# Rohloff rear hub



## MTB_prodigy (Jun 16, 2007)

Has anyone seen this? It covers the basic range of a 27 speed set up. one ring up front and one on the back.

http://www.rohloff.de/en/home/index.html


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## dirtydownhill (Aug 11, 2006)

And a mere $1100.


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## MTB_prodigy (Jun 16, 2007)

dirtydownhill said:


> And a mere $1100.


Yup they're really expensive but if you've got the money this thing is great. No more adjusting, broken derailers, and your chain is much less likely to fall off. Good for racers.


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## Nut! (Nov 2, 2007)

that link doesn't work


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## MTB_prodigy (Jun 16, 2007)

Nut! said:


> that link doesn't work


it does now. just click on products ---> speedhub


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## Big Mike (Oct 26, 2005)

They are a big, heavy rear hub, but you only have one ring front and rear w/ a little tensioner. You never drop a chain if it's set up right, and there's no derailleur to damage way out in the middle of nowhere. It's 14 different gears (I think) that cover the range of a standard 27 gear setup.

I guy I used to know in Moab (Where are you Dogboy?) ran one on his Stinky w/ some kind of dual crown fork, he did everything on that bike from DH racing to epic XC adventures. I remember that there was some certain technique to shifting the thing properly but I can't think of what it was now. Something about not shifting from the low to high range under load or something. This was back in like 2000-2001 so they may have made some changes since then...


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## MTB_prodigy (Jun 16, 2007)

Big Mike said:


> They are a big, heavy rear hub, but you only have one ring front and rear w/ a little tensioner. You never drop a chain if it's set up right, and there's no derailleur to damage way out in the middle of nowhere. It's 14 different gears (I think) that cover the range of a standard 27 gear setup.
> 
> I guy I used to know in Moab (Where are you Dogboy?) ran one on his Stinky w/ some kind of dual crown fork, he did everything on that bike from DH racing to epic XC adventures. I remember that there was some certain technique to shifting the thing properly but I can't think of what it was now. Something about not shifting from the low to high range under load or something. This was back in like 2000-2001 so they may have made some changes since then...


They're heavy but no derailer and no cassette make up for it.


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## XSL_WiLL (Nov 2, 2004)

A complete Rohloff setup weighs almost 1900g. And it requires a proprietary 4-bolt rotor.

Pro II hub - 294g
x9 derailleur - 235g
x9 trigger shifters - 240g
XT cassette - 256g
chainrings - 50g
XTR front derailleur - 120g
Additional chain/spoke length ~30g

That comes out to 1225g and works out to be MUCH cheaper.

But since the Rohloff uses a gripshift... let's substitute the triggers for x0 grip shifts (which are cheaper still)... 195g. With that big price gap, let's go for x0 derailleur and xtr cassette. 210g and 224g respectively. There goes another 102g right there.


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## dirtpunk7 (Dec 17, 2007)

One of my best riding buddies has a Rohloff and he swears by it. It has a lifetime warranty and he has never had any problems with it. It's been on his bike for about a year. You have to slow your cadence down to shift it and he admits that there is a learning curve shifting and a weight penalty. He hates derailleurs and alway crows about not having to worry about a bent hanger, ghost shifting or adjusting. It could use a bash guard though.

I never have had the issues he has had with derailleurs and would not buy one unless the price went way down, but he loves his and is always promoting it to our riding group with little effect.  If you are a weight weenie, then it would not be for you, it definitely adds 4+ pounds to your rear wheel.
I know that SRAM has a similar product but with 9 gears called the i9 I think, but it could be coupled with the new internal, planetary geared crankset(Shlumpf?) for 27 gears.
Which might be the wave of the future...who knows. A completely internal drivetrain would be far superior if the weight could be made the same. 

I'll stick with derailleurs until then, the price and weight are too prohibitive.


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## lelebebbel (Jan 31, 2005)

The Rohloff Speedhub whas been around since 1999 and the design is basically unchanged (with the exception of some minor details, like seals).

They are built mainly for travel bikes, commuters and so on, but hold up under DH/FR use. I personally know a few people who have one on their FR bikes. 
Tyler Klassen also rode one a while ago (sponsored by rohloff), not sure what happened to that though.
The gear system itself seems to be almost indestructable.

Here's a FAQ: http://www.rohloff.de/en/info/faq/speedhub_50014/misc/index.html?layout=

Don't believe the "weight comparison" though, - the weight penalty is usually a bit more than that, and all the weight is centered in the rear wheel.

There has been a lot of discussion about how much all that weight in the wheel affects suspension performance on a full suspension bike.

Also, keep in mind that you will need a chain tensioner to compensate for chain wear and chainstay length changes on almost all full suspension frames. Although the chain tensioner is very small and low profile compared to a derailleur.

There have been a lot of rumors about a lighter version coming out in the near future for MTB use.


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## chooofoojoo (Feb 22, 2007)

MTB_prodigy said:


> Yup they're really expensive but if you've got the money this thing is great. No more adjusting, broken derailers, and your chain is much less likely to fall off. Good for racers.


oh do you mean *TERRIBLE* for racers? good... i hope that's just a typo in your post.

Those would be stupid for racing. Those things weigh at least twice the weight of an XO and pg990 cassette and pc990 chain together.... and *AND* because they require to be built into the wheel, they are *UN*sprung weight. :nono:

Good idea, but not for DH... no buddy.

(I have built up three different rohloff hubs / wheels and work on them often... they're stupid.)


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## lelebebbel (Jan 31, 2005)

chooofoojoo said:


> oh do you mean *TERRIBLE* for racers? good... i hope that's just a typo in your post.
> 
> Those would be stupid for racing. Those things weigh at least twice the weight of an XO and pg990 cassette and pc990 chain together.... and *AND* because they require to be built into the wheel, they are *UN*sprung weight. :nono:
> 
> ...


I agree that they are not ideal for DH racing where a full range of gears doesn't have any benefit anyways.

For FR bikes meant to be pedalled uphill, they do have a number of advantages and the weight penalty is far less:

They replace the rear hub, require much shorter spokes, shorter chain, no cassette, no rear derailleur, no front derailleur + shifter, a single chainring instead of 2 or 3, and only a basic chainguide is needed.

The hub is still a bit heavier than all those parts combined, but it has other advantages like low maintenance, crash resistance, mud resistance, extremely strong rear wheel due to symmetrical build with very short spokes, shifting while not pedaling, no dropped chains.

The drawbacks are obviously mainly the weight in the wheel (this beeing the reason why Nicolai took the hub and stuck it inside the frame, creating the G-Box), and the price. It's a tradeoff, decide for yourself what you need.


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## mobile chernobyl (Apr 12, 2006)

lol *MTB_prodigy* your behind the times. like others have said, the hub has already been taken and integrated into onboard gearboxs (gboxx1). Perhaps, you should look into internally geared hubs, some of the popular ones behing used in DH today are the Nexus, the Rohloff, and possibly some sturmey archers. The Nexus is used in the GT DHi, and the newer privately build Millyard racing bikes. Rohloff in the Nicolais, and anything with a Gboxx. Then there is suntours Vboxx, i dunno what their using for inards, no doubt an internally geared hub guts tho. Between the Gboxx, and the Vboxx, some interesting prototypes have been/are being developed over the last 3-4 years.

Go over to ridemonkey and read the "Gearbox thread" in the downhill forum and get up to speed with current technologies :thumbsup: Oh and your comment in havefaith's thread about only needing a rohloff is kinda dumb IMO, did you even see how much advanced work he has put into that bike? not to mention it has like 3 less pounds of unsprung weight on the rear wheel allowing it to handle worlds better racing DH. sorry, i just thought maybe your comment was oversimplifying lol.


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## his dudeness (May 9, 2007)

Don't these things have like a 10,000 mile break in period or something ridiculous like that?


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

his dudeness said:


> Don't these things have like a 10,000 mile break in period or something ridiculous like that?


No.

But they quite literally keep getting smoother as miles are added.


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## MTB_prodigy (Jun 16, 2007)

mobile chernobyl said:


> lol *MTB_prodigy* your behind the times. like others have said, the hub has already been taken and integrated into onboard gearboxs (gboxx1). Perhaps, you should look into internally geared hubs, some of the popular ones behing used in DH today are the Nexus, the Rohloff, and possibly some sturmey archers. The Nexus is used in the GT DHi, and the newer privately build Millyard racing bikes. Rohloff in the Nicolais, and anything with a Gboxx. Then there is suntours Vboxx, i dunno what their using for inards, no doubt an internally geared hub guts tho. Between the Gboxx, and the Vboxx, some interesting prototypes have been/are being developed over the last 3-4 years.
> 
> Go over to ridemonkey and read the "Gearbox thread" in the downhill forum and get up to speed with current technologies :thumbsup: Oh and your comment in havefaith's thread about only needing a rohloff is kinda dumb IMO, did you even see how much advanced work he has put into that bike? not to mention it has like 3 less pounds of unsprung weight on the rear wheel allowing it to handle worlds better racing DH. sorry, i just thought maybe your comment was oversimplifying lol.


I wasnt sure if this had been posted before and havefaith's bike is great. I think that its pretty amazing that he was able to design the gearbox and frame. The difference between the gear box and this is that you can run this many bikes.


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## XSL_WiLL (Nov 2, 2004)

MTB_prodigy said:


> I wasnt sure if this had been posted before and havefaith's bike is great. I think that its pretty amazing that he was able to design the gearbox and frame. The difference between the gear box and this is that you can run this many bikes.


He didn't design the gearbox. He bought it.


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## mobile chernobyl (Apr 12, 2006)

MTB_prodigy said:


> I wasnt sure if this had been posted before and havefaith's bike is great. I think that its pretty amazing that he was able to design the gearbox and frame. The difference between the gear box and this is that you can run this many bikes.


No really, you mean I can't just ducttape a gearbox to my huffy? I miss being so new to the sport that everything seemed groundbreaking and revolutionary haha.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

XSL_WiLL said:


> A complete Rohloff setup weighs almost 1900g. And it requires a proprietary 4-bolt rotor.
> 
> Pro II hub - 294g
> x9 derailleur - 235g
> ...


That sounds great if you were buying a single drivetrain to be an equivalent of a Rohloff, but you'll get over 100,000kms out of a Rohloff so how many of those drivetrains you are quoting above will you go through in the same time? Add up the total cost and the Rohloff will be cheaper.

The Rohloff is heavier so you have to decide if the advantages are worth it.


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