13 tooth sprockets were initially introduced by Rohloff to enable owners of small-wheeled bicycles, to enjoy SPEEDHUB use with a full, useable gear range. These sprockets were never intended for use on regular bicycles. Where other, more practical and durable sprocket ratios are available.

The trend towards larger wheels has increased demand for smaller gears and the ongoing trend towards lightweight builds, has also increased the desire for smaller, less efficient sprocket ratios. Furthermore, with modern, 1x drivetrains using a very small front chainring, many customers prefer to keep the small front chainring when converting to SPEEDHUB use, purely for aesthetic reasons.

We realize that Rohloff will never be able to break such trends however, our focus remains with customer safety and satisfaction so as such, although the number of issues are still low, we feel it necessary to implement a new limitation for the use of these sprockets, in an effort to reduce the potential for accidents and injuries caused by over-loading these sprockets.

With immediate effect, the use of all 13 and 14 tooth splined sprockets is only authorized when used with a minimum primary transmission factor of 3.0 – regardless of application area.