Rohloff-Equipped, Belt Driven Independent Fabrication 29'er MountainBike

We built this bike for a local customer in El Cerrito, CA as an insurance replacement for a bike that was stolen.  While he was sad to loose his old bike, he got some nice upgrades with the replacement: disc brakes, 29" wheels, custom frame.  He had purchased a Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 several years earlier for a different bike, but that hub had subsequently gone unused following a bike swap.  After demo'ing one of our belt drive Rohloff bikes, he decided to build up something similar based on a custom steel frame built by Independent Fabrication (IF).  We converted his SPEEDHUB 500/14 to be disc brake and belt drive compatible and laced it into new rims for this build.  The paint scheme is based on the Titanium Factory Lightweight road bike from Independent Fabrication that we built up previously for a different customer.

Rohloff-Equipped Surly Krampus 29+ Mountain Bike

We were fortunate enough to get our hands on this Surly Krampus frameset, a pair of Rabbit Hole rims, and a pair of Knard tires from the first production batch of these parts.  The bike was built for a customer in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for bike-packing, including plans to ride the Tour Divide event aboard it.  The 2745 mile Tour Divide is a self-supported, mostly off-road race that follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route along the spine of the Rocky Mountains from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.  The rigors of long days of off road riding in a variety of weather conditions during this event can wreak havoc on a bike, especially the drivetrain.  The Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 offers an ideal drivetrain for this type of event/riding as the moving components are all housed inside the hub, sealed from the environment.  Last year's winner and new course record setter, Oliver Walley, won aboard a belt-drive/Rohloff-equipped bike, showing that the SPEEDHUB offers the high efficiency and reliability needed for such an extreme event.

For the wheels, we laced up the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and a Chris King ISO disc front hub to a pair of Surly's new Rabbit Hole rims using Sapim Laser thin double-butted spokes and brass nipples.  The Rabbit Hole rims are a single-wall, wide 700c/29" rim meant for use with Surly's new Knard 29x3.0" tires.  This configuration represents a new large-diameter fat bike bike standard created by Surly.  Thinner spokes were used based on a lighter rider weight to provide additional comfort to the rigid bike.  Check out more details on the wheels here.

Rohloff-Equipped, Belt Driven Spot Sprawl Commuter/Touring Bike

We built this bright green commuter for one of our customers in Anchorage, AK.  He had been commuting on an aluminum cyclocross frame and wanted to switch to a steel bike for better comfort.  He was also looking for a more durable frame to do some touring on.  He had picked up a used Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and sent it down to us for an overhaul and to be built up with a Chris King front hub into a wheelset.  He wanted to put the new wheels on a frame that was Rohloff, and ideally belt drive,  compatible, so the Spot Sprawl fit his needs.

For the wheels, we laced up the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Chris King ISO disc hubs into Velocity Dyad rims using Sapim Race double butted spokes and brass nipples.  This is a configuration we build regularly for commuting, road, light to moderate touring, or cross country mountain bike use.  Basically straight-forward wheels that will provide many years of reliable service.

The bike is built up with a collection of high-quality, durable parts to complement the nearly maintenance-free drivetrain offered by the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and the Gates Carbon Drive belt drive system.  For the brakes, we used the TRP Parabox mechanical to hydraulic disc brake system, which allows you to use any standard brake levers, which in this case are from SRAM.  Brake cables run from the levers to the conversion unit mounted below the stem and are connected to small lever arms that drive fluid to the brake calipers.  This system offers the solid lever feel of a full hydraulic system without being locked into a given manufacturer's brake or brake/shift levers.  Like the Magura brakes we normally spec on flat bar builds, the TRP brakes also use mineral oil, which is less toxic than DOT fluid and doesn't require as much regular maintenance.


The Sprawl frame is marketed for commuting or light touring.  The geometry is the same as their Mod cyclocross bike with that addition of rack and fender mounts.  Sliding dropouts provide belt/chain tension, and the drive side one separates to install a belt.  A Rohloff-specific left side insert is available for use with the Rohloff OEM axle plate.  Tubes are True Temper OX Platinum chromoly steel, built in Colorado.


Build details

• Frame: Spot Sprawl Steel
• Fork: Spot carbon
• Headset: Chris King NoThreadset
• Stem: Salsa Pro Moto
• Handlebar: Salsa Pro Moto
• Shifter: Rohloff
• Brake Levers: SRAM 500
• Tape: Deda
• Seatpost: Velo Orange Grand Cru
• Saddle: Fizik Aliante
• Front Hub: Chris King ISO Disc
• Rear hub: Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14
• Spokes: Sapim Race
• Nipples: Sapim Brass
• Rims: Velocity Dyad
• Tires: Schwalbe Marathon
• Skewers: Shimano XT
• Cranks: Race Face Turbine
• Bottom Bracket: Race Face
• Chainring: Gates Carbon Drive Center Track Pulley
• Chain: Gates Carbon Drive Center Track Belt
• Brakes: TRP Parabox
• Rotors: Magura Storm

Rohloff-Equipped, Belt Driven Co-Motion Americano Touring Bike

We built this steel touring bike for a customer in Henderson, NV to replace the Surly Cross Check that he had been riding.  He came to us two and a half years ago to build a rear wheel with a Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 to replace the derailleur system on his Cross Check, and a couple months later, we built him a matching front wheel with a Phil Wood Touring hub.  Having been happy with the performance of the Rohloff drivetrain, he decided to upgrade to a dedicated Rohloff frame and swap out his chain for a belt while he was at it.  The Americano model from Co-Motion offered all the options that he wanted.

Co-Motion is one of the few US bike companies that offers dedicated Rohloff-specific frame models.  They build bikes out of steel and aluminum in their facility in Eugene, Oregon.  They are well known for their tandems and touring bikes, though they also offer road, cyclocross, and commuting frames.  Their catalog includes a wide variety of models with stock geometry, with custom geometry available for a moderate up-charge.  A few years ago, they decided to design a Rohloff OEM dropout and offer stock Rohloff-specific frames to accommodate a growing number of custom Rohloff frame orders.  Since many of these customers also wanted to use the Gates Carbon Drive belt drive system, they incorporated a split point into the dropout so a belt could be inserted in the frame.

Independent Fabrication Factory Lightweight Titanium Road Bike

We recently posted a full-suspension fat bike; this week we're going the complete opposite direction with a lightweight road bike.......with derailleurs even.  While we typically showcase Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 builds on our blog, this Factory Lightweight Titanium road bike stands out as a fine example of the work that Independent Fabrication does as well as showing off some nice custom wheels.  IF builds bikes out of steel (chromoly and stainless), titanium, carbon fiber, and a mix of carbon fiber and titanium.  Everything is custom-built to order, and their quality and attention to detail is top notch.  Their in-house paint department can handle all sorts of custom finish requests, including the orange-blue color block pattern used on this frame.  We've enjoyed working with IF for many years providing tech support for their Rohloff frames as well as building wheels for their complete Rohloff bikes.  We featured a Rohloff touring bike from IF back in April and currently have a steel belt drive Rohloff mountain bike frame in their build cue for another customer.

This tricked-out road bike was built for one of our local Rohloff customers in Berkeley, CA.  The customer has a penchant for high-end titanium bikes, including his Rohloff-equipped mountain bike, but made an exception for this beautifully painted frame with carbon seat mast. Lots of high-end carbon parts are used in the build kit: Campy Super Record groupset, SRM power meter on SRAM carbon crank arms, and ENVE Composites handlebar and carbon rims.  The ENVE rims are laced to Alchemy ELF and ORC hubs using Sapim CX-Ray spokes for what we think of as the ultimate all-around set of road wheels.