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Rohloff
Speedhub 500-14 TS
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Average Rating
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4.67/5
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# of Reviews
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9
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MSRP
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$
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Weight
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Description:The SPEEDHUB with touring axle and lock nuts. The Speedhub models with quick release are designed to be mounted on frames with vertical drop outs whereas the SPEEDHUB 500/14 TS is required for frames with horizontal drop outs.
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Submitted by
Stephen
a Cross Country Rider
from Moab Utah USA
Date Reviewed: February 12, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | porccupine rim | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$850.00 | | Purchased At: | River City Bike | | Strengths: | Stronger Wheel
Perfect Chain Line
Instant and not missed shifts
Never adjust another cable
A complete steal...
Imagine having to buy an XTR set every year for the next ten. Now you don't have to. | | Weaknesses: | Weakness? Weight maybe but after considering everything it replaces it probably drops the weight of the whole bike.
Up front cost? Look at a full xtr componant group and buy the Rohloff. | | Similar Products Used: | none compare | | Bike Setup: | Marin Wolf Ridge
Gary Fisher Big Sur
all with the hub of course
Both with a 38 tooth chain ring with 16 teeth at the back | | Bottom Line: | If you are thinking about this hub you are on the right track.
I am on my bike everyday. In fact two years ago when I bought the hub my bike was my main mode of transportation (driving took longer believe it or not.) I got sick and tired of messing with my derailer cables when I was running late. Bougth the Rohloff Speed Hub and never had to worry about that again. Even now I still don't working as a Mountain Biking Guide in Moab. (treksntrails.com)
Do you like losing the chain, do you like chain suck, missed, slow, or hard shifts, and muddy drailers? It doesn't have to happen...Oh! No more peddling air.
I suggest buying one that is compatable with disk brakes. Whether or not you will use them now. It is probable that in the future (and now as I am finding) more and more bikes frames will be made disk break only.
It may feel strange now but soon you won't want to ride any bike that uses a derailer. It happened to me. I had to buy another one for my other bike. Yes, it is that good. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Henry
a Racer
from Tuscon Az
Date Reviewed: March 4, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | Slickrock | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | 950 | | Strengths: | ALWAYS works, mud, snow, dust storms, submerged
Low maintenance,
chains last twice as long
idiotproof shifting, 10 gear change standing still no problem
lasts forever
You can convert between a single speed and a 14 speed in 10 minutes if you use the external shift box | | Weaknesses: | takes 1000 to get buttery smooth
500 grams heavier than conventional setup | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano ST, XTR , suntour pro | | Bike Setup: | Ti single speed frame, carbon bars,SID in front, AVID single digit brakes 26.5 lbs | | Bottom Line: | The hub grows on you and you get really spoiled fast. A great invention for hardcore riders who are tired of spending 500 dollars every couple years on their drivetrains. I have never ridden a more reliable setup | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Trailhead
a Racer
from Santa Fe
Date Reviewed: January 30, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | winsor | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Super product; an engineering marvel. The speedhub delivers everything the makers claim.
The hub shifts like a dream,
shifts at a standstill,
shifts in thick mud,
chains last >6000 miles
is super reliable and needs almost no maintainence. | | Weaknesses: | Takes 300 miles to start smoothing out, by 1000 miles it runs like butter, expensive | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT and XTR, SRAM, | | Bike Setup: | Custom Ti singlespeed hardtail frame with horizontal drops, Shimano XTR brakes mavic rims | | Bottom Line: | This hub may be the future of mountain biking if price reductions can be made through mass production. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Hudson Gilchrist
a Cross Country Rider
from North Vancouver
Date Reviewed: January 16, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Purchased At: | Demo'd it | | Strengths: | No more derailleur - use you imagination! Taking this technology to the mainstream loooong overdue. There are minor issues (price & weight) that can easily be resolved by getting this product to the masses. Higher volume manufacturing will bring the price down and enable the use of lighter materials. The basic derailleur design is not the future of bicycle drivetrains - how old is that design anyway? This completely internalized beauty utilizes some technically creative ideas and presents us with a better mousetrap. If we're lucky, this is the basis for future designs we'll all be using. Thanks to Mountain Bike Action for their one page feature that exposed many of us to this for the first time. | | Weaknesses: | Weight
Price | | Similar Products Used: | There's nothing out there like this. | | Bike Setup: | '03 Rocky Mountain Instinct, with Fox RLC 100 fork. | | Bottom Line: | SRAM needs to buy the design, manufacture it using TI, price it around $500, and ramp up meet the massive demand that will follow. Solve the weight and the price issues and there isn't a XC rider I know who won't upgrade or demand new bikes with this beautiful piece of engineering. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Hans Uittenboogaard
a Racer
from Zevenhuizen
Date Reviewed: December 19, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$900.00 | | Purchased At: | Netherlands | | Strengths: | -Maintenance-free
-Always smooth running drivetrain
-Can shift any time, even at stand-still
-Long-life chainring, chain and cog (chainring and cog can be reversed)
-Bomb-proof, will survive any bad treatment. Tensioner (if you have one, I don't) is the only 'vulnerable' component.
-Simple operation
-Equal spacing between gears
-Makes a stronger wheel (shorter spokes)
-Less likely to break spokes (pressure on the entire wheel, not mainly on the drivetrain side)
-May save money depending on your mileage and driving conditions (and resulting consumption of sprockets, chains and chainrings)
-Can use a wider, stronger chain
-Never a miss, chain does not come off (stays on a single chainring/cog)
-Very fast shifting
-Makes a simpler and stronger drivetrain on a TANDEM (entire drivetrain on one side) | | Weaknesses: | -It's a big investment
-Requires several thousands of kilometers to fully 'wear in' before it operates silent and totally smooth
-Additional weight of around 1.5 pounds
-Increased resistance (2% in lower gears, negligeable in higher gears)
-Slight grinding sound in some of the lower gears
-Can't shift between 7/8th gear under full load
-Need to change oil every year or 5.000 km | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | custom-made bike with special quick-release Rohloff dropouts, Magura hydraulic rim brakes, high-end rims and spokes resulting in low-maintenance, trouble-free cycling.
so | | Bottom Line: | I have fallen in love with this beautiful piece of engineering.
Ride it in any conditions and other than occasionally wiping off dirt and lubricating your chain, forget about it.
It will never let you down and it will always work increadibly smooth and fast.
Given my riding conditions: 10.000 - 12.000 km/year, irrespective of wheather, and no time to clean a bike, this is a 'present' from heaven.
Buy it if :
- you make a high mileage or frequently ride in rough conditions
- you find trouble-free riding important
- you can appreciate high-quality engineering
- you don't want to follow the crowd
Consider it if:
- you buy a TANDEM. Stronger wheel and shifting at any time are even more important than on a solo bike. And a simple drivetrain, all on one side is so neat!
Don't buy it if :
- the last grams of bike weight are critical
- you want to use it in serious racing (Lance Armstrong would probably not win the tour the France with it)
- you love bike maintenance
- you own $himano shares
- you can't afford it (consider waiting until you can afford it)
In spite of the stiff price it gets max value for money from me. Overall, just under max. score, it's not perfect, but in my case the advantages by far outweigh the disadvatages.
Happy cycling, Hans. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jens Jacob Iversen
a Weekend Warrior
from Denmark
Date Reviewed: August 26, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | No need to think about shifting any more. It shifts in all situations. All shifting takes place in one hand. You can build a very strong wheel. Much stronger than conventional wheels. | | Weaknesses: | expensive | | Similar Products Used: | - | | Bike Setup: | cube alu crap frame, rohloff speedhub, mavic x3.1/x517, SRAM 9.0sl front hub, magura louise and HS 33, ritchey stuff, schwalbe fast fred or continental explorer/escaper. | | Bottom Line: | I have only driven it for 1000km so this review is for the first impression.
The speedhub is a great product. Everything is thought through. The details are amazing. Not many companies in the bike industry makes so consistent products.
There are three major complains from other rohloff owners.
1. Noise: By some earplugs.
2. Efficiency: In the gears 1-7 (some worse than others) there are a noticeable drop in efficiency and if the only purpose here in life is to make fast lap times you should at least try a speedhub before buying it. For me it does not matter at all. I have made 2000 height meter climbs in the Alps this summer and it did not bother me at all.
3. Weight: Yes - it is heavier (on my bike less than 1 kg) than a normal set-up and the weight distribution is different. The weight penalty is ridiculously low compared with how many kilos most mtb'ers could loose in two weeks. The weight distribution takes about a week to get used to! no problem.
Don't worry about only having 14 gears. It is more than enough and they jump between the gears are perfect.
Weather to by a quick release version or a TS is not difficult to decide: Do you need to take your wheel off all the time or do you need a stronger rear triangle on your hardtail?
Read all the documentation on the rohloff page. It is great reading and everything is true. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
abner haha
a
from berkshire
Date Reviewed: December 19, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | ceasers camp | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | scotland | | Strengths: | switch anytime cool and funky smooth low maintainence | | Weaknesses: | weight, cobled together attachments | | Similar Products Used: | none available | | Bike Setup: | shimano free superlight | | Bottom Line: | for 2 extra pounds you can have shifting omnipotance I put a bolt through the r. disk mount of my superlight that stops the speedhub spinning in the dropoutsl as well as the ugly speedbone. works like a charm, probably would work on other designs as well. if you're going to winge about the weight, take the u lock off your bike, loose a few pounds or ride with no change and keys in your pockets. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
RICCARDO
a Weekend Warrior
from ITALY
Date Reviewed: December 2, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Strengths: | unique, compact, low maint. | | Weaknesses: | price, weight, chain falls off on rough downhills | | Bottom Line: | my local bike shop just installed one on a Santacruz Heckler, so the owner asked me to take it out for a ride.
I got 15 miles on some up-downhills/singletack.
Very responsive, apply force to the pedals and its instantly trasmitted to the wheel.
can change gear at any moment. initial feel of too much friction disappear shortly after few miles.
No bobbing of the rear shock whatsoever! (and hecklers are known for major bobbing under load, I have one myself)
the system bring most of the weight to the rear, so on steep climbs the handlebar tends to lighten up a bit.
I went to my Sram9.0sl right after and now it feels so much cumbersome to use! less refined, with all those clickin'clackin' going on every time you change gears....
If the price goes down some and Rolhoff start using lighter materials instead of stainless steel, creating nicer components to look and touch (shimano-like) it may become a winner.
Can be taken into consideration by those who need to build a new bike from scratch. otherwise as an upgrade you end up dumping too much valueable stuff. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
tim angert
a Weekend Warrior
from manheim pa
Date Reviewed: June 27, 2001 | | Favoriate Trail: | watever one is fun | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$800.00 | | Purchased At: | rolhoff usa | | Strengths: | ability to convert your single speed to a geared bike | | Weaknesses: | none | | Similar Products Used: | there are none rohloff is a geneious | | Bike Setup: | spot single speed stock with rohoff wheel and regular single speed wheel | | Bottom Line: | this is the best product in the world. simply because one day if i feel like killing myself i can just change my wheel it isnt much hasle just brake the chain. and schitch it easy as pie. but when i feel like being easy on mysellf i can just swith to the rohloff wheel and ride along with my multie geared buddies. i love this thing
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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