70sSanO

I hope that everyone realizes that the OP has an even more abiding hatred for BF. Considering this is his only thread but it took him almost 50 years to get around to ranting about derailleurs.

John

rsbob 

I hate bicycle tires and tubes. They go flat, they require air, they wear out, they are tough to take on and off, they have to be checked for air and require taking the wheels off, don’t get me started on removing a wheel, to change a tire or tube. Then when riding in the middle of nowhere they go flat and you have to carry tools, spare tube, patch kit, OMG! Why don’t they make solid rubber tires or run flats or the ones with a plastic honeycomb inside that never need air or go flat? Many more bikes would be sold and ridden if there were no maintenance tires and tubes.

Yes I am kidding.

TricycleTom

I have been riding a Rholoff this year that I got in trade to cover a debt. I much prefer my old derailleur system, and I do consider the drag an issue.

tomato coupe

The OP should be in the Hall of Fame. He started this thread a year-and-a-half ago, it has over 150 responses, and his total post count is still only 2!

Germany_chris

I don't hate derailleurs but my next bike will have a Rohloff, disc brakes, and a belt drive.

50PlusCycling

I have to say that derailleur drivetrains are like democracy. They are the worst system for changing gears except for everything else that has been tried.

rydabent

Nope, in probably 98 out of 100 shifts on both my bike and trike all you hear is the click of my twist shifter.

I you hear a lot of ratchet and clatter coming from the rear on a shift, your adjustments are bad. And you have to know the art of shifting.

TCollen

Let's stop this incessant bickering and all agree to going back to A) a Schwinn American with a 2-speed kickback hub or B) a Schwinn Collegiate with a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub. Both with coaster brakes, of course.

Rick

Once you go Rohloff you will never go back. This is one long ass thread. I have had my Rohloff for over 7 years. I do not miss derailleurs or chains. It is easy enough to remove the wheel and repair a flat and that has happened exactly once so far. It was more costly than the derailleur version. Around $1000.00 more. The derailleur model weighs 17oz less than the Rohloff version. The Rohloff is a 7 speed with a reduction set to have 14 gears. I read an article where Thorn was interviewing Rohloff. They stated that it is possible under certain conditions for the hub to jump from gear 7 to gear 14. The next day it did just that and only that one time. I haven't been able to repeat that situation. At first the lower 7 gears were quite noisy. Not so much now. The oil in the hub can weep out some over time leaving an oil mist on either side that I wipe off. This seems to happen mostly after an oil change. Rohloff states that it is impossible for enough oil to leak out that the internals would be damaged. Rohloff wont guarantee their hub with a belt drive unless you use a snubber. So I'm guessing the force of a snapping belt could scramble the gears. My Co-Motion came with their version of the Rohloff grip shifter fit to drop bars. I have changed handlebars several times and my new bars from Velo Orange are the crazy bar. And being a lefty I ordered the optional Rohloff left handed shifter. Changing the shift cables is different enough that I have to say I am thankful for YouTube. There are some variations in how you wire the Rohloff shifter in different versions of aftermarket products. CyclingAbout has allot of experience using the Rohloff hub and articles explaining the pros and cons.

Ariane

Well the Rohloff hub you have may well have not been looked after properly as drag has never been my experience with my Rohloff hubs.

TricycleTom

That hub has had very little use, and no abuse. You can look up the official minimum drag, whereas many "performance parts" have no measurable effect at all. Human power is precious, and human brains are built to conserve it. That's why we ride bicycles. It is unfortunate that direct drive to a big wheel loses efficiency in other ways, but quite wonderful that a chain drive can both transfer power, and provide a wide gear range. If there is a chain, gears are redundant.

prj71

I kinda hate deraiulleurs, chains and cassettes myself. I like the idea of pinion drive bike or this new technology called Ceramic speed that might hit the market soon. Problem for me becomes price or price and weight compared to the conventional system.

https://www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycling/d3

https://www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycl...ain-revolution

https://pinion.eu/en/mtb/

vane171

I happened to be biking on the road that was closed for a regional bike race while I was on it, so I got to watch the race which I normally don't get the opportunity to do. I was on top of a climb, nothing drastic, just decent hill ending in a pass with the road starting to drop into descent almost right away, and when the main pack of some 30 riders went over the top, it was a cacophony of mechanical noise from the shifting, pretty impressive but certainly not silent.
Makes me wonder how it is on the roadside when pro racers in a pack need to shift simultaneously like in the situation I just described.

ofajen

Thanks, but I’ll stick with single speed, particularly if it means I don’t have to use a coaster brake. 😊

Otto

Rick

Sounds like you are having a real drag over this. CyclingAbout has the most comprehensive info on anything Rohloff. I can't detect the difference in efficiency and once your derailleur chain system gets a little dirt mixed in with the oil, it is not in any way an advantage. Like most people I rode the cheaply produced overpriced derailleur setup for years. Compared to the Rohloff with a belt, the derailleur system is a high maintenance B!. I don't know about the rest of you, but when I go somewhere in my car I want to drive it. Even though there is maintenance to be done on a car, It is not a high maintenance B!. I just want to ride my bicycle and not mess with the drive train and the Rohloff with a belt accomplishes this. Once you go Rohloff you will never go back!

Ariane

You know what, I just prefer riding my bike with Rohloff hub and Gates belt. I'm not a weird nerd who spends ages researching stuff to support their dislike or dissatisfaction of something. If you really don't like the Rohloff hub then sell it. Perhaps you should ride yours more. The more miles you put on them the 'freer' they become. Yours probably isn't even run in yet if it's had little use, so still quite 'tight'.

rydabent

Not so at all!!!!! If you have a good quality RD, and ALL the adjustments that affect the shifting are correct, and your shifting technique is correct, the RD just walks the chain up and down with almost no noise what so ever.

It does take a good mechanical tech that knows ALL the adjustments, and as a say a good rider that know the secrets to good shifting.

drahimi

Chain drives with derailleurs are a beautifully evolved design. Yes, they need to be cleaned and maintained, but so does the rest of the bike. I happen to enjoy the maintenance part, though I know many people don't. How about internal gear hubs and belt drive? Much cleaner, to be sure.

PeteHski

Things got a lot better for me once I stopped putting oil on chains and moved to wax based lubes about 15 years ago. Now I have nice clean drivetrains that require very little maintenance.