Maintanance Tips

The gears of the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 are protected from dust and harmful moisture due to running in a oil bath.

The maintenance and care of the Rohloff system is limited to the following points:

  • Chain and chain tensioner (where applicable) should in regard to regular use (at the latest after riding in rain) be cleaned and re-lubricated.
  • The cable box of the external gear mech should be demounted approx. every 500km, cleaned and the cable pulley lightly greased from the hub-facing side.
  • The shifter cable tension should be regularly checked, and when necessary altered by the cable adjusters.
  • The Rohloff shifter cables are made from high-quality stainless steel and run in a nylon lined steel, spiral-wound cable housing which is protected at each end with a sealed ferrule. The cables are routed lubricant free and must not be greased or oiled. The stainless steel/nylon combination runs service-free.

Maintenance and care

The shifter cable tension can be altered by the cable adjusters. Winding the cable adjusters out increases cable tension. For the lightest possible gear change, the tension should be just enough that on the twist shifter there is approx. 5 mm rotational play when in a selected gear.

The mark on the twist shifter body can be aligned to the correct gear number without altering the cable tension by winding one cable adjuster in and the other out.

On the versions with an internal gear mech the cable adjusters are to be found on the cable guide. This can be found on the left hand chain stay or attached to the left hand brake boss of the frame.

On the versions with an external gear mech the cable adjusters can be found on the cable box. This sits directly on the left hand side of the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14. These cables are either routed along the seatstay or the chainstay of the frame.

Attention

amount of friction within the shifter cables and in turn raises the force needed on the twist shifter to select other gears.

When lubricating the chain place a thin thread of lubricant on the outside of the chain over the centre rollers, this process is carried out quicker and easier when running the chain backwards whilst applying the lubricant.

To lubricate the chain tensioner place a drop of oil on the left and right side of the upper jockey wheel on the pivot point.

Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 versions with external gear mech: To lubricate the cable pulley bearing remove the cable box and place a little grease on the parts arrowed in the diagram above.

Attention

The 4 brake rotor mounting bolts, plus the hub cap screws should be checked regularly on disc brake models, to ensure the minimum tightening torque has not decreased due to the forces applied.

We also recommend that spoke tension is checked regularly by a professional bicycle mechanic, to reduce the chance of a flange breaking due to unequal spoke tension.