Rohloff AG is a German company from

Fuldatal Fuldatal is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated along the Fulda River, 5 km northeast of Kassel. Kassel-Rothwesten Airfield Kassel-Rothwesten Airfield is a former military airfield located in Rot ...

near

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

that manufactures

hub gear A hub gear, internal-gear hub, internally geared hub or just gear hub is a gear ratio changing system commonly used on bicycles that is implemented with planetary or epicyclic gears. The gears and lubricants are sealed within the shell of the h ...

bicycle chain A bicycle chain is a roller chain that transfers power from the pedals to the drive-wheel of a bicycle, thus propelling it. Most bicycle chains are made from plain carbon or alloy steel, but some are nickel-plated to prevent rust, or simply ...

s and tools that are known for their durability and high performance. The company’s logo is a black silhouette of a

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

on a yellow background.

History

Rohloff AG was founded in 1986 and began by producing a high-tech and very expensive

, the SLT 99. Sales of this chain generated revenues of €1m in 1991, and approximately €0,5m annually from 1992-1998.

Development of Rohloff Speedhub 500/14

While at the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

road race in France in 1994, the Rohloffs went bicycling on the beach in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The bikes got stuck in the sand, and the primitive

derailleur Shimano 600 front derailleur (1980) A derailleur is a variable-ratio bicycle gearing system consisting of a chain, multiple sprockets of different sizes, and a mechanism to move the chain from one sprocket to another. Modern front and rear d ...

gear systems would not work. This triggered

Bernhard Rohloff Bernhard Rohloff is the founder of Rohloff AG and the inventor of several innovative products, amongst other the 14 speed Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 planetary gear hub. Rohloff studied machine-engineering at Olympia while working part-time at Hensch ...

to develop a new internally geared hub. On the 1996 IFMA in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Rohloff announced a 14-speed gear hub with a weight of 1700 grams. At the time, the gear hub with the greatest number of speeds was the fragile 3700 gram 12 speed

Sachs Elan The Sachs Elan was an epicyclic internal hub gear for bicycles, developed and manufactured by the bicycle division of the German company Fichtel & Sachs. It was considered heavy and production units were plagued with quality issues. The gear hub wa ...

(discontinued by 2000), made by the hub-gear manufacturer Sachs (later acquired by SRAM). A year later Rohloff presented a workable prototype at the 1997 IFMA and won a crate of

champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

from the employees at Sachs, who had bet against them the year before. The managing director of the dominant cycling component manufacturer

Shimano , originally and later , is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company for cycling components, fishing tackles and rowing equipment, who also produced golf supplies until 2005 and snowboarding gear until 2008. Named after founder Shozaburo ...

approached Rohloff and asked: "Shimano could release a 14 speed gear hub onto the market tomorrow, but it would weigh double as much as yours" - "How do you manage this?" The Rohloffs had been granted a DM 1 million

bank loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

for

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

of the new product, and for the start of production, guarantees in the amount of several million marks. At this time, the design just existed on paper. The company was not successful in raising

financing Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...

from

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

s. However, just 10 days after the IFMA, the loan guarantees were retracted. The granting bank had gone

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

, was acquired by another bank, and the restructuring specialist hired had previously been involved with financing development of the competing Sachs Elan hub. Rohloff searched but was unable to raise a bank loan. The company was in dire straits, if the product could not be launched, it could not repay the loans. The founders had personally guaranteed for the initial million mark loan. In the end, through local political connections in the

area, Rohloff was able to receive a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

loan guarantee, and with this convince a bank to grant the loan required to pay local sub-suppliers for parts, and commence production of the Speedhub. The decision maker at the financial and economic ministry in

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darm ...

was a keen cyclist. When he had first heard of the Rohloff, he had already decided to buy a hub if it became available. Following a test-ride in May 1998, the loan was granted, enabling Rohloff AG to sign production contracts with the local suppliers by the summer. The first Speedhub units were shipped to customers by Christmas of 1998.

Products

Each year Rohloff produces approximately 20,000 gear hubs. The

Rohloff Speedhub The Rohloff Speedhub is an epicyclic An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the t ...

500/14 is the only bicycle hub with 14 gears, which can replace a regular chain

system regarding level of friction and range of transmission. Rohloff AG also used to make an automatic chain

lubrication Lubrication is the process or technique of using a lubricant to reduce friction and wear and tear in a contact between two surfaces. The study of lubrication is a discipline in the field of tribology. Lubrication mechanisms such as fluid-lubric ...

system called Lubmatic, and cycle tools such as a chain

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

ing tool and a chain measurement tool.

Speedhub production

References

External links