A customer has expressed an interest regarding a road/light forest road touring bike equipped with a Rohloff hub, immediately i thought of a build using either a Surly LHT or Salsa Veya frameset as i’ve often specced my ideal “buggeroff for a year or two” bike build that i often daydream about using either of these framesets, i’ve a rough budget of £2500 to spec up a complete build including racks/mudguards and was wondering if anyone has done anything similar with either of the two frames and can offer opinions, the other option was a Singular Peregrine if i could perhaps get a full build to come at budget, i owned a Peregrine and it was a stunning build but i had to sell it which i have regretted every single day since, not one of my more “sensible” decisions.

Cheers,

Have a look at the Van Nicholas Amazon. There’s even a Rohloff specific version.

I’ve built a bunch based on the LHT – mostly swapping the dropouts to adjustable Rohloff ones, but not always.

somafunk…

how about a Soma Saga or Soma Double Cross

though both have vertical dropouts, but so does the LHT, well mine does so tensior needed

Thorn frame? they do rohloff specific frame there are also a number of dutch and german rohloff specific frames as well

It has to be available to us through trade in the shop so that’s why i was focusing on the salsa/surly items rather than some of the more exotic tourers out there, the van nic amazon looks a real beauty of a touring bike but i can imagine what response i would get if i gave him a quote for a £3.5k+ build 😉 , what ben said regarding the surly and also needing the axleplate and speedbone has got me considering if i could perhaps get the surly dropouts converted to Rohloff suitable items – what would you charge for this ben?, including powdercoating on a new Surly LHT frame.

Or perhaps i should have a closer look at the Surly Troll/Ogre to see if they would be suitable tourers as they have a dedicated anchorpoint fitted for the Rohloff OEM2 axleplate, the bike will only be used in this country and not for massive extended touring, perhaps a few weeks on the road at the very most.

Salsa El Mariachi then. They do a Rohloff-specific Alternator dropout.

El mar is a little lacking in braze ons , but love mine with the speed hub in
Works very well and no ugly tensioner

If your going to flat bar then the troll and ogre would be perfect, horiz dropouts with a nub for Rohloff.

As is discussed here, tho i do like his latest build, a Rohloff’d Krampus!

I looked at the El Mariachi but it needs to have braze-ons for rack mounts and mudguards so i guess thats ruled out unfortunately.

Rohloff suitable without adapters (preferably).
Full rack mounts, mudguard mounts.
V-brake/Canti compatible as i’m unsure whether cable discs are desired but will find out this week when i speak to him.
Two/three bottle cage mounts.
Steel frame.

Hmmm, choices…choices.

Cool blog, gonna make cappuccino and have a browse – cheers!

Check this out Somafunk.

You can spec it with discs or V brakes. I came very close to buying one before the Fargo.

https://www.soniccycles.co.uk/detail.php?id=991381

Salsa do a rack for the El Mariachi.

i could perhaps get the surly dropouts converted to Rohloff suitable items – what would you charge for this ben?, including powdercoating on a new Surly LHT frame.

Depends on whether you want slide dropouts or posh Paragon rockers, other braze-ons etc – around £200-£300ish retail.

The LHT has a dedicated anchorpoint fitted for the Rohloff OEM2 axleplate – just needs a chain tensioner. As here – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=592184767464547&set=pb.191474587535569.-2207520000.1371400979.&type=3&theater

Of course the Ogre is perfect – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=621692467847110&set=pb.191474587535569.-2207520000.1371400975.&type=3&theater

oh yeah, forgot the disc version LHT had that, good call.

Rose Activa Pro III

I quite like the look of these..

We have his and hers ogres on order for family touring with follow me tandem and chariot. Also for when we get a chance to bigger off on a big remote crazy long tour, and will be my mtb as well.

Cheers for the replies and advice peeps, it’s much appreciated as whilst i’ve often wasted an evening speccing up my own dream-machine tourer and planning my isle-hopping route up the west coast to start with (to iron out any bugs obviously) before i say “bye” to everyone and head off into the wide blue yonder (we can dream eh?) i’ll admit to never having actually rode any tourers nor have experience of a Rohloff hub system. I’ll sit down after tea and start to do some proper research into a few suitable frame and build options for the customer.

I popped out on my fungrel (my ugly fungrel below but very rideable) this afternoon as it was a stunning day here in Galloway, It’s now got schwalbe Kojak 1.35 tyres rather than the skinny fat-boys as fitted below and i realised that i need a do it all cross/tourer type bike myself never mind speccing one up for a customer, Out round the coastline and rough paths then up through the galloway hills on singletrack moorland roads and a 10mile linking section of forestry road (bit rough for slicks but nae punctures- phew, followed by a few singletrack paths to end up on the 15mile return journey so a 52mile round trip this afternoon in blazing sunshine and i now realise that i have no genuine use for a full sus bike later on this year, i planned to buy one of cy’s new short travel Cotic Rocket’s when they come out but i doubt i’d use it that much as i have a cracking TI cove Hummer hardtail specced up to the hilt that does me fine so i made a firm decision when out n’ about this afternoon 😀 , and that decision included a build of my own tourer/cross that can handle wherever i choose to go whether that be a multi week trip or just a long day out n’ about exploring whatever i come across.

A Ti framed tourer or shand custom 8) perhaps with a rohloff, i’m mentally building it in my head as i type

Vaya Travel perhaps? 🙂

my advice as a rohloff owner.

unless your going on a very long trip long away from civalisation for a long time and are clumsy + mechanically inept

fit deraileurs.

I use mine for winter cairngorms riding – when not feeling the SS love.

SS or deraileurs always preferential any other time- the drag is there in a rohloff no matter what the love in boys say.

Hmm – have you tried wearing earplugs?*

If there’s noticeable drag, then there’s something wrong – a Rohloff is as efficient as a derailleur:

* I’m not being sarcastic – I’ve found that while some gears sound noisy, they’re not draggy, it’s just that your brain thinks that they’re draggy because of the noise.

interesting that 1, 2 & 3 are relatively low efficiency, when it’s 6 and 7 that sound the most inefficient.

I guess that’s down to extremes of gear sizes for the lower gears. For the mid gears Im assuming efficiency losses are down to the drive working acorss both sets of planetrary gears from one end to the other?

BTW< Ben, would it be cheeky to ask if I can buy 25mls of rohloff cleaner and oil off you if I posted the little bottles to you in an SAE? Purty please 😀

* remembers to stick to 11th gear.

nope your perfect lab data may say other wise – my real world riding too and from work data says nope – and im not the only one to notice this.

and FWIW most of the time i do wear a headphone – and the other sides deafened by cars.

alfine feels much better

Yup, it’s the same reason that derailleur gears get less efficient as the cog size gets smaller. Of course really it’s a max. 2% difference between bottom and top. Not exactly a huge deal.

Sure, I’ve got big bottles of the oil – but I’ve also got the little bottles in stock too 😉

alfine feels much better

Definitely sounds like something off with your hub setup, then – are you close to a Rohloff expert who can take a look at it?

ah, I didnt realise they sold the diddy ones now.

I shall be in touch…

I recently built a Surly Ogre with Jones Loop bar and Rohloff up for my Alaska to Argentina trip which I’m about to depart on next month.

The Rohloff is going to take a bit of bedding and and like others have said gears can be draggy namely 7 and 8.

But I’m planning on spending 12-18 months on it, in some fairly remote locations at times so its a price I’m willing to pay for a peace of mind and lack of ongoing maintenance.

Ive had mine for 4 or 5 years now and done enough miles to bed it in nicely. I use it in a CX frame (pompetamine) and it doesnt feel ungainly.

I recently built a Surly Ogre with Jones Loop bar and Rohloff up for my Alaska to Argentina trip which I’m about to depart on next month.

Ooh… Do you have a blog for your ride? I’m planning on building up something very similar (including Rohloff and Jones Loop) but am tending towards the Troll as I hope it will take me away from the Americas / Europe… though I love the look of the Ogre and if it wasn’t for 29er wheel spares in the rest of the world, I’d probably be sold. Would love to see your bike spec etc…