it is a very, very joyous day in unionville. aric line has purchased a new bike. you might not think that this is out of the ordinary, especially you dc velo guys, who i know secretly read this blog, and who seem to change bikes with the frequency of a cheap ham radio. the normal union ethos is repair rather than replace. however, aric's new bike redefines the union ethos and pushes it to new heights. check it...
the new bike is a commuter - touring - cross bike. the frame is an igleheart. if than name sounds familiar, it's probably because you've heard of chris igleheart who used to weld for fat chance mtn bikes. you can get a rough look at an example here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/igleheart/index.html
the coolest feature of the new bike is the rolhoff internally geared rear hub. the bike will look like a single speed, however the hub actually provides for 14 internal gears which yields about 18-100 gear inches range. to get a feeling for what this means, aric will get nearly the same spread of gear ratios on this new bike, with one chainring and one rear cog, that he currently gets from his litespeed racing bike minus a bit on the top end. and in addition, it's simple: no front derailleur, no front shifter and only a chain tensioner on the back. this hub is the new hotness. details on the hub are here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/rohloff.html
The Speedhub 36 500/14 has a gear range of 526%, which means that the highest gear is 5.26 times higher than the lowest gear. Across the entire range of the 14 gears shifts increase or decrease in even increments of 13.6%.
The individual gear ratios, the single increments and the entire range of gears are determined by the design of the internal gear system and cannot be changed. Neverthless you can customize your gearing by substituting different chainrings and cogs for easier or higher gearing.
The Speedhub 500/14 has been developed for racing which means that it can handle the heavy loads encountered during competition. Maximum torque loads in extreme conditions can be as high as 250 Nm on the crank (=150 kg on the pedal). This will not damage the the gear box because the high chainwheel/sprocket ratio transforms the low number of crank revolutions into a higher number of revolutions at the cog. The higher the chainwheel/sprocket revolution ratio, the lower the torque transmitted to the gearbox.
The sealed gearbox ensures reliability and durability even under the toug- hest conditions. The even increments of 13.6% from gear to gear make it pos- sible to always ride at the performance peak. The overall range kes sure that you have the right gear in every situation. Pure fun is guaranteed.
The SPEEDHUB 500/14 is operated by a twist shifter which shifts by pulling separate cables up or down. The indexing of the shifting lies not in the shifter as with common designs, but inside the hub. There is no wear on the indexing system nor need to adjust it.
read that last line again and again and again. and think about this: rohloff has never had a hub wear out. how cool is that? you change the oil in it once per year. period. and get this marvel of german engineering....if you happened to wear it out, you can flip the hub around and wear it out again! as aric point out, the union should take ownership of this company and issue a hub to every rider. this hub is very clearly union approved.
additional specs on aric's new bike:
- Disc brakes front and rear with mechanical actuated levers not hydraulic because of next bullet.
- S&S couplers to break down into suitcase for traveling - need to break cables too.
- 700c wheels (will have WTB beefy ass rims)
- 40x16 chainring/cog combo
- Crank bro egg beater pedals
- long reach brake levers (for disc brakes)
- braze-ons and fork legs drilled for panniers for touring
- 3rd water bottle on front side of down tube for touring
- - - posted by scott