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The Rohloff Speedhub is an epicyclic internal hub gear for bicycles, developed and patented by Rohloff AG. It has been manufactured and marketed by that company since 1998.[1] The Speedhub 500/14 has 14 equally spaced, sequential, non-overlapping gear ratios operated by a single twistgrip. The overall gear range is 526%, meaning the highest gear is 5.26 times as high as the lowest gear. Individual gear shifts when shifting up give an increase of about 13.6% (equivalent to a decrease of about 12.0% when shifting down).
The Speedhub is more expensive than competing bicycle gear systems (both hub gears and derailleur gears), and it is some 100 grams heavier than a comparable set of derailleur gears,[2] but offers about the same gear range (and at its ratio of 5.26:1 more range than a typical road bike ratio of 4.28:1 with 50/34 chainrings and 11 to 32 tooth cassette) while requiring significantly less maintenance and having a longer service life.[3][4] It is therefore mainly used in expensive touring bicycles and in mountain bikes, where its lack of (vulnerable) external components is useful.
- ^ Die weltbeste Fahrradnabe kommt aus Hessen, article in Financial Times Deutschland from 2009-04-16, retrieved 2010-08-31
- ^ "A Rohloff on an Electric Bike". Electrobike.com. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
The Rohloff weighs in at 3.7 pounds which will make your bike 1-2 pounds heavier compared to the usual gears/derailleur.
- ^ "Kit Review: Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 CC 14 Speed Gear Hub". A Bike Journey. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
Pros: Minimal maintenance, Durable, No need for fine tuning, Long service life
- ^ "Rohloff Speedhub: German Engineering Or Hype? Final Review". Archived from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
on the plus side you have perfect reliability, low maintenance, reliability and ... did I say reliability – which to me means riding without any limitations.