BikeDibley

Why I think Rohloff hubs are the bomb!

After my article earlier in the week about Rohloff hubs and their failing compatibility with modern MTB suspension frames, I was asked by a reader what the big deal with Rohloff hubs is. Why do I prefer a Rohloff hub over a conventional derailleur set-up.

Well, the idea is simple, even if the execusion can sometimes be more complicated. In short, I love the Rohloff Speedhub because it gives you an incredibly useful 14 gears with near zero maintenance requirements in a package that guarantees function in any condition, in a quiet and good looking package.

I originally built up a Knolly Delirium T with a Rohloff Speedhub. I wanted a bike I could ride every day, hard without having to check my bike over, or fiddle with gears/brakes. The gear solution was the Rohloff hub. On a hardtail, you can run a chain as if it were a singlespeed, so ZERO chain slap. On a full sus bike, you need to run a chain tensioner, however you can run this tensioner very tight to almost eliminate chain slap.

What this gives you is a bike that rides so incredibly quietly. No noisy chains, mis shifts or scrambling for traction accross a cassette. A Rohloff always has the right gear for you and lets you descend with prowess giving the illusion that you're floating while everybody else is going "clang, ding, slap".

I used to go months without washing my bike. And went 3,500 miles before replacing my chain and chainring (Roloff sprocket was still fine). And WOW, it looks great. Certainly is a conversation starter on the trail. With a 44t chainring, the 14 gears would spread similar to that of a 27spd drivetrain enabling you to go up and down anything.

What was particularly neat, say you're folling your mate up a steep grade and he fluffs his gears and looses traction. Fear not, you can simply chainge down and carry on pedalling. No need to wait for a chain to move accross and you loose your footing. Shifting without the need to pedal is far more useful than you think.

At c£1k it's allot of money for a a heavy hub, but factor in a Chris King rear hub, XTR shifters, cassette, chain, rear mech, front mech and chainrings and you have yourself a comparable value dream component that will have your bike the envy of desire. The hub does weigh allot though. My Mavic DH rim with straight gauge spokes and a 2.4 ST Maxxis High Roller gave me a 12lb rear wheel! However, dressed smartly, the rear wheel could match the weight of a bike equiped with a conventional SLX drivetrain.

Rohloff Speedhub, if it fits your bike it'll be the best upgrade you could make!

Comment below if you have fitting concerns and I'll get you the answers!

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why-i-think-rohloff-hubs-are-the-bomb-lhtFBziHGkHCBtywfery.zip (800 KB)

Rohloff are not near evolving the Speedhub for modern MTB frames

I'm a big fan of Rohloff Speedhubs. They should last you a life time and ironically, I've had two. Hubs, not lifetimes. Both were on bikes that were stolen.

Owning a Rohloff Speedhub is like buying membership to a club, but this club has a specific type of member and unfortunately, new technologies in bike manufacture, means some members, including me are growing out of the brand.

Compatibility issues have always been the number one reason why you might not be able to buy one of these amazing feits of engineering. Well, maybe joint with cost. c£1000 for hub with disc brake attachment options. Rohloff produce a number of versions to facilitate the fitment of aSpeedhub to many different bikes. Any roadbike or touring bike should facilitate the fitting without a problem and until recently, most hardtail mountain bikes and full suspension bikes too.

Sadly, with the evolution of the disc brake mount from IS (international standard) to "post mount", frames with this method of disc fitting are no longer compatible with the "Dogbone" attachment Rohloff make available for full suspension bikes that is critical to the function of the hub. Even if a new Dogbone was made to be compatible with a postmount disc (the disc rotor would have to be 140mm or less to function with a new adapter anyway), Rohloff hubs are no longer compatible with the new wider spacing of new full suspension frames.

The widest Speedhub axle is 135mm threaded or QR. I've heard of people modifying axles to fit downhill bikes before (not sure if this is true), but the hub is totally uncompatible with the 135mm Maxle thru axle design and especially incompatible with the new 142mm standard that I'm running on my Rocky Mountain Slayer 70. Indeed, I challenge you to find any modern mid/long travel all mountain bike that still runs a 135mm QR axle.

I asked UK importer Ison-Distribution - who in-turn forwarded my query to Rohloff AG directly in Germany - if a new plan is a-foot to offer modern axle types. Their response was completely valid and understandable, yet sadly Rohloff remain a small company who can't afford the radical re-tooling, marketing and R&D involved in building a new Speedhub compatible with modern frame standards, especiallyu as the mountain bike market remains such a small part of their business. Rohloff's response hints that unless the mountain bike industy settles on a true standard (142mm is new and may not be what all brands settle on), Rohloff will not consider making the hub compatible in these formats.

I'm sad that I will not own another Rohloff in the forseeable future. My style of riding demands one, but my style of bike will not allow one.

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Rohloff's response:

The SPEEDHUB cannot be cheaply adapted to accommodate an axle of wider or longer dimensions. A different axle diameter or length will involve numerous internal components being completely redesigned and produced on a small scale for what is an incredibly small percentage of our customer base. We would love to offer solutions but alas, this will not be possible until the market settles on a standard for these dimensions.

The Speedbone issue is unfortunately a similar issue but one which goes hand-in-hand with that mentioned above as most frames with the new axle dimensions also incorporate the Postmount brake style.

The Postmount itself causes issues because the only standardized face is the caliper mount itself. A new adapter for torque support over this face would result in e.g. a 180mm disc being required as opposed to the normal 160mm - because the adapter would cause the caliper to be mounted further from the axle. Now, generally this isn't such a problem and we could develop a solution. Unfortunately however, the true issue why we do not offer such a solution is the dropout itself and not the brake mount type.

The axleplates of the SPEEDHUB require a plan surface of 40mm diameter around the axle (see owners manual - page 29). These Postmount frames no longer need to remain flush up to the brake mount (as was with the IS standard) and the increasing majority of designs tend to no longer offer this necessary 40mm flush area. New Speedbone or not, we are unable to get around this problem.

The result of both issues you inquired about is that a small company such as the Rohloff AG is simply unable to recuperate the R&D, logistic and marketing costs on such a small scale development. As a small manufacturer are forced to focus our limited resources on our most profitable market sectors and to date, MTBs equate to just a small percentage of our customer base. Developments specifically for the MTB market are therefore understandably slow in bearing fruit.

We are continuously investigating all possibilities in these areas but I (personally) do not see any cost effective solutions in the near future.

Review: Evil Sovereign Custom Build

Evil's hard hitting hardtail frame has been with us for a fair few years now. Visually, nothing much has changed apart from new colour ways and slightly better tyre clearance. However, Evil has made their new Sovereign £255 cheaper without sacrificing ride quality. In 2006 the Evil Sovereign was praised for its exceptional ride quality and fabulous attributes for being a true 'all mountain' hardtail. The problem was, for the price of the old Sovereign, you'd be well on your way to buying a complete 'all mountain' full suspension bike. £750 was considered far too pricey for most people, especially when the build material was steel! Don’t write off the last sovereign yet, it wasn’t just made of steel, but Reynolds steel…the best steel there is.

The new challenge for Evil bikes

Not many people are willing to spend £1000 on a hardtail mountain bike frame, less-still are happy to pay that much for a steel frame that wasn’t really very light. At this time, Evil were relatively new to the market and like Aston Martin in the mid-nineties, they needed a saviour to sell more without sacrificing desirability stakes. For 2010, Evil delivers us their Aston Martin DB9…

Saving over £400 bringing the retail price to just £595. Evil have done this by waving good bye to their Reynolds 853/725 custom tubing and employing double-butted Tange Prestige instead. The challenge, was to employ another steel that was as supple as Reynolds, without increasing weight or lowering strength. Tange’s Prestige tubeset has done very well indeed. 

Attention to detail

Superb attention to detail can be found everywhere on this bike. Like subtle 'Evil' logo’s embossed on the ends of the seatstays, very well thoguht out cable routing and integrated ISCG mounting tabs for your favourite chain device or Truvativ’s new Hammerschmidt chainset. The cable routing is most important for me, who enjoys the benefits of a 14 speed Rohloff 500/14 Speedhub for trouble free gears. Also useful, are the sliding dropouts which enables the use of derailleur gears, singlespeed or being able to run a hub gear like me.

How it rides

Coming from a full suspension bike may make this bike feel a little taught and stiff, but trust me…it's your imagination. The steel frame manages to shave off the harsh edges of the forest track, while giving you all the added confidence that you’ve recently lost by giving up the rear suspension on your other bike.

I ride my bikes hard and don't hold back when I'm on a cross country ride and spot a neat drop off or dirt jump I want to ride. With the Sovereign, I’m able to ride with my saddle high, but with a moments notice, drop the saddle and ride as hard as I can. It's rare to be able to do this on a bike without fear of breaking it, but this Evil is seriously tough.

Uphill, I find the front end a little high. Evil recommend running a 140mm travel fork, though, when I am running a 160mm travel Magura Wotan which comes with a remote lever to drop travel to 120mm. In the 120mm setting, it climbs much better. The sliding dropouts mean you can set the wheelbase to be short or long. I use my bike for all purposes, so set my dropouts at a medium length to make wheelies easier while still enabling me to climb with confidence and little slipping on loose surfaces. The only obvious downside is the weight of the frame. At 6.1lbs, it’s no featherweight, but nor is it extreme for a frame that can put up with so much abuse.

Downhill is amazing. There you go I said it…I've never descended on a hardtail bike as quickly with as much confidence as this. It's surefooted and urges you to always push that little bit harder.Spot a big gap jump half way down? No problem, you can do it.

Conclusion

Low stand over height and a wealth of versatility makes this an ultimate 'do anything' hardtail frame. I've built mine with trouble free drive, powerful brakes, long travel fork and xc comfort to build a bike I can ride uphill reasonably fast on, but downhill with prowess and purpose. What I really love, is I can raise the saddle and add SPD’s to ride cross country, but put on my flat pedals and drop the saddle and I can bust no-footers' off drop offs and practice my 360’s. Bombproof in an all-round package. With the growing popularity of hub gears, though, it's a shame not to see Rohloff specific dropout options which means I've had to use Rohloff's ugly torque arm. A small modification to the frame should solve that