I'm always interested in technology that explores what is possible, which explains my experiments with Cruzbike's Silvio and Vendetta. My reasoning is that unless I give these things a go I will never discover for myself what the benefits and problems are for any particular piece of equipment.
And the long brevets which I thouroughly enjoy now ,may not always be possible as the body ages. Time marches on and I don't want to sit on the fence wondering. So for a year or so I've had a Rohloff hub sitting in its box waiting to be mounted to a recumbent. My original plan was to fit it to my rear wheel drive bent , and use it for PBP but time ran out before the event and the idea was shelved.
Now I have two brilliant pieces of technology , the Vendetta and the Rohloff , why not marry them and see how the relationship works out ?
Established Rohloff users are passionate about their equipment. (just like Vendetta owners come to think of it
) .The reasons they give are many but the ones that appeal to me are:
# The 14 gears .
# They are all evenly spaced. !3.6% difference between each incremental gear
# there is a 526% range in the gearing . There is very nice explanation for what this means here
http://www.rohloff.de/en/technology/speedhub/gear_range_comparison/
# I can eliminate the front derailleur and therefore the FD brifter as well
# rom a triple front chainring setup I can have a single or a double setup . (Single is recommended)
# shifting is said to be smooth and reliable .
There is a price to be paid
# its expensive
# less efficient than a Derailleur system
# its heavy
There's only one way to find out what all this means in practice . I build one ,fit it and try it. So here it is:
This is the hub with DT swiss double butted spokes , brass washers under the spoke heads . Rim is a Mavic.
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Different angle of the build in progress.
Both sides laced ready for the wheelstand , for tensioning and truing. The hub is resting on the back of a news magazine . Its only now I see the Rolex ad on the back cover . Vendetta , Rohloff, Rolex , quite appropriate really.
In the stand , only partially tensioned at this stage. This is the easiest wheel I have built. There is no difference in tension between drive and non drive side in the spokes , so none of the fiddling about getting the dish right as with conventional hubs. To true it took me about 30 % of the time compared to my last wheel, The spokes easily tensioned to 850 Nm which is just a bit shy of the recommended maximum as specified by Rohloff.
Trial fit into the fork/chainstay assembly, No problems fitting it in . Just took my time and didn't force anything.
The chain and derailleur in the backround are not for the Rohloff. I just left them on for the time being .
View from the drive side.
Now I just have to go and read the manual to see what the next steps are which include fitting the torque arm , the gear mechanism and the cabling. If it goes as smoothly as it has so far it'll be like an early christmas present.
And the long brevets which I thouroughly enjoy now ,may not always be possible as the body ages. Time marches on and I don't want to sit on the fence wondering. So for a year or so I've had a Rohloff hub sitting in its box waiting to be mounted to a recumbent. My original plan was to fit it to my rear wheel drive bent , and use it for PBP but time ran out before the event and the idea was shelved.
Now I have two brilliant pieces of technology , the Vendetta and the Rohloff , why not marry them and see how the relationship works out ?
Established Rohloff users are passionate about their equipment. (just like Vendetta owners come to think of it
# The 14 gears .
# They are all evenly spaced. !3.6% difference between each incremental gear
# there is a 526% range in the gearing . There is very nice explanation for what this means here
http://www.rohloff.de/en/technology/speedhub/gear_range_comparison/
# I can eliminate the front derailleur and therefore the FD brifter as well
# rom a triple front chainring setup I can have a single or a double setup . (Single is recommended)
# shifting is said to be smooth and reliable .
There is a price to be paid
# its expensive
# less efficient than a Derailleur system
# its heavy
There's only one way to find out what all this means in practice . I build one ,fit it and try it. So here it is:
This is the hub with DT swiss double butted spokes , brass washers under the spoke heads . Rim is a Mavic.
Different angle of the build in progress.
Both sides laced ready for the wheelstand , for tensioning and truing. The hub is resting on the back of a news magazine . Its only now I see the Rolex ad on the back cover . Vendetta , Rohloff, Rolex , quite appropriate really.
In the stand , only partially tensioned at this stage. This is the easiest wheel I have built. There is no difference in tension between drive and non drive side in the spokes , so none of the fiddling about getting the dish right as with conventional hubs. To true it took me about 30 % of the time compared to my last wheel, The spokes easily tensioned to 850 Nm which is just a bit shy of the recommended maximum as specified by Rohloff.
Trial fit into the fork/chainstay assembly, No problems fitting it in . Just took my time and didn't force anything.
The chain and derailleur in the backround are not for the Rohloff. I just left them on for the time being .
View from the drive side.
Now I just have to go and read the manual to see what the next steps are which include fitting the torque arm , the gear mechanism and the cabling. If it goes as smoothly as it has so far it'll be like an early christmas present.
). 
