Hi,

I'm considering getting a steel frame tourer from Thorn in the UK (the Raven Tour - see here: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/raventour.html). What I'm interested about are people's experiences with the Rohloff speed hub. I've read all the reports on Thorn as well as several detailed travelogues of long trips where the rohloff appears to perform very well. The only issue I came across was where a spoke had broken off part of the flange (?) on the outside of the hub.

Of course, its not a cheap option but my main concern is durability. A common complaint appears to be regarding the noise when in lower gears (1-7). Such issues are personal, however, and difficult to judge without having ridden on a bike with a rohloff before but I'd like to hear from comments from others before taking the plunge!

The bike is for an African trip so the bike will be loaded fairly heavily, with some off-road.

Thanks

Jules