grip shifty thing


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## Jerk_Chicken (Oct 13, 2005)

I was at the Rohloff booth twice and was only able to snap some pictures. The reason why I say "twice" is because only one rep was busy...

The second time, only one rep was busy again...

...also disturbing was the number of companies out there not overseeing their employees and controlling such things as their interest in text messaging over actually speaking to people that are interested in writing articles on said product. 

Unfortunately, three strikes for me with Rohloff. I can't get them to answer emails, nor could I get any of their free employees to even walk over or even make eye contact.


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

Jerk_Chicken said:


> Unfortunately, three strikes for me with Rohloff. I can't get them to answer emails, nor could I get any of their free employees to even walk over or even make eye contact.


He was probably just getting to responding to your emails on his Blackberry while on the Expo floor, managing to avoid eye contact with you. 

As much as I love Rohloff, I agree with you that they can be hard to get ahold of and aren't always eager to respond&#8230; and we're talking two different entities here, Rohloff AG and Rohloff USA.

USA is tons better now that they've got a second person in the shop. But previously, I couldn't help but feel like maybe they've been too successful for their own good; what is the personal motivating factor to respond promptly to customer communications if your product is selling faster than you can build it?

I hope they realize that the gear hub market is just barely cracked. Ten years and just barely 100,000 units sold by the end of this year, there is room for more. Hopefully Rohloff can stay on top of things and meet consumer demands (variable dropout spacing, trigger shifters, Speedbone for post mounts, etc.) before Shimano or some upstart starts grabbing.


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## pursuiter (May 28, 2008)

Speedub.Nate said:


> ...Ten years and just barely 100,000 units sold by the end of this year....


100K units of the Rolhoff have been sold?


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## bstiff (Jul 21, 2004)

Geez, I don't think oak will look good on my Voodoo. I was hoping for cherry, or maybe walnut.


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## carlton (Sep 16, 2005)

Whats the tune grip thing?


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## Jerk_Chicken (Oct 13, 2005)

pursuiter said:


> 100K units of the Rolhoff have been sold?


Yup, my picture is below.


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## Mr.Bob (Jan 6, 2004)

What's the point? Speedhub + gripshift is pretty much shifting nirvana. Is there anyone here who has a speedhub and would prefer triggers?


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## Jerk_Chicken (Oct 13, 2005)

Many have said that the Speedhub has a lot of drag.

And no, I would prefer the gripshift style.


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

Mr.Bob said:


> What's the point? Speedhub + gripshift is pretty much shifting nirvana. Is there anyone here who has a speedhub and would prefer triggers?


I think MOST Speedhub users preffer twister-style shifting, once they understand the benefits. But my impression is A LOT of potential Speedhub users use the lack of a trigger option as an excuse not to buy in.

Who is to say whether those trigger die-hards would relent and use twist shifting once they began running the hub? I could see it going both ways.


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## Mr.Bob (Jan 6, 2004)

Speedub.Nate said:


> But my impression is A LOT of potential Speedhub users use the lack of a trigger option as an excuse not to buy in.


I was thinking the same thing. That's why I'm curious if there are any current/previous owners who would still prefer triggers. It seems unfathomable to me but maybe someone has a good reason.


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## Timbo (Jan 8, 2004)

I've had a Speedhub for a few years now and I'd much prefer a trigger shifter. I'm not really a fan of grip shifting in general but the Rohloff offering is beyond horrible. It's a stupid triangular shape (which I've since turned off) and it's way too wide to the point where I can't put my brake lever where I want it. If they develop this trigger shifter a bit more I'm all for it .


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## Olga_icannot (Apr 5, 2007)

*Triggers with a rohloff*

I have 2 speedhubs in two different applications: a freeride bike and my commuter. In both situations i would love a trigger. Twisting the grip while bouncing along in whistler makes my wrist feel like it is going to break. Not to mention the trouble getting the brake lever in a good spot. On the commuter it's more of a preference for only having one kind of shifter across all my bikes and brake lever placement. Additionally, some kind of trigger system would be a great benefit for people running drop bars. I wanted to build a touring tandem around a rohloff but the lack of a good place to mount the shifter nixed the idea. If someone made a shifter that could be mounted on the bar tops, that would be perfect.

In short, yes, people with rohloff/twist experience would go for a trigger if it were available. Just not with wood shift paddles. Come up with some kind of formula one systems, one paddle per hand. Each paddle designed to shift the hub in one direction. I know it would be tough because you would have to figure out how to un-spool cable fro one shifter while simulatneously spooling cable onto the other shifter but if we can put a man on the moon, someone can figure this out.


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## bsdc (May 1, 2006)

I would go for a Rohloff trigger shifter if they could come up with a good design. Having owned and worked with a Rohloff for a while, it's hard for me to imagine a trigger shifter design that would work well. I can imagine them creating a racheting trigger system that might work but I can't imagine it being anywhere near as light and quick as a SRAM or Shimano trigger shifters. That said, I find the benefits of a Rohloff system make it easy for me to deal with the twist shifter.


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## Boyonabyke (Sep 5, 2007)

Jerk_Chicken said:


> Yup, my picture is below.


I wonder if DT Swissv/ Hugi is over 1,000,000 yet and when they will start consecutively serial numbering their hubs with laser etchings? :thumbsup:


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## rockyuphill (Nov 28, 2004)

I think the one thing that will be lost with triggers is that ability to drop something like 6-8 speeds in a single twist in a flash. That would pretty much toss out any advantage to triggers. The thing I like about the new XTR triggers is their ability to do several gears at a time up or down, but it doesn't compare to the gears you can change on a Rohloff.


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## Jon Edwards (Aug 20, 2004)

I *like* gripshift. However I can't help but feel that the Rohloff version is one of the worst I've tried. Vague, uncomfortable, and frankly not all that grippy. Not something I'd want to try using wearing wet muddy gloves. (compare it to an XO grippy if you want)

Also, as per Olga, triggers are great for FR/DH bikes. I used to run grippies on my big bike, but found having to move my entire hand to shift whilst perched on a 6" wide skinny, or trying to negotiate some root-infested corner frankly hazardous. Upshifts were doable, but downshifting was nigh on impossible without letting go of the front brake.


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## rockyuphill (Nov 28, 2004)

You can dial out a lot of twist shift vagueness by tensioning the cables more (at the risk of making it so touchy that it tries to partially shift with small hand movements), but the indexing is in the hub not the shifter, so there's a lot of things in between the hex head shift actuator in the hub and the shifter assembly on the bars that provide some mushiness. 

A Rohloff trigger shifter will never have the crispness of the X-0 or XTR just because those have the indexing at the trigger, and with the Rohloff there will always be the cable and shift box in between the hub and the triggers on the bars.


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## whittm (Jul 15, 2006)

Please, Please Please! Tell me this shifter is for sale, I've been praying for one for all the reasons stated above. It's nigh on imposible to shift in tight situations with the current grip shift. Does anyone have any idea if the trigger shifter's are available as yet?


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## Mr.Bob (Jan 6, 2004)

rockyuphill said:


> You can dial out a lot of twist shift vagueness by tensioning the cables more (at the risk of making it so touchy that it tries to partially shift with small hand movements), but the indexing is in the hub not the shifter, so there's a lot of things in between the hex head shift actuator in the hub and the shifter assembly on the bars that provide some mushiness.
> 
> A Rohloff trigger shifter will never have the crispness of the X-0 or XTR just because those have the indexing at the trigger, and with the Rohloff there will always be the cable and shift box in between the hub and the triggers on the bars.


I agree, tension and especially cable routing have a huge impact on feel. Once I took out as many bends out of my routing as possible I thought it was fine. Could it be better? Sure, but once things get below a certain threshold where it doesn't call attention to itself I no longer care.


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## UN-COG-KNEE-TOE (Mar 7, 2008)

*Rohloff LIGHT*



Jerk_Chicken said:


> I was at the Rohloff booth twice and was only able to snap some pictures. The reason why I say "twice" is because only one rep was busy...
> 
> The second time, only one rep was busy again...
> 
> ...


Does this IMPLY that there was no sign of or ANY information or Pics to be had about the New LIghter Speedhub Model? I am Just curious and thanks for the info and shots you have shown!


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## smudge (Jan 12, 2004)

Mr.Bob said:


> I was thinking the same thing. That's why I'm curious if there are any current/previous owners who would still prefer triggers. It seems unfathomable to me but maybe someone has a good reason.


Count me in as another one. I've had two speedhubs for two years. I sold one a few months ago and have the other one listed now...mostly due to the gripshifters. I'm also not impressed with how hesitant it is to shift under moderate load. It's back to gears and derailleurs for my 29er.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I don't want a trigger shifter, but with Shimano going to electronic shifting it would seem you could make a nice "trigger" style shifter with the same technology and simply have the shifting servo right at the hub.

You add some PITA with a battery, but if the lifespan is long enough it might be worth the cable run issues it eliminates.

Personally I'm fine with the stock twist shifter.


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## arne_and (Dec 5, 2006)

*Electronic shifter*

Seems someone listened to you: Rohloff Speedhub Electronic Gear Shift


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## suba (Jun 25, 2009)

I have no troubles whatsoever with my shifter. Mine shifts clean and quick every time. My hands are big enough where I can keep a firm grip on the grip and shift at the same time. I also like the ability to crank through several or all gears at one time. Sometimes I go from 12 to 1 which takes two maybe three twists which can be done in seconds. In practice I think Rohloff's shifter just works, and works well.

I would never buy some type of electric shifter for my Rohloff. What next ? Electric saddle heaters ? Keep it simple. Keep it reliable. That's my view.


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## Deserteagle99uzi (Sep 15, 2008)

Ever used a Sram thumb shifter? In case you hadn't heard Sram is a pretty big player in drivetrains along with shimano, both of which sell more trigger style shifters than twist and Sram's version can easily slam through 5-6 gears at one press. 

I completely agree with keep it reliable and I think electronic shifters are a complete waste for most users, adding unnecessary parts to break or fail. However, manufacturing only twist/grip shifters when the market has been flooded with thumb/trigger shifters for 20+ years is pretty shortsighted. I really wish I could get a rohloff but if you ride strenuously at all on rocky rooty trails or downhills than a grip shifter is just laughably inadequate for concise shifting. I pull on my handlebars when going up steep rocky hills and I wear wrist guards to protect my wrists from bending back on fast descents and crashes. Asking me to twist my wrist under the handlebar hundreds of times during a ride while flying down hills full of boulders and tight switchbacks is suicidal, I would imagine a downhiller or all mountain focused rider would have even more troubles of this kind when using a twist shift design (I would qualify my riding somewhere between XC and AM). For the life of me I still can't understand how a small, private, german mechanical engineering company can't understand/won't understand the massive appeal of thumb/trigger shifters to the all mountain and downhill markets. The Rohloff hubs are still king in terms of abuse and reliability, how on earth can Rohloff lack the foresight to develop more fully for consumers that are seeking a more durable and reliable hub?

I appreciate a spirited defense of Rohloffs decision to use only twist shifters based on facts such as indexing at the hub makes the shifter hard to engineer with indexed notches but basing an entire argument on a borrowed quote from apple "It just works" is pretty pathetic. Not to mention anyone literate enough with computers to do even low level troubleshooting and maintenance knows the ridiculousness of apple's entire marketing claim of "it just works". I would say that the same parallel applies quite well here; "it just works" for the small amount of consumers who are willing to settle for much much less.


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## suba (Jun 25, 2009)

Deserteagle99uzi said:


> but basing an entire argument on a borrowed quote from apple "It just works" is pretty pathetic. Not to mention anyone literate enough with computers to do even low level troubleshooting and maintenance knows the ridiculousness of apple's entire marketing claim of "it just works". I would say that the same parallel applies quite well here; "it just works" for the small amount of consumers who are willing to settle for much much less.


If you're talking to me I haven't based my entire argument on the term it just works. In fact there is no argument. I'm giving my opinion, not an argument. Spin it anyway you like. Rohloff's just work.....including the twist shifter. THEY JUST WORK. Comprendo ? To say Rohloffs just work for a small amount of consumers who are willing to settle for much much less is just asinine and ignorant. Get a Rohloff and then you can speak from experience. Until then you're just talking out your a$$.


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## xy9ine (Feb 2, 2005)

Deserteagle99uzi said:


> I would imagine a downhiller or all mountain focused rider would have even more troubles of this kind when using a twist shift design .


i've run a rohloff twister on my dh bike (the hub is built into the bike, so i've got no choice) for 3 years now, and can't say i've noted any significant performance issues. works great w/ a fairly short acclimatization period. i run a longer grip so just my thumb & forefinger are on the barrel, so there's no issues w/ inadvertent shifts. i too lamented the trigger option prior to buying the bike, but now i could care less.


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

suba said:


> If you're talking to me I haven't based my entire argument on the term it just works. In fact there is no argument. I'm giving my opinion, not an argument. Spin it anyway you like. Rohloff's just work.....including the twist shifter. THEY JUST WORK. Comprendo ? To say Rohloffs just work for a small amount of consumers who are willing to settle for much much less is just asinine and ignorant. Get a Rohloff and then you can speak from experience. Until then you're just talking out your a$$.





suba said:


> If you're talking to me I haven't based my entire argument on the term it just works. In fact there is no argument. I'm giving my opinion, not an argument. Spin it anyway you like. Rohloff's just work.....including the twist shifter. THEY JUST WORK. Comprendo ? To say Rohloffs just work for a small amount of consumers who are willing to settle for much much less is just asinine and ignorant. Get a Rohloff and then you can speak from experience. Until then you're just talking out your a$$.


Christ, man, relax, and while you're at it consult a reference. You stated an opinion. That's an argument. No need to get all bent just because somebody is trying to engage in some dialog.

BTW (did I say it in this thread already?) I'm perfectly content with the Rohloff twister, but think it's a marketing mistake not to offer some form of trigger because that's probably the 3rd most cited argument for not using a Speedhub. The idea of an electronic shifter doesn't necessarily appeal to me, but I'd like to try it. Who knows? Glad to see somebody anticipates a market for it.


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## Visicypher (Aug 5, 2004)

If I remember correctly xy9ine you have the carbon DH with the rohloff built into the frame??? Correct???


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## xy9ine (Feb 2, 2005)

Visicypher said:


> If I remember correctly xy9ine you have the carbon DH with the rohloff built into the frame??? Correct???


still running strong, yes. brilliant concept; hoping the concept will go mainstream one of these years. rather not have to go back to a derailleur based dh frame.


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## flobach (Oct 30, 2011)

I had some old Sachs Wavey shifters (around the year 2000). They slipped horribly in the mud, I couldn't wait to get back to rapid fires.

How are the rohloffs?


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## Sometimes (Jun 21, 2009)

flobach said:


> I had some old Sachs Wavey shifters (around the year 2000). They slipped horribly in the mud, I couldn't wait to get back to rapid fires.
> 
> How are the rohloffs?


They suck!

Always have, always will.

That's why I switched back to my tried & true old school ST 8 spd thumb shifters after trying gripshit so long ago. The intervening years haven't changed my opinion of gripshit one whit.

Also difficult to shift any time your hand is the least bit wet without gloves. Don't like wearing gloves on my road rides & I tend to sweat a bit. But I think I've found the solution. Unexpected side affect is that shifting ease is markedly improved. And, I think it may be possible to do single shifts with just a thumb with a properly adjusted system.


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