Looks promising except for the twist grip shifter on the bar end.

Two things need to be done to make the Rohloff friendly to road bikes.

First, they need to make a shifter that is designed for road bikes - a bar-end and/or down-tube shifter would probably be best.

Second, make the gearing spacing a bit closer. The current 14 gears are separated by 13.6% increments, leading to a 526% total gear range. This allows it to match the increments and range on a standard mountain bike 3x9 setup pretty well. Unfortunately, it is not ideal for road riding where tighter gearing would be better in exchange for giving up some of the range. A decent compromise would be to use 11% gear increments and a 388% gear range.

I would never consider spending that kind of money (the hub costs close to 1000 UKP) on a drivetrain that is so poorly designed for road riding.

I'd prefer a belt drive single speed for winter commute duties. Theres a few hybrid-ey type bikes about with the Nexus or Alfine that are cheaper, though not really geared for proper roadie use

No belt drive but the hub geared road bike has been done before and done better:

http://www.dynamicbicycles.com/buy/Bikes.php?prodid=75

Note the STI style shifter - much more elegant.

Matthew

Or the Sheldon Brown route - a 7 speed cassette on a three speed hub with three chain rings - 63 speeds !

mmmmmmm..........marmite!

You either love it or hate it i guess.

I love Marmite but i hate the ideal of a rohloff on a racing bike!

That has to be the worst engineered, ugliest shifer I've ever seen. What, exactly, were they smoking? I thought the days of removing your hands from the bars to shift gears were dead and gone.

Also - if this is aimed at the "bad weather training bike" market, where are the disc brake tabs?

As others have commented, someone really needs to create an STI style shifter for the Rohloff before it's going to do well in the road-bike niche. Of course, said shifter might prove complicated with having to pull two wires?

Maybe the solution is to stick a small electric motor where the clickbox would be and use something like the DA2 electronic shifters? (Bonus points if you can manage to power the battery/capacitor off of a hub dynamo!)

A very interesting concept indeed. My suggestion: cantilever bosses and larger clearances for use towpaths and light singletrack and the odd bit of cyclocross. The dropout and gear hanger looks interesting. Could it be used as a singlespeed perhaps also?

or a helper monkey to perch on a rear rack and whack the gear changer with a mallet when you want to shift.

Hell, I'm loving the idea of belt drive single speed set up. If only you could lose the Rolhoff, this bike'll be half price.

Oh, and I'd be wanting some Campag brake levers too. Why?

a. I love the feel of Campag

b. I love to start meaningless arguments which will never end.