Ideal gearing.

[Andy in Sig]

I've got a Rohloff 14 speed hubgear on my bike. While I find that 1st gear is usually fine for all but the steepest slopes where I just have to walk, I also find that I hardly ever use 14th even when going down the steepest slopes because by then I've reached such speeds that the very act of pedalling seems to have the potential to induce instability.

Does it therefore make sense to get a new chain ring fitted which would effetively make my current 13th gear into 14th and so get a new, lower first gear. Is there an orthodox view on this or is it just a matter of personal taste?

Come to think of it I think I should be talking about changing the cog at the back as this is obviously easier and cheaper but the overall question still applies.

 

[jimboalee]

Check Rohloff sprocket availablity. It might be easier to change the ring.

 

[GilesM]

I've never used (or worked on) Rohloff hub gear, but there is no reason why changing the chainring wouldn't have the desired effect, not sure how easy it is to chain the sprocket, but if it is easy, I would do that as one tooth change on the sprocket will obviously have a much bigger impact than one tooth change on the chainring.

Do Rohloff give details of the gear ratios, for the 14 gears, if so, it should be quite easy to calculate the new chainring or sprocket size you want, if not, it would be very easy to measure the actual gear ratios.

 

[Theseus]

Sheldon has it included in his calculator.

 

[Steve Austin]

I use an Alfine, and did exactly what you are suggesting, to give me a lower gear on my MTB.
Sprocket change will give you a larger difference, and you might find 1 tooth change will be enough.

 

[Andy in Sig]

It looks like a sprocket change then. I'll just calculate it so that the "new" 14th gear does what the current 13th does and then I have a new extra low gear for extra steep hills. Thanks for the replies.

 

[tandemman]

Be careful not ot step outside the recommended limits or you could torque your hub to bits, Sheldon has the details, as does the rohloff site.
If you use an eccentric BB to tension the chain you may need to alter chain length after changing chainring sizes, if you go from a 46/16 setup to a 44/18 this would not be an issue.
On a nominal 26 inch wheel setup this would alter your gear inch range from 109.7/20.9 to 93.2/17.7.