When a manufacturer builds your new Rohloff bike, they have a few choices to make when designing the frame. These choices will have long lasting affects on key areas of your bike. Shift cable routing and ease of wheel removal will set a tone for the relationship with your bike, while changes will also affect the look of your new Rodriguez.
How to route the shift cables and how to tension the chain are both part of the Rodriguez Difference. These can be planned out and implemented well, or they can be done hastily.
Important note: if your bike uses the shift box, it's important to leave the shifter alone while your wheel is out of the bike. If the shifter is bumped or moved while not connected to the wheel, it will be very time consuming trying to line your gears back up.
Disc Brake Customers:
You will see on our site some Rodriguez bikes that use the above 'shift box' method instead of our cleaner style, this is because of the disc brake. Unfortunately, when we build a Rodriguez Rohloff bicycle with disc brakes, the shift box is required. :-(
To the left you can see a picture of an idler, the least expensive chain tensioner. An idler is basically a non-functioning rear derailleur and makes removing the Rohloff wheel as 'convenient' as removing the rear wheel of a 10-speed style bike. This option is usually used for retrofitting road bikes to use Rohloff, although some manufacturers use idlers on custom made Rohloff bikes.
To read more about the Rohloff hub, click here.