van dessel question
 

this is a tangent off of that other VD (heh, VD) thread.
what kind of single speed hub is in that SS picture at the bottom?

http://www.vandesselsports.com/buzzbombht.php?bike=7

That is a rohloff hub. The Speedhub 500/14 to be exact. http://www.rohloffusa.com
Its supposedly the biggity-bam if you are interested in internally geared hubs.

from the rohloff website-
"This makes the Speedhub the most mechanically efficient planetary geared hub available."

what does 'planetary' refer to?

planetary is internal

as in, the gears all orbit like planets? huh.

Do some reading on internally geared hubs.

The Rohloff is an amazingly overpriced piece of machinery. People who use them swear by them. A quick check of MTBR.com indicates REALLY high ratings from almost every reviewer (highly unusual for any product). They're REALLY expensive. Like $1400 retail expensive. That's about $100 per gear. The life expectancy on one of those babies is probably longer than that of your frame. People put many thousands of miles on them. According to the reviews I just read the hub takes 6 months or so to break in (as opposed to wearing out in 6 months like lots of MTB parts) which sounds like a pretty good thing to me.


If you ever look at a picture of the inside, you'll understand the cost.


http://www.rohloffusa.com/frame.htm

click the Products link and then the speedhub link. There's a picture of the inside right at the top.

Why do you say they are overpriced?

I'd say that overpriced isn't the word you're looking for, but it is an incredibly expensive piece of gear. Whether it's worth it or not, not many can say, since the high cost prevents a large market share.

yeah, pretty much that's what happens. it's complicated: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/i...peedbild2.jpeg

Well, given the exchange rate these days, most anything coming from outside the U.S. is overpriced, especially when a specific effort isn't made to keep the costs low.

I don't think this is the worst thing in the world, as I don't think americans have any right to low prices, but it does make things harder to afford. Now on the other hand, the Rohloff does reduce the amount of money one would spend on drivetrain parts if one was to be a user of gears. Not so applicable to this forum.