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I have a Surly Troll with rear facing horizontal fork ends.
Is there a recommended way of installing a Rohloff Speedhub 14 on the Surly Troll? These answers mention tugnuts and washers, but perhaps Rohloff have their own adapter for this type of bicycle / fork end.
Or perhaps the Surly Troll with these fork ends wasn't made for an IGH?
Pictures of the fork ends (this is a pre 2017 Surly Troll):
The derailleur arm corrects the chain tension with its spring-loaded mechanism. With an IGH you'll need to adjust the tension by moving the wheel as well as the brake to keep it on the disk. In your configuration the axle sits tight against the end of the slot and chain-pull will not misalign the wheel.
With an IGH the axle is only anchored through compression of the QR on the dropouts which may easily be too slight and allow the axle slide forward on a very hard pedal push. A tugnut will avoid that situation.
Edit: Reading into the manual, I just found that it is possible to use the Rohloff in the same manner as a bike with a rear derailleur. You just need their own chain tensionner in place of the RD. It eliminates the need for moving the wheel and the brake. Chain tension is adjusted once and for all with the axle sitting in the full forward position of the slot.
This is the answer I received from Rohloff customer support
https://www.rohloff.de/en/service/search/bike-finder/details/item/troll/
Built of 4130 CroMoly steel, the Troll is designed as a comfortable off-road MTB/tourer. The frame feature gusseted sloping toptubes, Surly Trip Guides for running full shift and brake housing, mounts for linear-pull and disc brakes plus ample room between the stays for high-volume rubber…up to 2.75"!
The Troll’s…rear load horizontals feature a derailleur hanger, slotted disc brake mounts, M10 x 1mm threaded holes for mounting the Surly Bill & Ted trailer via connecting hardware (or B.O.B. Nutz), and a dedicated anchoring point for a Rohloff OEM2 axleplate. Surly designed a ton of versatility into these framesets because they wanted you to build a bike the way it will best serve you. Framesets available in sizes XS, S, M, L and XL.
The Troll, requires:
Disc brake use:
TS DB OEM2 SPEEDHUB + special 4-bolt brake rotor + spokes with a 2.9mm neck length.
Rim Brake use:
TS EX OEM2 SPEEDHUB + spokes with a 2.9mm neck length.
The OEM2 anchoring bolt is positioned in the additional horizontal dropout slot as illustrated above.
PLEASE NOTE:
2017+ Troll models will in addition, require the Surly '10/12 washers' to convert their 145mm 'Not-Boost' dropout system back to 135x10mm standard.
And this is the answer from Surly customer support
... Troll’s rear dropout actually features a dedicated Rohloff torque arm slot. Our recommended set up is the OEM2 axle plate and the a Speedhub that uses the “TS” (bolt-on) axle paired with our 10/12mm adapters (below) to allow the axle to sit snugly in the Troll’s 12mm Gnot Boost dropout. You can also get one of our Snuggnuts if you are concerned about the wheel slipping, but most of the time, the bolt on axle is sufficient.
I read the above comments with interest. I realise the original post by the OP was about 18 months ago, but most of the replies are not correct, clearly given by people who have never done this or don't even own a Surly Troll with this set up. I can say this with authority as I have fitted a Rohloff hub on my Surly Troll and it was a piece of cake to fit. Removing the wheel and refitting it is not a problem. It's not hard. In any case I have not had any situation where I have had to remove the wheel save for cleaning which is once a year or if I want to put a different tyre on the rim. I've not had any punctures in 4 years of riding it. I have never ever been stranded by the side of the road or on a trail. Never. The bike has been ultra reliable. Ok it is not as easy to remove/replace the rear wheel as on a derailleur transmission, but if this is important to you then pass on by and forget fitting a Rohloff hub to your Troll which is your loss, for a big loss and shame it would be.
For me fitting a Rohloff hub to my Troll has been a total unmitigated success. The positives far far far out weight the few negatives. It has turned out to be the best ever bike I have built.
I use a locking QR axle, OEM2 plate to anchor the hub as the Troll rear drop out has a specific slot for this to stop the hub turning due to torque, Surly Tugnuts each side and a quick link in the chain which can be split in seconds with chain link pliers. The hub is rock solid and does not move. I don't use a chain tensioner as it simply isn't needed. I actually have two Rohloff hubs for my Troll. One on a 26" wheel and the other on a 700C wheel. At the moment I have the 700C wheel on the bike with 35C tyres on. It rolls so much better. If I am going off-road touring or riding trails I may put the 26" wheels with 2 inch wide tyres back on depending on the surface or even 2.6 inch wide nobblies if muddy. I must have ridden about 30,000 miles on my Rohloff hubs. The first hub has about 25k miles on it all trouble free. I have also toured widely on it and flown with the bike boxed up no problem. Just keep up with the oil changes on the Rohloff hub. I would not return to derailleur gears. HTH.
This article shows that it's possible. The Rohloff user manual also mentions horizontal dropouts.
A mounting adapter would not be necessary. With horizontal dropouts you won't be able to remove the rear wheel easily, so you would use the threaded axle version of the hub rather than the quick release version. Tugnuts should not be necessary unless you want to use them to make setting chain tension and wheel alignment easier.
All you need to do is figure out which torque anchor to use, I think the post mount anchor might work on the Troll, otherwise the standard anchor with the torque arm.
One point that has been glossed over is chain tension.
The trackends are great for adjusting your overall chain tension precisely, and you won't need a separate tensioner.
However the perfect chain tension may not be at the forward end of the trackend slots. In fact it shouldn't be because then you can't drop the chain off to remove the wheel.
There's a solution though, called a Surly Tuggnut
This item will hold the axle back at the right distance to give enough space to let the axle move forward to create slack to pop the chain off either chainring or cog, and then get the rear wheel out.
Other points - you will still need the anti-rotation washers, but I can't be sure how they would stack up, ie in what order.
Secondly, if you have a full rear mudguard/fender, then you will need to loosen off the rear stay to get enough space for dropping the wheel out for punctures etc. Consider how that might be done easier, perhaps with a clip-on style?
