For the record my Rohloff went back to Germany three times in as many years for bearing replacements – well documented in the history of this forum. My three other friends who have Rohloffs have had the same issue also.

Bottom line is they do sap the fun out of riding a mtb offroad and are not as indestructable as some claim, but excel in other areas. I still have mine but only ride it for touring or in the depths of winter

Yeah, 8 mm.

I have the latest Boardman CX. SKS Thermoplastics fit without issue. I have some 45 wide ones on there. Fit on the back with no bodging at all – all required mounts present on the frame and of course the disc caliper is on the chainstay rather than the seatstay. Front fitted with ease as well, with a gentle bend to the guards – the supplied mounts are more than long enough to accommodate this and still fit.

1790 m climbing on my GPS, measured by Barometric Altimeter so should be accurate.

I didn’t think the descents were all that either, but then again the course needed to be designed for 750 riders and all weather. On the plus side after the intial road section it was all offroad, not many other enduro events in the UK that can boast that.

Hub on way back to Rohloff – no free postage this time…. But it is clearly becoming just an annual maintenance job for me so I didn’t expect it third time round.

Rohloff commented that the last time they worked on the hub it had been penetrated by water and that the bearings had corroded. This was a bit of surprise to me as I rarely clean the bike and can only think water had been getting in during wet rides. No SFB Bog Trotting!

Will see what they say after the latest work.

Difficult to ignore that you can buy a whole 10 speed groupset for £200 though (shopping around). Tempted to go back, as if I’m paying postage to Germany annual their might not be much difference in the costs of worn parts.

I’m interested. Email me on the address in my profile please.

Lipseal – they lasted about 12 months (although I don’t ride my Rohloff bike in Summer so actually less than that). The dates I have made posts don’t tally up with the timeline.

To be honest I am beginning to get a bit bored of the Rohloff. The weight of the thing deadens the feel of the bike, and I can’t do the bearing change at home which causes me a pain in the arse to arrange sending it back.

Will get it sorted out (again) and then have a think about what I want to do with it. Might just stick it on the touring/commuter bike and go back to a ‘normal’ drivetrain for winter offroading

For the record (again) the bearings have worn out (again). So will have to start the negotiations process for the third time to get the wheel back to Germany.

I should add that the time is irrelevant really, as long as you’re having fun. I definitely found the trail more fun when I felt like I was going some though, it comes alive a bit more. Miss being able to ride it.

Since this in an open invitation for willy waving…… I’ve been round the full red loop in 1h42 (got the GPS file somewhere). For extra man-points the tyre bead gave way in my car on the way there so I had to zip tie the tyre on (too tight to buy another at the shop) for the ride, which was interesting around some of the corners with a wheel that wasn’t round, more egg shaped.

On that basis I would expect 1h30 mins or under is achievable for the better pros, although when you’re giving it some you encounter a lot of traffic so maybe the trail would need to be closed.

As written above in this thread I have twice had the bearings replaced in the hub due to wear and the lateral play that others also experienced. My advice to anyone who experiences a similar problem is to contact Rohloff direct, they were quite happy to enter into a dialogue with me last time the wheel went back. I have not paid a penny to have any repair work done, or for carriage to Germany. I wouldn’t bother contacting your local store/dealer as most have very very little experience or knowledge of the hub. Even SJS, who it is probably fair to say are the UK experts, had little experience of the problem.

Last time I asked Rohloff if there was an alternative to the bearings that I keep having problems with, but they said no. I don’t really have a problem with bearings wearing out, the real problem is that they don’t have a UK service centre so it is a ball ache to get the work done – even if it is free. Even if I had to pay I’d probably send it to Germany rather than DIY, as I don’t really want to spend my free time faffing with the insides of a complicated hub. I’d rather be riding my bike!

No experience of TA, but have been with BV a couple of times, and also been back guideless which is fine if you know where you are going.

I would say that my experience of BV was that they do cater pretty well for all types of rider, certainly so when I have been. BV only take 12 guests per week as well so if you have a reasonable sized group you have a pretty good chance of being able to do what suits your group, as opposed to having to fit in with a larger group of guests of varying ability. How many of you are there? I would suggests contacting BV and saying how many people you have, and what kind of riding you want to do. Chances are if you book now they can cater that week for your group so you know what you’ll be getting before you turn up.

You also don’t need a slack angled 6″ travel hardtail. Just some skills. I can’t ride everything there but seem to manage fine on my 29er, and the stuff I can’t ride wouldn’t be any different on another bike I don’t think.

The question you need to ask yourself is do I want to buy a crap BB with Hope written on it or do I want to buy one that will actually last? I had a stainless Hope BB, it didn’t last all that long and was worse value than buying a couple of Shimano BBs. The only worse one I’ve had is a RF that came on a bike.

My advice would be to buy a Chris King if you’ve got Hope Ceramic BB money to spend. I’ve had mine around 18 months, cleaned/greased it twice and at the moment it is still going strong. Also has a plastic interface between BB and crank axle, which I like because in the event the BB seizes you don’t score the axle.

All of that said if I could find a BB that lasted 6 months for £20 I’d rather buy repeated ones of those, if you don’t have the CK grease tool it is a bit of a faff to grease the BB.

Having re-read your post are you meaning you can move the cranks side to side? As in non-bearing related side to side movement? That is a weird one. Could this just be all of the manufacturing tolerances being the extreme to one another and accumulating as not the right fit? Funnily enough I have the opposite problem on a KCNC BB which is just too wide for my XT cranks to sit on the splines in the correct position. We’re only talking a few mm but it is still annoying

Is this not just wear in the bearings? I have had a Chris King BB for 18 months or so and periodically I have to readjust the preload on my cranks (XTR) to ‘take-up’ the movement. Bearings still run pretty smooth though. As I recall you have to do this with their hubs as well.

No MTB in this games. I don’t know why though or if it is a permanent thing.

Just thinking out loud I suppose but did you ask/think about an EBB? Those sliding dropouts look a little shady to me, would be more appealing if you could have an oversized BB shell and stick a Phil Wood EBB or similar in there from my point of view. Presumably this wouldn’t cost too much more either….

Is the tubing butted? Double? Single?

http://www.on-one.co.uk/news/products/q/date/2010/08/25/new-carbon-29er-wheels

No idea, just saw the news posting on their website a month or so back

FWIW I have a set of Flows on my TB, seem a lot stiffer and no problems so far.

On-One have some carbon 29er wheels coming out if you really fancy splashing a load of cash.

Get bolt through for definite, I have on my TB and its much stiffer than the QR 29er forks I’ve had before.

24 hole rims? why? What is a high end rim anyway? I like Stans rims but over the years I’ve written off/damaged/had eyelet cracks in hundreds of pounds of their rims. I would say don’t go for anything too light as they really are just racing only, hence the name ZTR race!

You'll have to get alloy then. A reversible one will give some extra life I suppose. I would like someone to make a bigger 4 bolt stainless chanring but I suppose the demand is likely to just a bit too niche – otherwise someone would make one!

I did once get a 38 t steel DH ring that came with some cheap Truvativ DH cranks out of the workshop in the store I was working in at the time. Been looking for another ever since it wore out, but they don't seem to sell them. There are some really cheap and nasty looking steel rings for sale on eBay but they look like they're been robbed from a crappy shopper bike and are very thin.

STATO, yes I had perhaps oversimplified it by assuming keeping the same cog at the back. Small differences but definitely noticeable, recently switched back from a 37 (alps gearing) to a 38 and could tell straight away, although obviously I stopped noticing after a short while.

FWIW I had a Renthal ring and I wouldn't buy another. It wore quickly and was so thick (for DH RADNESS) that it threw the chainline out more than I would have liked.

Some info on here:

http://www.rohloff.de/en/products/speedhub/sprocket_ratios/

The percentage gap is the same but is that not a percentage of a different ratio to start with, and hence the absolute differences are not the same for different gear ratios? Just thinking out loud there. If that is the case, and I think it is, then there is not going to be much difference in a 38 or 40 tooth chainring I suppose.

Ok, just bear in mind that the bigger the chainring the bigger the gaps between the gears as well. May or may not be an issue to you.

If you wanted to ride technical offroad climbs on the MTB I'd recommend 38:16 (or equivalent).

You can get a 13t sprocket from Rohloff which might be compatible with a 36t steel ring for the gear ranges you want. The 13 t ring is non reversible though and the wear rate on the smaller cog might offset the greater wear rate on the chainring anyway!

Only if you buy from the US for RS though, Fisher's usefully don't bring them in and hence you have no warranty. If you get them on a bike you are covered.

36 t Surly is the only stainless ring available and worth buying in 4 bolt. Have looked long and hard for alternatives in the past but to no avail.

I run 37:16 or 38:16 on mine. Gear range is fine and you still have gears at the bottom end of the range to climb like a MTBer offroad, not some technique-less roadie gear masher 🙂

38:16 is fine for MTBing, plenty enough at the top end to pedal (not like a lunatic) at 30 mph on the flat. I can't see the point in shedding the lower end to get bigger gears

In short, NO! Several years busting my gut racing and working in the trade have earnt me a few deals here and there. If you want it cheap buy from the US and take the risk that nothing will happen in the miserly 2 year warranty period that comes with them.

RIP9 is HEAVY (7+ lbs?), if that sort of thing bothers you. I guess it does from your earlier post.

ACTUAL weight of my large Tallboy frame with headset cups was 5.5 lbs (2500 g). Giant are claiming the same for their frames but don't know if anyone has actually had one in their hands to weigh yet. 2500 g sounds very good for an Alu frame but Giant do seem to be the masters of Alu. You might expect to the TB to be stiffer though at the same weight, that is just idle speculation on my part though!

Not keen on the Superfly only because you need G2 forks which at shorter travel lengths to suit they SF they are not available in bolt through. IMO bolt through makes quite a difference on a 29er fork with longer legs and well worth getting.

I like my TB but there is no getting away from the fact that it is expensive. I have a few connections and was able to get a very good deal on mine, not sure I'd want to be paying full price for one though.

Giant aren't bringing in any at the moment, the frames have been recalled. I think people will have a long wait to get hold of one, I predict spring next year.

I have one, it rocks. No built pics though

For anyone interested the bushings have been replaced, sized 'tight' by Loco Tuning and the forks are now back to their former glory. I will be sending off my other pair of forks for the same thing in the near future.

Wasn't keen on tapping into the fork to attempt 're-sizing', as that seems somewhat of a bodge to me and surely you wouldn't have a uniform fit along the length of each bushing. So with the agreement of Loco we went for replacement.

I would thoroughly recommend the service from Loco Tuning by the way.

For anyone interested, or who finds this thread through a search, the problem in the end turned out to be worn bushings.

I didn't suspect that at first as the forks were only six months old. However they have now been replaced and feel as new again. There is still the light knocking from the U-Turn Helix but I think that is always going to be there for the reasons discussed above.

I should also state that the bushings have worn on BOTH pairs of 29er Rebas I have in roughly the same time period, 6 months, with riding shared between bikes. The response from Fisher Outdoor (the importers) was that Bushings don't wear and that if you need bushings then you need new lowers. What a joke.

What is happening to the entries for the bottlers? Wasn't the race sold out pretty quickly? Sounds like a lot of people who would MTFU and compete might not have gotten the chance after the STW arms race to secure an entry that I watched unfold some time ago.

I am from Leeds (or at least I live there at the moment) but none of the other info is relevant to me!

I will amend my earlier comment to "getting black spokes for a 26" Rohloff wheel is a pain". Like you say ISON/Halo have them now but they didn't years back when I had my first Rohloff wheel.

Choosing spokes won't be a problem in my experience. 32 h Rohloff on 29er rims = spokes for 26" wheels. Rohloff on 26" is a pain with regard to spoke availability.

As for rims I would recommend something tough on the Rohloff wheel. I find that it is easier to 'get it wrong' hopping over stuff with the Hoff due to weight distribution. This might be because I swap between a few bikes though.

From reading her blog it seems that she is/was an Aeronautical Engineer, obviously not much hands on though….. Reminds me of working in the bike trade and often hearing customers proclaiming loudly they were ENGINEERS, and hence an expert on bikes too.

Sounds like she has had the same bearing problem I've had a couple of times now with the Rohloff. Of course Rohloff had never had problems before when I sent mine back…… I do wonder why they deny this so strenuosly when the internet evidence is mounting.

On-One Inbred 29er frames. Drillings on dropouts and mounts on seatstays, all for a bargain price too!

PP, I value people's advice but I also respect the fact that they might have an idea of their own rather than presuming in the first instance that they don't know what they are in doing. In my case I have spent ~ 8 years working in the cycle industry and have quite a lot of experience of riding and fixing bikes. You clearly have a lot of knowledge, that is valuable on here but perhaps I and others would value it more highly if put across in a different context. I am not saying I am perfect, because I am not but the superiority air that comes across from people on this forum at times, and in life in general, is a bugbear of mine.

I won't go on about the tool again, but as with the rationale I put before with the options I was aware of at the time the purchase of the tools MAY have been the best option available to me. Note I also asked if there were any shops/or anyone who had the tool. I was just trying to work out what the best course of action was. Sending each pair off for an expensive service, potentially every 6 months if the same thing happens again, would get very expensive.

One set of the forks (two are displaying the same symptoms) are on their way to LoCo now and I will report back with what the outcome is, regardless of whether I have got it totally wrong. I suspect though that we're both right, he'll fit new ones, sized specifically for my CSUs and they'll last considerably longer – OR AT LEAST I HOPE SO!!