Originally Posted by
lwik
I too am looking at this option. I was looking at a LHT Surly bike but decided on the more pricey Co-Motion because the frame is also designed to use a belt drive system. Everything I have read say they are nice, quite and low maintenance. When you pedal all you hear is the wind, or so they say. Also the fact that if you role to a stop you can easily shift gears without moving. That beats the soft pedaling I have to do when I come up to a light and have to shift fast.
I am hoping to get more info at Intre bike in Vegas next week.
Of course for touring, down-shifting for lights is not much of a problem. As far as being quiet, they can make a lot of noise in the mid gear. And about the only thing that makes noise on a dérailleur is the pulleys, which some people use for various reasons on the Rohloff also.
I bought the hub a long time ago, just before the price jump. But I never made the bike for it. I sorta didn't see the point. I tried to sell the wheels and hub at one point, but there weren't any takers. I see the point to it, but it is like most stuff as far as tourists are concerned, nice idea, but it wasn't designed for our sport. A gear hub that was designed purely with touring in mind would be different. So it is an expensive kludge, really only justifiable if one is actually interested in the mud performance it was designed for. Heavy.