Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)
  • eRohloff
  • bencooper
    Free Member

    It looks interesting – there’s already an electronic shifter from Shiftezy, but this is neater.

    Though TBH I don’t really see the point for non-ebikes – the point of electronic shifting is it’s not prone to mis-shifts, but the Rohloff isn’t anyway because the indexing is built into the hub.

    otsdr
    Free Member

    What about not having two sets of cables and the ugly grip shifter?

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    Stoner
    Free Member

    What about not having two sets of cables and the ugly grip shifter?

    that’s the key thing.
    Rohloff shifters have always been a bit agricultural and limited. When I ran my rohloff on a monstercross I had to bodge a shifter mount. A simple battery powered servo box using the shifter box bolt, with a wireless signal from a button shifter will mean its much easier to adapt a rohloff for every bar configuration.

    I’d buy one.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    You say ugly, I say functional 😉

    It’s exchanging a device with one moving part at each end, for one with lots of moving parts, wires and a battery. On an ebike it can use the bike’s battery, and there’s an advantage in that the motor system can do the clever power modulation thing when shifting. Can’t do either of those with a non-ebike setup.

    If you just want thumbshifters, the Cinq5 system works well.

    avdave2
    Full Member

    It would be nice to have multiple button positions, that would make it more attractive with drops.

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    I still say the best rear hub for an ebike is the NuVinci ‘CVT” hub. It just works sooooo well, it’s so refined, no steps, just smooth power and speed.

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    otsdr – Member
    What about not having two sets of cables and the ugly grip shifter?

    I built up a Rohloff for my bike about a month ago. Still haven’t fitted it because of that abomination of a shifter. Can’t see how to fit it and have a neat job.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    You lot are too fussy – I fit loads of the things to Bromptons, never had someone complain about the aesthetics of the shifters 😉

    jonm81
    Full Member

    While that looks very neat I still prefer the grip shifter. How else can you rip though a load of gears in a fraction of a second?

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    What about not having two sets of cables and the ugly grip shifter? and having an aesthetically pleasing battery box instead

    Whilst aesthetics are not something i worry about much on a bike disliking cables seems a bit OTT /anal/overkill.

    My main issue would be
    1. Does it shift
    2. Can I spin the bars
    3. Make it neater

    T1000
    Free Member

    PP + 1 the nuvinci hubs are superb especially in applications where the weight is not an issue + they’ve had an eshifting option for several years

    bencooper
    Free Member

    The NuVinci electronic shifting is for ebikes only, also.

    Pridds
    Full Member

    Epicyclo
    How about a Gebla Rohbox and a pair of modified shimano shifters
    http://rohbox.com/

    bencooper
    Free Member

    I’ve had a couple of them through the shop – wasn’t impressed.

    Pridds
    Full Member

    Why? I’ve had a rohloff I the past and always kind of fancied one again with a rohbox and a set of r685 hydro levers but not heard anything bad about them.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Both of the ones I saw couldn’t be set up to work cleanly without lots of force and crunching noises. Basically it uses an angled plate to pull on a ratchet wheel, and if not exactly right the plate gets bent or the wheel gets damaged. Then it either slips, or the other ratchet doesn’t disengage properly.

    The Cinq5 system is better, it has ratchets that disengage.

    Of course it’s quite possible that I’ve only seen the faulty ones and there’s ones out there that work perfectly, but I really wasn’t impressed with the design.

    PhilO
    Free Member

    I built up a Rohloff for my bike about a month ago. Still haven’t fitted it because of that abomination of a shifter. Can’t see how to fit it and have a neat job.

    If it’s the tangential cables that you find offensive, I’ve used re-purposed vee brake lead pipes to get a neat 90 deg bend.

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    I’ve been spending time trying to come up with a tidier setup, and one that would allow use on dropbars.

    After about 5 goes I think I have a workable idea. The trouble is actually making it without a lathe and mill. 🙂

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    TBH I don’t really see the point for non-ebikes – the point of electronic shifting is it’s not prone to mis-shifts, but the Rohloff isn’t anyway because the indexing is built into the hub.

    The point is to deal with the (IMO irrational) hatred of twist shifters that most riders seem to have. People seem to want button activated gears

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    simons_nicolai-uk – Member
    The point is to deal with the (IMO irrational) hatred of twist shifters that most riders seem to have. People seem to want button activated gears

    It’s not irrational.

    With a trigger shifter I mount it past the brake lever which I regard as the priority control.

    With a twist shifter I have a clunky obstruction between my hand and the brake. I have looked at mounting it at the end of the handlebar, but cabling becomes even more of a rats nest.

    And you’d think by now Rohloff would have come up with a neater solution, as well as trigger shifters, but I suppose they sell as many hubs as they can make, so no incentive.

    Edit: Not to mention a control for dropbars.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    With a trigger shifter I mount it past the brake lever which I regard as the priority control

    Most of the brakes I use at least aren’t so comfy right next to the grip – Hopes, for instance, are two-finger levers with the finger part an inch or more away from the pivot. So there’s plenty of room and in fact with the brake and Rohloff shifter I find my hands automatically in the right place for the lever.

    Four-finger levers maybe are different.

    Twist shifters also let you yank a big handful of gears at once, instead of press-press-press-press.

    slowster
    Free Member

    With a twist shifter I have a clunky obstruction between my hand and the brake.

    If you have standard short length brake levers designed for one or two finger braking, you could switch to the longer length trekking versions which would allow you to move your hand away from the shifter except when you need to change gear.

    That said, I wonder if the answer to the objections of many about the Rohloff standard shifter is not the fancy complex expensive designs produced by Cinq5 and Gebla, but rather a grossly oversized thumb shifter.

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    May be of interest – CyclingAbout – Rohloff with drops.

    Various solutions there, many already mentioned above.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    That said, I wonder if the answer to the objections of many about the Rohloff standard shifter is not the fancy complex expensive designs produced by Cinq5 and Gebla, but rather a grossly oversized thumb shifter.

    It’d have to be pretty big – 4″ across to get a half turn end-to-end?

    One simple solution I’ve used with drop bars is to twist shifter on top of the steerer instead of the top cap – needs a wee widget, but it makes the cables very neat and you turn it peppergrinder-style with either hand.

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    slowster – Member
    If you have standard short length brake levers designed for one or two finger braking, you could switch to the longer length trekking versions which would allow you to move your hand away from the shifter except when you need to change gear.

    Yes, that’s possible, but I have a brake set up that suits me and I’d rather not change it.

    bencooper – Member
    Most of the brakes I use at least aren’t so comfy right next to the grip – Hopes, for instance, are two-finger levers with the finger part an inch or more away from the pivot. So there’s plenty of room and in fact with the brake and Rohloff shifter I find my hands automatically in the right place for the lever.

    Yes, there’s room, but I regard the ergonomics of braking as more important than the gearchange. If it wasn’t so bulky it wouldn’t be such a problem. (I do not have big hands).

    bencooper
    Free Member

    But that’s my point – with most levers I’ve used, the ergonomics are better with a gap between hand and lever. To pick a random pic:

    If your hand was right up against the lever, your index and middle fingers would be on the curved section of the lever, and you wouldn’t be getting much leverage – much better to have your index and middle fingers lined up with the straight part of the lever – comfiest, and more leverage that way. And that leaves a perfect gap for the Rohloff shifter.

    slowster
    Free Member

    bencooper – Member

    It’d have to be pretty big – 4″ across to get a half turn end-to-end?

    Unless you are including the thumb shifter itself in that 4″ measurement, I make it less than that. As far as I can see the diameter of the semi-circle around which the cable moves inside the standard shifter is ~40mm. The standard shifter does not rotate through a whole 360 degrees, so a thumb shifter that moved through 180 degrees would ‘only’ need to move the cable through a semi-circle with a diameter a bit less than double that of the standard shifter, i.e. <2 x 40mm.

    Moreover, the thumb shifter would not have to be in the same plane as the cable: positioning it above or below the plane of the cable would allow it to move through a much smaller circle. Changing the profile of the curve through which the cable moves, i.e. a cam, could also reduce the amount of movement of the thumbshifter.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    That is true, though the hub needs a reasonable amount of force to shift, you wouldn’t want to reduce it too much. How about just a knob, though? Thumbshifters can only really be shifted by a thumb through about 1/4 turn, a simple knob would work quite nicely.

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    With a trigger shifter I mount it past the brake lever which I regard as the priority control.

    I’ve not had any issues with the Rohloff or Pinion twist shifters conflicted with any of the brake levers I’ve run with it (various generations of Hope, Magura and SRAM). All could be spaced perfectly for single finger braking. They need a short grip on the shifting side (which does restrict your choice of grip to those that can be cut down). I think my hands are a size 10 which is a Medium in most gloves.

    slowster
    Free Member

    That is true, though the hub needs a reasonable amount of force to shift, you wouldn’t want to reduce it too much.

    It did occur to me when I made my suggestion that such a shifter might only be usable by someone with thumbs like Popeye the Sailor. That said, I have read that some people have found that they can all too easily snap the side plate from a chain when using a bar end shifter with Paul’s Thumbie mounts, apparently because so much force can be applied by the thumb even with such a relatively short lever.

    How about just a knob, though? Thumbshifters can only really be shifted by a thumb through about 1/4 turn, a simple knob would work quite nicely.

    I think the issue with a knob, is the need to remove/lift the whole hand from the handlebar to reach it and operate it, which is the strength of the gripshifter. In that respect the gripshifter is arguably superior to thumbshifters and paddles, but more people are used to the latter. I suspect that for most of us it’s a case of adaptation, and it’s simply a matter of getting used to the gripshifter.

    airtragic
    Free Member

    I like the look of that Thorn stem spacer with a mini handlebar on it, seems quite an elegant solution for drops?

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    bencooper – Member
    That is true, though the hub needs a reasonable amount of force to shift, you wouldn’t want to reduce it too much. How about just a knob, though?…

    I’ll bow to your wisdom on most things bike, but I’m not mounting it there. 🙂

    aracer
    Free Member

    My trigger shifters let you change down 4 gears in one push and up 2. That seems plenty to me.

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    I’m riding XT 11speed now. I really miss the shifting on hub gears, particularly the ability to shift when stationary.

Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)

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