View Single Post
Old 05-05-05, 09:46 AM
  #17  
pak29
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 5
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
The Rolhoff is definitely a piece of serious equiptment for a niche purpose- mud, ice, and other extreme conditions. They're ideal for highlands touring or extended backwoods adventures. There's a reason they're so popular with British builders. The Shimano et al versions dont hold a candle to their quality and durabiliy. They're chincy, cheap, and plastic in comparison; the guys on the phone at the Shimano service center dont even recommend standing up while pedalling on them. Get that? They are for your little sisters' five speed cruiser, not for bicycles that will be subject to real wear and tear or heavy drivetrain loads. Furthermore the Shimano hubs have this really weird spacing and a much smaller gear range. You're not saving much weight, if any, by going with the Rolhoff over a derailler system, but if the conditions demand it- say you want to ride across Alaska or something, where a crapped out cassette or a trashed derailler after a fall is not an option- then the Rohloff is the way to go. As far as changing gear ratios, the range of the hub's gears is huge and you could shift the whole range up and down by changing the hub's cog size. But seriously, how many people out there have ever actually swapped out cassette cogs to tune their range. With so many freakin gears, most people probably dont even use the ones they have. Maintenence is supposed to be a non-issue as well- supposedly you just drain the hub and throw fresh oil in once a year. They're machined like swiss watches and the whole system runs in an oil bath. Bottom line... I've looked at both and while I dont see a purpse for a Rohloff bike in my future, if I ever wanted an internally-geared hub, there would be no question about which one to use.
pak29 is offline