Originally Posted by Buzzbomb

I don't race, but I do ride with some fast people, and I can generally hang with them. My current ride came spec'd with the Rohloff, and I want to put one on my wife's bike now that I've ridden mine for several seasons (I'm tired of having to tune and maintain her ders.). The single speed chain line really lightens the load on the chain, and while I did perform regular maintenance on my chain, it would break every so often. Not a problem now. The planetary gears run in a sealed oil bath, and mud and snow aren't a problem anymore. I also like being able to shift gears while standing still, riding, pedaling backwards, whatever. I've ridden on mine for 3 seasons of real MTB XC use, and 3 oil changes and chain cleaning and lubing is all the maintenance I've needed to perform to keep this thing running like a swiss watch. Oh, one last advantage off the top of my head, a dishless rear wheel build. The only drawback I've encountered is the extra weight, about one pound more than a full XT setup. Not a big deal to me. I guess if you found yourself in a lot of sprint situations this might be a deal killer, but OTOH, this thing is about as bomb-proof a transmission as you are gonna find.