Originally Posted by jpooch00
Additionally, there's the weight issue - admittedly not extremely important on a dedicated touring bike - but this hub, I assume, is not specifically designed for touring.
Believe it or not, but in Germany the Rohloff Speedhub is extremely popular among touring cyclists. Altough it has additional weigh, it offers one thing that in my opinion is extremely important for touring: that is great comfort during gear shifting.
If you imagine that you ride your fully loaden bike through sandy or muddy passages, or travel on a trail that has many changes of downhill to immediate uphill over short distances, etc, you will soon love to be able to find the right gear with just one twist of your hand. No matter what gear you are in, with one go you can switch to the lowest gear (or what ever gear you want) even in situations when you cannot anymore do half a turn with your pedals to be able to change gears in a derailleur system (i.e when stuck in sand, mud, etc). Since I have the Rohloff on my touring bike, I have to do less pushing - something which is especially hard when your bike is fully loaden. In addition the nearly constant change of gear ratio makes gear changes feel very comfortable. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that riding sandy, muddy, etc tracks is not possible with a derailleur system - no - it is just more comfortable with the Rohloff and to some people (maybe those who are not so experienced with handling a 3x8 system) this makes a significant difference.
Another group of cyclists among which the Rohloff is very popular are every-day users and commuters. For them the advantages are in having a better gear shifting comfort and the requirement of far less service compared to a derailleur system.
Originally Posted by jpooch00
I also noticed that there are two different oils, one for winter and another for summer. I assume that the viscosity is the difference. Wouldn't you need to carry the different oils and the change kit for the variable climatic conditions you would encounter?
This information is outdated. There now is a new kind of oil available that can be used all year round. Only when you are going to be traveling at very low (i.e. below -20°C) temperatures, you are advised to use special oil.
I guess both systems do have their ads and disads, and I everyone can make up their own mind about what to use for their tour - I myself like the Speedhub very much, and given the fact that so far none of them failed in any serious way makes me even more confident that I am using the right thing for the kind and style of tours I am interested in.