Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
Why would you need a Rohloff? There are a lot of IGHs. They're selling complete bikes with IGHs for less than the cost of a Rohloff hub. Personally I'd probably go for an SRAM due to cold weather performance.
I'm car free and own a business where I pull lawn mowing equipment with a trailer.
Trust me...the 14 speeds were a necessity AND not having to deal with chain rings and cable tension is a huge plus as well.
Once you have a rohloff your gearing will NEVER need adjusting at all PERIOD. No barrel adjusters that need tweaking every few hundred miles. No chain rings for the chain to fall off of when your pedaling at 3.5 mph and pulling 300#'s up a hill. Its fantastic.
Could I have survived without one? Yes.
But my bike is my *car* and how I make my living and I have the extra cash so why would I buy something with 8 speeds and a much shorter life span WITHOUT internal indexing in order to save a few hundred dollars?
I could also have gone without the expensive Marathon plus tires and just fixed a few flats per year. I dont want to fix a few flats per year nor do I like dicking with conventional systems.