Hi Dave and a Golden morning to you. As you also have a Rohloff hardtail, could you give any thoughts about how they compare?
And good morning to you, too, bro.
My trohloff has a rigid front fork and hardtail, I think, generally refers to a bike with front suspension. But a comparison of the two bikes:
The Broken Road is quicker than the trohloff; even with the slightly heavier gearing and the front suspension, the BR (titanium) is slightly lighter than the (steel) Troll. And certainly more fun on the moderately technical (blue) trails I've taken it on. Another difference that may come into play here is the mechanical disc brakes on the Troll vs. hydraulics on the BR.
Comparing the Pinion with the Rohloff: I have 18 speeds on the Pinion, 14 on the Rohloff.
(A lighter and cheaper 12-speed is available for the Pinion - which would be perfectly adequate for a bike used mainly on trails. I chose the 18 speed to have low gears for loaded on-and-off-road touring and smaller gear steps for level tarmac. The total gear range for the Rohloff is 536%, the 12-speed Pinion is 600% and the 18-speed is 640-ish% - I dont remember exactly - compared with the 500% of a modern 1x12 mountain bike. As you know, I don't have a road bike and am not familiar with those gear ranges.)
Weight distribution with the Pinion is better, down where the bottom bracket would be, rather than on the rear hub with a Rohloff. Not such an issue for loaded touring.
Shifting feels crisper on the Pinion than on the Rohloff.
A potential advantage of the Pinion over the Rohloff is that (after you have paid extra for a compatible frame!) it's relatively affordable to have a spare set of wheels. I have 27.5x2.8 now but could see swapping to 29x2.4 for a tour that has a higher proportion of on-road riding. With a Rohloff setup, to have a second set of wheels would require a second gear hub.
As you can tell, I am preferring the Pinion. But the Rohloff remains an excellent piece of kit and I highly recommend them to any rider who finds derailleur a bit of a faff to tune. No such issues with the Rohloff. Although, it would skip some gears in chilly weather (storing overnight in -25C then commuting in -15C. If I were to engage in such nonsense for extended periods, a change to lighter oil is recommended.)
The Pinion is not entirely problem-free. FAQs on the Pinion site refer to oil leaks. My wife's Pinion leaked when it arrived (could it be that DHL's cargo plane didn't have a pressurised hold?) but Pinion says its not a concern to ride dry. I'm away from home at the moment but will perform the regular annual oil change when I return and see if the leak problem has disappeared. I also vaguely remember a YouTube video where a leak was solved by tightening some bolts that were under-torqued from the factory. If all else fails, it is covered by warranty and the North American dealer is standing by to replace if necessary.
Which reminds me of another slight advantage of the Pinion. If I need to send it for warranty work, it's a relatively simple matter to remove the gear box. With a Rohloff, you have to dismantle the wheel.
