While many of us like (or like the idea of) Rohloff’s reliable, tidy Speedhub fourteen-speed hubs, twist shifters simply aren’t for everyone. Unfortunately, the system’s lack of a return spring (it operates on, effectively, a continuous loop of cable) has made the adaptation of trigger shifters challenging.
Thankfully, companies like Germany’s Cinq5 are coming up with alternatives. The Shift: R system uses a pair of paddle shifters to actuate Rohloff’s hub, one for upshifts and the other for down. It’s a fairly tidy clean system, with one cable running to each side of the bar and each hand responsible for shifting in only one direction.
While the £250 price is an undeniable barrier and the pair of levers won’t play with dropper remotes as nicely as a traditional one-by system, the Shift: R certainly looks like an improvement for Rohloffers who ride or rougher terrain. Available in the UK through SJS Cycles.
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Not doing it for me, even if they got the price down to a more sensible £50.
Why don’t they redesign the clickbox with a clock spring in it?Then can use a trigger/paddle shifter escape mechanism.
Oi, Ben Cooper, this is a job for you! 🙂
I just don’t get the problem people have with twist shifters – far neater on the bars means much less to smash off or knock limbs on that trigger shifters.
Rough terrain isn’t an issue.
Exposed cable running down into the housing? Sticky shifting waiting around every corner.
pretty happy with my twist shifter, only replaced once in 10 years of running the hub, durable well sealed. however my more modern bikes such as my lapierre zesty, which I would perhaps fit the hub to, have post mount systems for the brake caliper so have not been able to fit it. Hoping a solution will turn up soon.