This is #5 in an ever-growing series of answers to frequently-asked questions about touring bikes. If you’re new here, why not start with #1: What Exactly Defines A Touring Bike?
There are people in this world who will argue until the end of all time about whether or not a touring bike should be fitted with a Rohloff Speedhub or, more recently, a Pinion centre-mounted gearbox.
I am not one of these people. You probably aren’t, either.
If you’re unfamiliar with Rohloff or Pinion, they are makers of internally geared hubs and gearboxes for bicycles, each of which costs more than a new entry-level touring bike.
Internal gear hubs like the Rohloff or Pinion are designed to offer a wide range of gear ratios which are selectable with a single cable-operated handlebar shifter, eliminating all the derailleurs, sprocket cassettes, chainrings, and other components used to offer selectable gear ratios on most other bikes. Competing models include the Alfine range from Shimano, and more recently the Pinion range of crank-mounted gearboxes.
Internet search spirals will unearth no end of people who ‘swear by’ Rohloffs or Pinions, along with ultra-detailed kit lists from folk who’ve either spent loads of cash to equip their bike with one, or been sponsored by a high-end touring bike manufacturer who sells bikes equipped with them.
Among arguments often heard in their favour against traditional derailleurs: they’re more reliable, less messy, simpler (on the outside), smoother to use, and you can change gear while not pedalling.
All of this is true. But they still are not essential items of equipment for touring bikes.
Yes, people have cycled round the world with Rohloffs and Pinions. But far more people have cycled round the world with traditional derailleur gears, having had a century’s head start.
The decision to invest in a Rohloff or Pinion is not about whether it will will get you through a very long bike trip ‘better’ than a derailleur. As evidenced by the Database of Long Distance Cycling Journeys, or my massive list of worldwide expedition touring bikes, they’ll clearly both do the job.
For me, it’s more a question of the approach you take towards cycle touring, travel, and possibly life in general.
The Real Reason People Choose (Or Don’t Choose) A Rohloff Speedhub or Pinion gearbox
I’ll wager that the single biggest reason for differences in choice relates to how people respond to the fear of things going wrong.
When your non-user-serviceable internally geared hub breaks (and they do), you send it back to Germany and spend a couple of weeks waiting in whichever city you had to hitch-hike to when it happened. The manufacturer repairs or replaces the hub and sends it back to you.
You hope that this happens before a) the local customs department gets hold of it, and b) your visa runs out.
Eventually, you continue with your tour.
When your derailleur gets mashed into your spokes, you try to fix it yourself, because all the parts are accessible and serviceable, you’ve been on the road for long enough to know how to fix your bike, you’ve got the right tools, and you stopped caring about getting greasy fingers a long time ago.
If you can’t fix it, you remove a few links from your chain and turn your bike into a single-speeder until you get to the next city, where you check into the local hostel to find another cycle tourist awaiting the return of their Rohloff hub or Pinion gearbox from Germany. You find a new derailleur or gear hanger or cassette or chain or chainring from any local bike shop.
Eventually, you continue with your tour.
When all’s said and done, the only difference was how the broken gears got fixed – by you, or by the local bike shop, or by a technician in Kassel-Fuldatal.
The second part of the decision is whether you would prefer the reassurance of a Rohloff/Pinion or an extra £1,000 towards your bike trip.
What would an extra £1,000 in spending money mean for you?
Consider that there’s no difference between the two systems that will occupy your mind when you’re actually turning the pedals. You’ll have better things to think about. Ultimately, both systems will allow you to choose the right gear when you need to – until, inevitably, something eventually goes wrong.
So if money is no object at this stage of your bike-choice process, the only real way to decide between the two is by rather whimsically thinking about which you like the idea of best.
1. Out of sight, out of mind, out of pocket (sorry) for tens of thousands of miles – until it possibly breaks catastrophically? Expensive internal gearing it is.
Or
2. Needing occasional servicing and parts replacement, but fixable on the roadside and by every bicycle mechanic on the planet? Derailleur it is.
Still can’t decide? Flip a coin, cover it up, and then think about which side you really wanted it to land on.
Next in the Touring Bike FAQ series: What’s The Best Way To Avoid Buying The Wrong Bike?
Something to add?