I have been using the bike a bit more as the weather has been improving- my initial impressions have been confirmed so far - nice fast smooth ride-you really have the feeling of riding a luxury bike- something special
. I would really have preferred 26 inch wheels with some more tire clearance particularly for winter but the 28 inch wheels are ok. It feels like you have some advantage at higher speeds but as most of my commute is city I donīt really need higher speeds and would really benefit more from the advantages of 26 inch wheels.
The riding position is good for a commuter not to low or high. The handling is nice and the Rohloff gives quite a smooth and stress free feeling. You canīt always shift under load but can easily shift always with no load on the pedals so it is kind of opposite to a normal derailleur bike in that way. The twist shift is a bit frustrating. I donīt know why they have rigged it so it is opposite to a motorbike throttle. If you are used to a motorbike you will naturally twist down to shift up and vice versa. The Rohloff twist shift works in the opposite direction. So with this and the difficulty in seeing the gear indication numbers on the twist shift it really takes some time to get twisting in the right direction when speeding up or slowing down.
As I bought the bike in the UK the brakes are rigged up the opposite way round to my other bikes bought in Germany which is a bit of a pain (right lever operates the front brake). I not thought of this when I ordered the bike but as I donīt intend to use the bike in real winter conditions it probably wonīt cause any problems.
But the real test will come I think when I have to adjust the chain tension using the eccentric bottom bracket which as I have read is bit tricky with these bikes. I will report back when I have done this as to how easy it is.