Rohloff e-14 oil leak

[Jay Kay]

The internet will be amplifying the apparent occurrence of the issue - not good for those experiencing the problem however. Nearly 3 years on mine, no leaks. I do make sure it is never laid on its side however.

 

[JimAndArrow]

The internet will be amplifying the apparent occurrence of the issue - not good for those experiencing the problem however. Nearly 3 years on mine, no leaks. I do make sure it is never laid on its side however.

Same, no leaks in any of my three Rohloffs.

 

[sammcneill]

The internet will be amplifying the apparent occurrence of the issue - not good for those experiencing the problem however. Nearly 3 years on mine, no leaks. I do make sure it is never laid on its side however.

I've been pretty careful with mine and when stored in the garage etc, it's always upright. The only time it's been on it's side is when I've had to camp in the middle of nowhere and nothing to lean it against. Most times I'll lean it against a bush or tree so it's pretty upright.
I'm happy to put mine down to just being unlucky - Rohloff did repair it under warranty (I had to pay freight).

 

[dblhelix]

Im considering an ebike with an e-14. I was getting pretty hyped about it till reading some of these threads .. Most issues here seem to be with R&M or is that just coincidence? Im looking at a different brand. Was there ever any official fix? I wouldnt be able to go weeks without my bike. Im also in Canada so Im expecting the service side of things to be a little worse.

It's not an R&M issue; they've just been selling Rohloff-equipped bikes for quite some time. I don't think any e-brand comes close in terms of sales volume.

I tour a lot, and at this point, I've canvassed scores of Rohloff owners, both on traditional touring bikes and e-bikes. The leaking occurs with the non-e bikes as well. By and large, this is associated with seals needing replacement. This used to be supported as an end-user maintenance operation but no longer. The tools and the seals have been removed from the public catalog.

I'm not necessarily recommending this route, but there's an Austrian seller on eBay who sells a knock-off tool set and seals. That somebody machined quantity tools to sell online informs me that there's demand.

It's not a 'mysterious' oil leak issue. It is not uncommon. Now, if this were a touring forum with old trusty steel steeds, somebody from Rohloff would probably be here explaining that the leaks happen by design, but in a forum for very expensive ebikes kept indoors and emphasizing neat & tidy, all of this is treated as a surprise.

 

[grone]

My E-14 was removed from the Rohloff hub for troubleshooting, and it was discovered that R&M did not install the sealing gaskets during assembly. Maybe other people experiencing oil leaks have a similar problem.

 

[LSantana954]

i've recently discovered some evidence of oil leakage around mine. Would this be something covered with R&M or Rohloff?

 

[sammcneill]

i've recently discovered some evidence of oil leakage around mine. Would this be something covered with R&M or Rohloff?

rohloff only - warrantied separately I believe. there are other threads on this forum about the frustraiton of R&M using a collection of expensive components and not providing an overall warranty, instead pushing users to Rohloff, Bosch etc. Rohloff have been good to me on a gravel bike - they covered a leaky hub repair free of charge (beyond shipping)

 

[Gionnirocket]

i've recently discovered some evidence of oil leakage around mine. Would this be something covered with R&M or Rohloff?

Not sure if you saw the update... but sometimes leaks are attributed to using too much oil.
Rohloff has decreased the amount of oil used to 12.5ml or 50% of the initial 25ml.

Reduced SPEEDHUB oil volume as of 10/2023

www.rohloff.de

 

[LSantana954]

no too many service providers here on the west coast of the states. Ended up speaking to one of them and since they dont deal with the end customer they refered me to one of their dealers. Sounds like i have to take the wheel to the dealer and they'll ship it to the repair facility. If it ends up being a seal is this something that would require the wheel to be completely dissasembled from the speed hub?

 

[LSantana954]

Here is what it looks like. This is what's accumulated after about 2 weeks of use

 

[Gionnirocket]

Here is what it looks like. This is what's accumulated after about 2 weeks of use

How many miles on the hub?
Are you sure that it's the hub leaking... The stain looks dry in the photo.
Honesty... I'd live with that.
Unless the oil leaking always looks wet, I wouldn't bother with the hassle involved.

 

[LSantana954]

Over 4k(purchased the bike in jun of 2024) on the hub. I changed the oil last October, so I'm going to go ahead and change it tomorrow. From the research I've been doing, this seems to be normal; I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Yeah that's not what many complain about when talking about seal leaks. They're talking puddles on the floor.
Be sure to drain as much as possible of the cleaning oil which is thinner and can bypass the seals.
And as mentioned earlier... The new oil amount is 12.5ml.

 

[grone]

Does your E-14 casing build up a layer of caked on grime? That's what mine does - as mentioned above it seems to be because the two E-14 sealing gaskets were never installed by R&M during the bicycle assembly.

Your E-14 looks quite clean. I definitely wouldn't be concerned if that was my bike and that was as bad as it gets.