[vikb]

I can assure you, when my Rohloff, which had 700 documented miles on it, and started slipping at 450 miles, had shifting problems and slipping in 3rd and 4th gears, when I sent it to Rohloff, I got a nice fat bill for the service, plus shipping.

You got a bill because you bought that hub used off Ebay which voids the warranty. If you had bought it new you wouldn't have been charged. It was your fault you bought a broken hub.

If you want to save $$ buying used you have to accept the risks. If not buy new and get the warranty protection.

The result would be the same if you bought a $2K computer used from Ebay or another product. Most warranties are not transferable to a 2nd owner.

 

[vikb]

Bottom line, this is a known shortcoming of the hub experienced by enough owners to warrant serious consideration by Rohloff. I think it is shameful for Rohloff not to address this when it is so well documented. And I don't think your basic consumer should have to jump through the mechanical hoops documented above to get his hub working properly.

Ancecdotally, I have had the same problems through two internal sets: freewheeling, slipping out of gear, not fully engaged. I love my hub and have made an uneasy peace with it. But I would still like the complete peace of mind that comes with a fully engineered product, free from the current uneasiness that resides in the back of my head every time I go for a ride.

There is no product sold today that does not have some failures. None.

So the question is how much more would you pay to reduce the likelihood of a failure? Rohloff has done the cost/benefit analysis and settled on what they consider reasonable. Thorn, who sells a lot of Rohloffs, quotes a failure rate of ~1%.

You can certainly reduce the rate further, but it will add to the cost of the hub. Either through more expensive parts sourcing & assembly procedures or extensive QC of the hubs like putting each one on a machine and simulating 5K of riding.

Would you pay an extra $300 go from 1% failure rate to 0.5% or 0.25%?

This is a common decision any manufacturer has to make. Most settle on a point of diminishing returns where adding cost doesn't result in a great reduction of risk/defects. They use the warranty as a mechanism to sort out the 1% of defects that get out of the factory.

Personally I wouldn't want to see a significant increase the cost of Rohloff to make an unlikely problem a bit more unlikely.

 

[crank1979]

Apologies for the grave dig, but there is a lot of good info in this thread.

My newly acquried, old Rohloff hub is slipping in every gear under any real load.

I've fiddled with the cable tension, tried the mallet on the axle ends and checked that the two springs are in place. I'm left with checking the alignment of the two holes on the cable drum and replacing the cables as the last two things I can think to check.

Any ideas?

 

[CycleMonkey]

Apologies for the grave dig, but there is a lot of good info in this thread.

My newly acquried, old Rohloff hub is slipping in every gear under any real load.

I've fiddled with the cable tension, tried the mallet on the axle ends and checked that the two springs are in place. I'm left with checking the alignment of the two holes on the cable drum and replacing the cables as the last two things I can think to check.

Any ideas?

If you're still having this problem, feel free to give us a call at (510) 868-1777 to discuss solutions.

 

[crank1979]

If you're still having this problem, feel free to give us a call at (510) 868-1777 to discuss solutions.

Thanks mate. The shop has it now as it was working when it went in to have the wheels rebuilt. Lucky I'm a patient man as it's been there for 9 weeks, minus the one day I had it to find the gears slipping!

 

[crank1979]

Sometimes it's the simple things, like a worn cog. I took it for it's first ride yesterday and didn't have any slipping.

It's a different feeling to the Pinion gearbox on my Nicolai.

 

[CycleMonkey]

Sometimes it's the simple things, like a worn cog. I took it for it's first ride yesterday and didn't have any slipping.

It's a different feeling to the Pinion gearbox on my Nicolai.

Great. Glad you got it resolved. Happy trails.

 

[uncajohn]

Hmm,
I cannot see the images! (and I've logged in, damn!). Is there any change to refresh your post?
My Speedhub, just failed by the same way (slipping gears...)

Many thanks,

 

[uncajohn]

Hello all.

Since i can not find my original post, I'll make a short description here:

I had the same problem. My speedhub was “slipping gears” (or not, more on this later…), so after running all the recommended service tips, I was forced to send it to the factory. Of course I wrote a detailed report explaining that the problem appears only (ONLY) when there; s some torque applied on the pedals.

The speedhub went & returned with a “now it is all goo” report but no explanation on what went wrong.

After a considerable amount of time I re-laced the wheel and after some more time I went for a first ride.

Well,
the problem is not fixed!
The speedhub is still slipping under pressure. To make myself clear, on the bike stand the Rohloff performs wonderfully. But when the pedals transfer some torque the “grang-grang-grang” re-appears!!!

So, here is what I think.

1. The guy who serviced the speedhub ignored my report. If he had not done so, he would have seen that the (very expensive) part is not to be shipped back to the customer yet.
Very disappointing...
2. The problem seems more to be on the engagement mechanism. It appears in all gears,, even at the 1:1 one (were we have a direct engagement of the hub). So I can only assume that the problem has to be there at the engagement mechanism..
3. Mailing the hub from Athens, Greece to Germany is quite expensive! (70E). Add on that the lack of reporting of “what went wrong” and you’ve got a customer wondering what’s wrong with them…

I’ll report back with a short video of the speedhub loosing engagement. I am leaning towards this explanation…

UncaJohn

 

[fokof]

Have you send it directly to Rohloff ?

Also , have you checked if your cog/chainring/chain combo isn't too worn out ?
If it skips on all the ratio , my bet is on that

 

[uncajohn]

-Yes. It was mailed back to mother Rohloff, along with a very detailed description on when / how the problem appeared...
-Yes. The rest of the drivetrain is checked too (so you lost that bet!).
So,
-NO, the problem is not a worn chain or some worn disks. It is... internal...

And last.
I am a bit dissapointed by thefact that when i received back the speedhub i got no word on what was wrong. Mind you that the speedhub came with a pair of rings added over the flances (and we all know what these are for...). All i say is that i believe that i do deserve a description / report from them, on what was the problem. After all i've done my part. I wrote my report to them and mailed it with the hub...

 

[uncajohn]

Yesterday's short vid (as promished).

The hub has not been ridden since it came back from Germany, in order to be serviced for the same problem!
Any ideas?

 

[fokof]

You are absolutely sure that the noise is coming from the hub ?
Have you tried the hub on another bike?

If it is silent on another bike , noise might be coming from somewhere else.....

Throwing ideas , trying to help......

 

[uncajohn]

No need for that. The hub is like "jumping" the engagement. It is not only the sound, it momentary skips engagement... you can feel it on the pedals.

As things are, it is not only a minor mechanical problem. It is the lack of attention by the company (despite the detailed description and the instructions on applying torgue on the sprocket. Also consider the time wasted (the only solution would be to build a new rim with a hub with a cassette, which is not that cheap) and the cost of shipping the part to Germany and back (120 euros so far)...

But the worst is the lack of infromation. i believe as a client i do deserve some attention, plus a detailed report on what they did (and what they did not!)

Uncajohn

 

[uncajohn]

An update.

So far my communication with Rohloff has been fast & worry-free. But, despite the fact that the company contact me, many times, we seem to reach that point were i do have to take a risk...

-First, they are still "evasive" as far as to what happened. Come on Rohloff, i trust you. Just tell me what went wrong. I mean if i'll leave my car to the service center, the mechanic will inform me what was wrong... won't he?
Also i cannot accept the exuse that it takes too long to read their (internal affairs) report and tell me what i want to know. After all we already have exchanged more than 5 e-mails, so "time" is already lost!

And
-Sending, under these conditions, the hub back to Germany, for re-evaluating, does not guarrantee that the hub will be ok after the second trip! Sending it back & forth has a high cost.

I am pretty sure that Rohloff is checking this forum, from time to time... Obviously, I have nothing to hide. But on the other hand i need to share this information, in case that someone has find a solution to this problem...

What i will do now.
I will check the hub with the local dealer. We will try to see what is going on. If we succeed i will post the results here.

Greetings all!
John

 

[cyclingdutchman]

Hello John, did you send the whole wheel or just the hub?

Secondly, I think they should be responsible for not fixing the problem the first time and take over the shipping costs. Afaik, in europe also repairs have a kind of warranty that you now should be able to claim. Maybe a chat with a lawyer would help, you maybe have an insurance for that?

In other forums I also read the same thing, rohloff is never giving a lot of information of what was wrong and how they fixed it. In general, most people dont ask much either as long as the issue is fixed.

Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

 

[uncajohn]

Cyclingduch.

I mailed only the hub (i've made a special box for that). Mailing the whole wheel is too expensive.

Now,
I have to try something more before moving further. Sometimes the simple solution is not obvious...
The local dealer spotted something that may be the source of the problem, which was NOT evident at the video.
I will be really happy if (really-really happy, finally) I was wrong at my estimation, even if that means that i lost that bet with Mr Fokof.

So, stay tuned!

 

[uncajohn]

IT worked (but I am not sure which one of the two was the right one!!!)

In detail:
I visited Rohloff’s local dealer (Evaggelos) and we checked the sppedhub’s plastic wedges for wear. All fine there. He proposed to reverse the sprocket and ride to check it. We’ve done that but...nope, the speedhub was “coughing” at the test flight.
Here it becomes interesting:
Vaggelis noted that the front drivetrain disc seemed to be worn out. Wow! How did I missed that?

-I bought a steel disc (steel front and back for similar wear on the chain).
Back home I changed the disk and test rode the bike.. NOPE, the clacking was there! (at all speeds). Damn! I would be very (VERY) happy if I was wrong all the way and the problem was just worn drivetrain parts…!!!
-I re- reversed the sprocket, just to cover the possibility to have messed up at the shop by replacing the sprocket as it was! NOPE, no, it was not that….
-I re-re-reversed the sprocket (just to be sure). NOPE. At the touch & go it was clanking…
Then,
-I opened the other speedhub (zero kilometers on that one, yet!) and grabbed the sprocket. Then I got the 2 springs Mr. Speedhub.nate pointed us. What the hell (I thought) why not?
And
The speedhub is cured! No clanking at the test flight and I did hit a steep road.

Ooof!
But now, I am tired and i have no courage to replace the old springs on or the old sprocket, in order to determine IF it was the sprocket or the springs (but if I remember well that sprocket was on the speedhub when send back to the factory….).
So,
I am not sure what was the problem, tiny springs or sprocket. I may try that experiment (changing the sprocket / changing the springs) another day. Today I’ve overdone it!

That’s all….

 

[uncajohn]

Conclusion

Well. I just returned from test ride at the local mountains. The hub is functioning perfectly now. No surprises during the 50+ km ride, mostly trails with rocks, loose stones, gravel, mud, logs and occasionally... sand!

So.
I can only assume that the slipping of engagement was occurring due to a worn sprocket or those 2 tiny springs.
The question is how Rohloff missed that worn sprocket, when the hub was mailed there (keeping the sprocket on the hub is essensial, because it acts also as an oil seal). And if they missed that (to err is human after all), didn’t it slipped on the testing machine they claimed they used?

I will leave it as it is. No point to keep asking, but in the near future I will swap again those old springs in order to determine if the slipping was due to the sprocket only!

I am very pleased that my hub is working as intended (got to go & clean all that mud from my bike now..).

That's all folks...

 

[buffet]

Sorry to revive an old thread. I've fit my Kona Unit with a brand new Rohloff recently and Speedub.Nate's post #2 in this thread got me paranoid - what if I lost those freewheel springs when I changed the OEM2 axle plate orientation?

It seems like his explanation is not 100% accurate: when you change the axle plate (OEM/OEM2 whatever) orientation on the external gear arm, after unscrewing 5 torx20 bolts, you actually remove the axle plate, but you do not expose the springs. Those springs are only exposed when you lift the whole external gear arm from the hub, which is a step that is not necessary for the change of axle plate orientation.

If you were to convert from internal gear mech to external one, then it's a different story - you do have to lift the internal mechanism and expose the springs before putting the external mech on.

Long story short: if you are changing the external mech axle plate orientation (transferring Rohloff to a new frame or changing your cable routing), then you do not have to worry about those springs coming loose, flying off, whatever.