Balanced bike questions...

[Techno Destructo]

I've been thinking about the Rohloff speed hub lately myself, and been considering to start slowly saving up to buy one to make the most indestructible hardtail ever (or a least a killer one).

But there's the question of weight. Since with a Rohloff Speedhub, most of the drivetrain's weight is in the rear axle, I was thinking that I could balance the bike's fore/aft weight by choosing an appropriate fork up front (and maybe other bits).

But what is a balanced bike? Is it just merely putting a scale under each wheel and trying to make it weight the same on both? Or is it something more complicated?

And if there's anybody out there who's owned a bike that was really front or rear heavy, did it negatively affect your riding in any way? Did you adjust to it (and did it screw you up when going back to a more "balanced" bike?) :?:

 

[S.]

The difference isn't THAT huge. Don't run a heavy fork to "compensate", you're just adding extra weight for minimal gain. Rohloffs aren't light, but their actual weight isn't that much more than a standard hub... I'd estimate that they're about 2lbs heavier than a standard hub (this is a guess, I don't have real weights). The couple of bikes with Rohloffs that I've ridden haven't felt grossly unbalanced or anything, the weight isn't that noticeable (to me anyway).

 

[Turley]

U gotta also consider that you don't need to have your derailler and your cassette when you switch to a rohloff.

 

[Ty]

or chainguide either, you may need to use a surly singlulator (sp?) to get decent chain tension if you don't have horizontal dropouts

 

[Techno Destructo]

Oh, it'd be horizontal dropouts, thats for sure. Or at least a sliding vertical dropout. Either a Brodie (the new prototype HT looks like it might have a sliding vertical dropout, or something like a LeToy or a On-One...

 

[CHEWY]

or chainguide either, you may need to use a surly singlulator (sp?) to get decent chain tension if you don't have horizontal dropouts

whats that (sp?) mean?
this prbably doesnt help but they weigh about half a brick i think... and theres one for sale in the trading post laced to a decent rim with disc brake for 1100

 

[kalem]

or chainguide either, you may need to use a surly singlulator (sp?) to get decent chain tension if you don't have horizontal dropouts

whats that (sp?) mean?
this prbably doesnt help but they weigh about half a brick i think... and theres one for sale in the trading post laced to a decent rim with disc brake for 1100

(sp?) means he is not sure of the spelling :wink:

i think the one in the trading post is just a rohloff wheel it doesn't have the actual Speedhub...

 

[Techno Destructo]

i think the one in the trading post is just a rohloff wheel it doesn't have the actual Speedhub...

Surely it must be a Speedhub... otherwise, that must be one helluva wheel for $1100! :shock:

 

[kalem]

i think the one in the trading post is just a rohloff wheel it doesn't have the actual Speedhub...

Surely it must be a Speedhub... otherwise, that must be one helluva wheel for $1100! :shock:

yeah i remember someone else saying something about it on the board somewhere...