I was thinking, have a look at the dropouts on the Kona A, at present they would require speedbones etc and all the rest to fit a rohloff. However I'm guessing they're simply machined aluminium, with a slight redesign to look more like the thorn dropouts they wouldn't be too difficult to machine. If Kona saw a market they could sell the dropouts as an aftermarket modification or a company like BETD who sell suspension mods could do it. I would do it on the university's CNC Milling Machine except I won't be a student by the time I can afford the frame and gears.


http://www.konaworld.com/shopping_cart/FrontEnd/Products/category_listing.aspx?categoryid=202#200

Having looked at the dropouts on the thorn bikes it appears that with the addition of the OEM adapter they would fit in with merely a longer dropout on the brake side.

Wow, had a look at your Nicolai Simon and that is nice... I did look at an Argon after it was featured in STW and didn't really consider fitting a rolhoff to a full suss before Timbold mentioned he'd converted his. But it's all just more money :-(

Be nice if I could bartar for one... do you need a new website per chance ;-)

Interesting thread guys... Tim did you by any chance weigh your bike before and after converting to the Rohloff? Would be interesting to know if there really is a weight difference after it's all fitted and working properly...?

James, sorry no I didn't play the weighing game. I trusted in the documentation and forum talk and also went a few times to see and try one in person.

In all honesty, if you are replacing something like XT, I don't think you will notice any weight difference.

The only change I can readily discern is with the actual weight distribution - a smidgen more to the rear of the bike - which could easily be mistaken for a significant weight gain overall. I believe this may affect Giant bikes more as I've heard they tend to be wheelie friendly (i.e. lighter at the front end)! And when going up mega steep climbs, I've always had to lean forward more than my riding buddies to stop the front lifting off.

For anyone that's interested, I've added a few more photos on my website to illustrate the re-routed cabling:

http://www.timbo.nildram.co.uk/GiantNRS1/GiantNRS1_WithRohloff.htm

This has improved the grip-shifting significantly and made it a lot easier and smoother to change.

Rohloff shifting feel (not indexing since that's at the hub) is affected by the number and tightness of cable bends.

We've found by far the best routing is under the bottom bracket.

If you are interested, my cable routing for the Rohloff is down the stays. Pictures http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c339/lesoudeur/?action=view¤t=RIMG0088.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch2