Technical Stuff
Everything has a finite life - but the correct maintenance will prolong that.
This top quality hub saw use in three seperate wheelsets, under four different riders - and it was ridden hard. Like all high performance machinery, the appropriate maintenance is just as important as frequent maintenance. Properly maintained, it would have lasted a few more years. In this case, a well meaning mechanic used a sticky grease on the pawls. A heavy grease can cause one or two (of the three) pawls to stick, thus spreading torque over less pawls that are engaging, and elongating the pawl seats. Once done, the damage cannot be undone, and accelerates other issues (as the pawls no longer sit properly...
Invest in hubs, and here's why.
27.5" 29er Aero Alex Rims All Mountain Bontrager Carbon Classic Cyclocross DT Swiss Easton Enduro Gravel HED Hope Hplusson Hybrid Kinlin Lefty Nextie Novatec Pacenti Project321 Sapim Shimano Spank Stan's No Tubes Syntace Track and Fixed TT and Triathlon Tubeless Tune Velocity Wheel Builds Wheel Repairs White Industries XLR8 Hubs XLR8 Rims Zelvy Zipp
We've been doing this bike wheels thing for a while now, and there's one constant .... hubs are an investment. Buy wisely, and buy once. A good set of hubs will last several sets of rims. We recommend spending at least as much on hubs as the rest of the wheelset. Why? Aren't the rims the core of a wheelset? As we see it, rims are somewhat consumable. Certainly in the case of rim brake rims, as wear on the brake tracks will one day compromise rim integrity, and they'll need to be replaced. With the emergence of disc brakes...
Cannondale Ai Asymmetric System - a detailed explanation of an elegant solution to a complex problem.
29er All Mountain Carbon Cyclocross Enduro Gravel Lefty Nextie Project321 Wheel Builds Wheel Repairs
Our sponsored World Champs XC racer switched over to Cannondale recently, and she quickly needed some new wheels for her Cannondale "Ai" Scalpel. Ai stands for Asymmetric Integration and means the rear wheel has a specific 6mm dish (to the non drive side). More on that in a moment. She rides Project 321 hubs, and the beauty of the system is that standard hubs can be used, along with standard rims. From the wheel perspective, we have to build to a specific offset. Cannondale says the offset shifts the rear hub and drivetrain 6mm to the right, enabling super short chainstays without any of...
These Project321 hubs are being built into their third set of wheels ....
At XLR8 we find that we often use the word "Investment" to describe Project321 hubs. There are cheaper hubs, and there are more expensive hubs, but in our experience Project321 product is built as well, or better than even the highest priced competition. Originally the hubs were built with some Stan's alloy rims, but once she'd trashed those rims, another builder rebuilt these hubs onto some Nextie Carbon rims, but unfortunately used alloy nipples. They are not a good spec choice for the adverse conditions of MTB. They corroded and broke. The hubs are still perfect, and have never needed...
White Industries – often the best choice
Aero All Mountain Classic Cyclocross Hplusson Track and Fixed TT and Triathlon Wheel Builds Wheel Repairs White Industries
