We Martin and Nadine, from Germany are cycling around
the world. After 60500 Km in 4,5 years we're now well over half way
round; a good time for a review. |
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For
all those, like me 5 years ago, who never have heard anything about
the Rohloff hub, here some basic facts: The hub is an internal gear
system for bicycles. With 14 gears, it has the same range as a 27
speed Shimano system (which has many doubles). The gears are changed
with a grip shift, and different to its counterpart, the gears can
be shifted at any time, even while standing. More advantages are:
bigger range than a 27 gear system, stronger wheel, low maintainance.
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I
must admit, that it was quite painful to pay nearly as much money
for the hub as I paid for my bicycle, but some friends convinced us,
that this hub would be perfect for a cycle trip around the world and
so we finally bought it.
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On
June the 1st 2003 Nadine and I left Germany for our cycle trip around
the world. We just took our old mountain bikes, fixed some racks to
them and exchanged our old gear system for the Rohloff hub. It took
a couple of days until we got used to the system: to select a new
gear while waiting at the traffic light or after a stop in the middle
of a long ascent, you just shift down and head off again. |
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The
hub runs with oil, and according to the manual we made the first oil
exchange after 5500 Km in Russia. It was already a bit cold in Russia
and so it took a bit, until the old oil came out of the hub, but the
rest was easy going. After about 6500 Km in the snowy mountains of
central Turkey, it became quite difficult for Nadine to shift. I checked
her shifting cables and found out, that somehow I hadn't cut their
ends very well and so one was a bit opened and scratched on the gear
box, which caused the problem. I exchanged one of the two cables and
everything was fine again all the way through Syria, Jordan, Egypt
and back to Turkey. |
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Nach
etwa 6500 Km, mitten in den verschneiten Bergen der Türkei, hatte
Nadine auf einmal Probleme beim schalten. Ich überprüfte
ihre Schaltkabel und stellte fest, daß ich deren Enden wohl
nicht gut genug abgeschnitten hatten und sie so aufgesplissen waren
und an der Schaltbox gescheuert haben. Ich tauschte also ihre Schaltzüge
aus und so ging es problemlos weiter durch Syrien und Jordanien bis
nach Ägypten zu den Pyramiden und ebenso wieder zurück in
die Türkei. |
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In
the meanwhile we had found out, that the recommended oil exchange
each 5000 Km is just to be on the safe side, and that each 10000 Km
is also fine. Our second oil exchange, now scheduled after 15000Km,
was in the dessert of Iran close to Esfahan. This time we had about
35°C in the shadow and so the oil poured out of the hub. |
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From
Iran we cycled without any problems through Pakistan straight in to
the mighty Himalayan mountains in India up to 5300m. On each ascend
I was really thankful that I could change my gear instantly: what
a luxury! Back in New Delhi, we decide that it would now be time to
exchange our chain for the very first time after 18000 Km! Together
with the chain we also exchanged the rear derailleur. After everything
was done we found out, that the pedals were going round while rolling
the bike. This was not so before I changed everything! A bit confused
I sent an email to Rohloff and a couple of hours later I got the solution.
While taking off the rear derailleur, I got some tension on the casing,
which caused the pedals to turn. The suggested solution was quite
simple; just give a big smash with a plastic hammer onto both sides
of the axis, but where shall I get a big plastic hammer in India?
It took me one day, but finally if found a hardware shop in Delhis
mess. The smash worked and we're off again towards Rishikesh. |
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From
Rishikesh, back at the foothills of the Himalaya, we changed our way
of travelling. Like already on the Danube River in Europe, we intended
to paddle down the 1000 Km to Varanasi on the river Ganges. We've
a 16,5ft folding canoe on a trailer with us, which we built up on
the river bank. Our bikes fit into the canoe with just dismantling
the front wheel. Although we knew, that you shouldn't lay the hub
on its side, we didn't really care, because we had no troubles so
far and thought it would be all right. But we're wrong! After a couple
of days in the heat of India a little bit of oil started to drop out
of my hub. We immediately brought the bikes in an upright position
in the boat, which stopped the dropping oil. |
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From
India we flew to Bangkok, because it is impossible to cross Burma.
From Bangkok we cycled north to Laos, paddled down the Mekong River,
cycled through Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore to Indonesia. We're
already 25200Km away from home and right in the jungle on Sumatra,
when we did our 3rd oil exchange. For exchanging the oil you always
have to give some thin cleaning oil into the hub and cycle it for
a couple of kilometers before you sug everything out of the hub with
a medical syringe. We got the hint, that it would clean the hub better,
if we would cycle two days with the cleaning oil inside the hub, and
so we tried it. This was working very well with Nadines hub,
but after the leaking oil on the Ganges, my hub sealing was probably
a bit weak. We had no real problem with the normal oil, but the cleaning
oil was so liquid, that there was no oil remaining in my hub after
the two days. We filled in the new normal oil and kept on cycling.
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We
just came down from a 3 days trekking tour from Lomboks (Indonesian
Island next to Bali) Mt. Rinjani, when Nadine's shifting cabled stuck
again. One cable was split in the middle (I've no glue how this happened),
and so I exchanged again one cable. I was really not happy to work
AGAIN on Nadines shifting cables, but after 2 years and 27300Km
nothing to worry about! |
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From
Bali we flew to Darwin in Australia where we cycled straight through
the Outback to Adelaide, before we cycled the East coast. We arrived
just in time in Sydney for the annual Bike Show and fortunately we
met the Australian Distributor from Rohloff. We were even more fortunate,
because they were eager to have a look to our hubs after now 34700Km.
They opened them just to find out, that they still looked quite unused
inside and they use the opportunity to exchange the sealings. Nadine
also got a new Rubber shifter because her's looked a bit used. |
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We
arrived in Wellington in December 2005 when Nadine again moans that
her shifting is going a bit strong. Now she got a complete new set
of cables, but I was wondering, why Nadine already needed her 3rd
set of shifting cables after "just" 37500 Km, while I was
still on the first one! I had a closer look on her during the next
couple of days and found out, that Nadine is shifting "all the
time"! She is changing her gears up to 10 times more often than
I do, and so it is no wonder that she uses more cables. |
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After
a beautiful summer on the South Island we're back in Wellington to
celebrate our 3rd anniversary since we left Germany. After 40300 Km
I decided that it would be a good timing to exchange my shifting cables
now for the first time. |
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On
our way north to Auckland we got caught by the oncoming winter and
while cycling through the snow the screw, connecting the hub with
OEM2 plate to the frame, just broke (41000 Km). No idea how this happened,
but I exchange the screw and keep on cycling. |
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From
New Zealand we flew to Santiago de Chile in South America with two
lovely stopovers on Thaiti and Easter Island. Our next destination
was Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world on Fireland. A friend
of us was visiting us while we were in the chilean Lakes Distrikt
and we used this opportunety to exchange the front derailleur, the
rear derailleur and the chain. Having cycled 44300 Km so far this
means the second (Rohloff-) chain lasted some unbelievable 26000 Km!
As I ordered the parts too late from a friend of mine he just could
get a Shimano chain. So let's see how Shimano is doing! |
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Heading
south we were lucky enough to catch an El Niño year on the
Carretera Austral, which meant more or less costant rain for 10 days
on the Carretera Austral. The Carretera Austral leads from Puerto
Montt for 1200 Km mostly on gravel road down to Villa O'Higgins and
as it goes through remote mountain scenery with nearly no traffic
it's one of the famous bike trips in the world. Nadine keept on shifting
an so she needed some new shifting cables after 4628 Km, while 200
Km later it was time for our next oil exchange. |
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Our
trip lead us trough remote mountains and the windswept patagonian
step where the wind was once so strong, that we reached a highspeed
of 47 Km/h without pedalling. But when the wind changed to a straight
headwind a couple of days later it took us three very hard hours to
cycle 15 Km! We arrived in Ushuaia in the middle of the summer just
to find it snowing down there: |
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On
our way north we passed through Buenos Aires to check out the famous
Tango scene, but we also used our time in the huge and noisy capital
of Argentina to exchange the two wheels of Nadines chain tensioner
after 51700 Km. |
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We
cycled north trough Uruguay, and Brazil to Paraguay when the Shimano
chain was completely worn out after just 10000 Km, so we had to exchange
it unfortunately with another Shimano chain. |
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We
crossed again the vast Pampa and arrived in Salta in northern Argentina
when the rim of Nadines back tire was broken. After 55900 Km this
was our first broken rim. We had already met quite a couple of touring
cyclist and for most of them a broken rim was nothing unusual. As
the tension of the spokes is the same for all spokes if you use a
Rohloff hub this also influences the stability of the rim, which obviously
means less trouble. |
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From
Argentina we crossed the Andes over several passes with up to 4800m
into Chile. But the toughest part of this crossing were neither the
high altitude and the big distances without any supply of water and
food, nor the nightly temeratures of -18°C, but the strong headwind.
The wind was so strong that we managed to cycle about 6-8 Km/h on
the flat parts and once we even had to walk our bikes dowhill! From
Chile we again crossed the Andes into Bolivia where we cycled over
the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest saltlake in the world about 3600m
above sealevel. Passing Lake Titikaka we arrived in Peru and cut straight
trouhg the middle of the country. The road lead us from one pass (over
4000m) down to a river valley (1800m) and straigth up the next pass
for 3 weeks, so that we had to climb 20000m within 1500 Km, most of
it on gravel road. In the meanwhile it was time for our next oil exchange
after now 59200 Km. |
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As
the bike mechanic in Salta was not really good we had quite a couple
of broken spokes. Because I was running out of spare spokes I gave
Nadines tire to another mechanic in Cusco in Peru to check the tension.
When we got the tire back everything was fine for the first couple
of Kilometers until I found out (after the next broken spoke), that
all the spoles were loose! Also the mechanic must have tried the hub
in a normal bike, and as there was nothing to fix the hub to the frame,
the Helbelarm was bent. Unfortunately the bent torque arm brought
some tension onto the caisin and some oil was leaking. If managed
to bent the torque arm back and the oil stopped leaking! I love this
self made bike mechanics!!!! |
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Having
cycled 60500 Km through 35 countries, all my worries concerning the
Rohloff hub have completely disappeared. Except the regularly oil
exchanges and Nadine's shifting cables we had almost no maintenance
to do. Trying to imagine how much work and money I would have had
to invest into a normal gear system (especially with extreme shifting
Nadine) I'm even more convinced that the money for the hub was well
invested. Thanks to the fact, that everything is well sealed within
the gearbox, neither sand nor the worst mud could do any harm, and
we had quite a bit of both! Considering next to the low maintenance
also the comfortable and quick shifting, which made things pretty
easy in the Himalayan mountains and the Andes or in the chaotic Asian
cities, the Rohloff hub is perfect for long distance travellers or
cyclists who like it hassle free. |
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Maintanance and repairs: |
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Distance: |
Martin: |
Nadine |
5500 Km |
oil exchange |
oil exchange |
6500 Km |
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new shiftung cables |
15000 Km |
oil exchange |
oil exchange |
18000 Km |
rear derailleur and chain exchanged |
rear derailleur and chain exchanged |
25200 Km |
oil exchange |
oil exchange |
27300 Km |
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new shiftung cables |
34700 Km |
oil exchange |
oil exchange, new rubber shifter |
37500 Km |
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new shiftung cables |
40300 Km |
new shiftung cables |
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41000 Km |
screw OEM2 plate broken |
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44300 Km |
front + rear derailleur and chain |
front + rear derailleur and chain |
46300 Km |
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new shifting cables |
46500 Km |
oil exchange |
oil exchange |
51700 Km |
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new wheels for chain tensioner |
54600 Km |
new chain |
new chain |
55900 Km |
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new rim |
59200 Km |
oil exchange |
oil exchange |
59800 Km |
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torque arm bent |
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I probably forgot on set of new shifting
cables for Nadine, because I can´t believe, that she used only
one set from Turkey to Indonesia! |
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Teil:
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Exchanged Martin:
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Exchanged Nadine:
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oil exchange: |
6
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6
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shifting cables complete: |
1
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2
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shifting cable: |
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2
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front derailleur |
1
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1
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rear derailleur |
2
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2
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chain |
3
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3
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Rubber Shifter: |
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1
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Wheels from chain tensioner: |
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1
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