Touring Equipment

You could always carry a 6 bolt fixed cog in your bags, then if something should go wrong with the internals you could potentially flip the wheel and still be mobile. Assuming you were sensible enough to get the disc version of the hubs. :]

the only downside I find is the weird non-direct feel of the internal hubs, I and SopaRiva found that a bit... bothering.

Or a Dinglespeed!

What's a dinglespeed got to do with bodging hub gears?

doesn't the Alfine hub require a 1000 mile service?

1000 miles!

Unless you're touring the hipster spice route that aint gonna get you far...

No idea, got me thinking (fixed touring)

If the hub does go wrong wouldn't there still be the option of the direct drive gear? I don't know much anything about the internals, so I think fixing on the road would be pretty much impossible.

Having said that there is a very reassurring quote in this PDF from Thorn:

I decided to contact Rohloff myself in spring 2002...I reasoned that, with the passing of the years, Rohloff would have identified and cured any problems during this time. "What problems have you had and what is the service life?" I asked, getting straight to the point, after introducing myself. "No joke, Andy, but we have never had a hub fail, so we can’t tell you the service life, but some of our customers have covered 70,000km of world travel" was the reply from the product manager, Carsten Geck. (Rohloff still claim never to have had a hub fail and the greatest distance claimed for a Rohloff hub was 145,000km by Thomas Longin in May 2009)

doesn't the Alfine hub require a 1000 mile service?

1000 miles!

Unless you're touring the hipster spice route that aint gonna get you far...
That seems very low indeed! The Rohloff is supposed to be good for the 1st 2000km, then drain oil and refill. Then drain and refill is only required every 5000km after that.

Not speaking from experience, just what I've read.

That said so many people do use the Rohloff, maybe they just don't go wrong. I nave no prolonged experience of them. Recycled on here built a serious touring machine using one, maybe has some friendly advice after using it for a while.

Hey, the rohloff is still performing brilliantly, myself and some friends went on a tour in april of the south cost, starting in lands end and and travelling all along the south coast. Being my first tour i took far far too much luggage. The hills are ridiculous along the coast and yet the surly troll was brilliant. http://www.flickr.com/photos/djhon/5434045355/. The frame is very stiff yet comfortable, when descending hills at 40+mph with a combined bike+luggage+rider weight of 130kg the bike still handled perfectly with no flex at all.
As for the Rohloff hub, well i cannot fault it. Gear change is perfect, and i soon got the knack of pausing the pedalling for a split second to change gear. One great thing about the hub is that unlike any other gear system (derailleur, shimano alfine, sturmey archer etc) cable tension has not bearing on the gear change, so the hub will never need adjusting. And even in the event of the cables braking, the cable box braking off in a crash or any cable problem for that matter the gear change can still be operated by using an 8mm spanner on the hub itself.
The should never fail and if it does rohloff will do everything to get you back on the road. They also provide every spare part possible, which cannot be said for shimano geared hubs for example.
I would say the Rohloff hub is the best cycling related purchase i have ever made.
(i did get it at trade which helps though :)

Am I right in thinking the rohloff also feels more direct than the shimano or sram hubs?
I briefly rode velocios and it didn't appear to feel slack.

That seems very low indeed! The Rohloff is supposed to be good for the 1st 2000km, then drain oil and refill. Then drain and refill is only required every 5000km after that.

The Alfine is similar: 1000km for the first service and then every 5000km.

Am I right in thinking the rohloff also feels more direct than the shimano or sram hubs?
I briefly rode velocios and it didn't appear to feel slack.

I have not tryed the other apart from sturmey, but i find the feel of the hub to be fine, also the 11th gear is direct drive, so its worth setting the 11th gear in a ratio you use most. My 11th gear is 72 gear inches which is not too spinny.

the only downside I find is the weird non-direct feel of the internal hubs, I and SopaRiva found that a bit... bothering.

As ed says, I found it hurt my knees like a mother fucker.

doesn't the Alfine hub require a 1000 mile service?

1000 miles!

Unless you're touring the hipster spice route that aint gonna get you far...

It got Vin Cox all the way round on two services from what I read. I can't find a definitive answer but 6000 miles seems to be closer to the mark.

my bad.

"No joke, Andy, but we have never had a hub fail, so we can’t tell you the service life, but some of our customers have covered 70,000km of world travel" was the reply from the product manager, Carsten Geck. (Rohloff still claim never to have had a hub fail and the greatest distance claimed for a Rohloff hub was 145,000km by Thomas Longin in May 2009)

This seems to me to be not entirely true.

Ninety percent of serious cycle tourers have one. It adds almost a thousand pounds to the cost of the bike and has been on the market for twelve years. Rumour had it there has never been a mechanical failure. It is revered, respected, allegedly indestructible and is a very complex feat of German engineering.

It felt like a small puncture. I looked back. Tyre looked OK. Then I noticed the spoke flapping in the breeze. A broken spoke could easily be replaced but on closer inspection I saw the real extent of the problem. Inexplicably a piece of metal had spontaneously fallen off the Rohloff shell, the part where the spokes attach to. There was no way I could re-attach the spoke by the road and by the look of it I would need a new hub and with it I would have to deal with a whole world of problems.

...

Word came that Santos and Rohloff had teamed up to ship a whole new wheel and hub to Khartoum. I have since learned that the incidence of this type of hub failure is approximately one in five thousand.

from http://cyclingthe6.blogspot.com/2010/12/nubian-way.html

So whilst a great hub, trying to claim they have never had a hub fail is foolish.

What about the Velo Orange touring hub? Beefy flanges and completely field-servicable?

So whilst a great hub, trying to claim they have never had a hub fail is foolish.
Interesting, and good to know that sort of failure is rare (you'd expect it to be after shelling out that much for the hub!). The quote I posted is a couple of years old, so this could have happened since then.

Any opinions on the Topeak Tribag or alternatives for a small bag to use for lightweight touring in conjunction with a saddlebag?

Imho the top peak one is the best (of this size) as it has more pockets (so you can keep phone, food and keys separate) if you get the version with the rain cover it secures the pocket on the right side also.
Halfords usually have them in their 3 for the price of 2 offer if you want to make a group buy. (Or need other stuff at that price)

Slightly larger is the Vaude cruiser bag. If you remove the velcro tabs from the top and stitch them to the bottom it can be used as a small "fuel bag" at a reasonable cost. It has one main compartment (with small key pocket inside), a full length zip pocket on the other side, and mini pump loops inside.

Thanks, that's very useful. I'm still not sure a 750 mile tour in October is feasible with just a saddlebag, hip pouch and top tube bag but I like a challenge.

I'd have though Scott will able to provided you with the necessary adviced.

I reckon you'll be fine, I got a handlebar bag going spare if you like, it serve me well on a 380 miles tour.

Thanks, I do have a bar bag, I'd just rather not have to use it. I think I more or less have a plan except 1) I need a smaller pump and 2) shampoo may be an issue.

I also have this I can lend you (if my framebag arrived, you can keep it);

How tall is it? I suspect I'm too much of a midget for that to work with my midget frame and a seat tube mounted water bottle. And I definitely need two water bottles.