I concede that Rohloff uses proprietary components that would be challenging to service in the field. I take some inspiration from the folks at Tumbleweed, who prefer them for bikepacking - I figure if they’re reliable enough for the Gobi desert I should be OK riding one around Mallorca. And I’ll fess up that I’m tempted by the gee-whiz aspect as well.
Still, the point stands that I’m most comfortable with legacy tech like friction-shifted derailleurs and rim brakes, and there is value in being able to troubleshoot and service my own gear. How much customization does BF allow - will they balk at Silver shifters and Paul Motolites? I’m in no hurry to get this project off the ground - I’m in the contemplation and planning stage. My touring plans are on hold indefinitely while Covid plays out, and to some extent planning a build like this is a surrogate for the trips I’m not taking this year. Jay Lonner Bellingham, WA Sent from my Atari 400 > On Jun 18, 2020, at 8:42 PM, Kent Peterson -- Eugene, Oregon > <kentsb...@gmail.com> wrote: > > OK, bias alert. I work in the service department of Bike Friday. I've logged > a hell of a lot of miles on New World Tourists and I've seen what people > manage to bust on tours. > > I'd like to point out one contradiction in your inclinations: You want to > avoid proprietary parts but you are leaning towards a a Rohloff hub. The > Rohloff is a lovely piece of work that rarely fails, but can fail. It has a > proprietary shifter with proprietary cables. > > Many of our customers who get Rohloffs or Alfines also get Gates belt drives. > Again, proprietary. If you bend a Gates cog, good luck finding one at a local > bike shop. > > If I was building a bike for myself for your use case scenario, I'd go with > either a New World Tourist or a Pocket Llama. With a conventional derailler > drivetrain. When I pack it in the suitcase, I'd unbolt the rear derailler. > More bikes get messed up in the suitcase than get messed up on the road. > > Anyway, that's my $.02 > > BTW, Bike Friday is running a skeleton crew under partial COVID lockdown & > deliveries across our supply chains are shot to hell. Delivery times for new > bikes are out into the fall right now. > > Kent Peterson > Eugene, OR USA > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1ec6e37b-6017-496c-8a49-16cceb0a4963o%40googlegroups.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/886D565E-B523-4EAB-954C-5FD7AE356E76%40gmail.com.
