turbodog
Flashaholic
I have toyed with getting one of these for years. Got sniped on a nice one (with a bike attached) on ebay the other day. Was a shame too. My bid was already 3k! At least the seller got a decent price for his setup.
But back to the topic...
I have _never_ seen an item with such glowing feedback on amazon as this thing. People are nuts about it, after they turn aloose of the cash to purchase one. I said 'ok' and ordered one from cyclemonkey, the sole US service center for them.
I have pretty high standards, and they were pushed even higher by the price I had to pay for the hub, wheel, spokes, wheelbuilding, disk rotor, and nuts/bolts you need to attach it to your bike.
Yes, the thing is heavy, but that's deceptive. It concentrates the weight in the rear hub. Net weight gain is around 1 lb, depending on configuration. If you've got a frame built for it (dropouts) and an eccentric bottom bracket (no chain tensioner needed), you can get by pretty good on weight.
They do make a little noise, but it wasn't as bad a the youtube videos I had watched.
Shifts are quick and very precise. I was worried about this. They say indexing happens in the hub, and the shifter is dumb. So I was worried that shifting would be imprecise, mushy, and prone to skip around due to the grip shift (rapid-fire not an option).
All of those were false. You can shift by ear, feel (through your hand), or feel (pedal feedback). Pedal feedback is the hardest since shifts are SO quick and seamless.
And yes, you can shift while stopped, coasting, pedaling backwards, pedaling forwards (light to heavy load), and anything in between. Gear engagements are solid. I never 'missed a shift', overshot a gear, got stuck in neutral, or had other problems.
Installation took ~4 hours. I was not in a hurry. Had to work out some small problems with my crank arms and chainring, but that was not a hub problem.
The hardest part was the shift cable installation. Getting that sucker in the grip shift was close to a nightmare. The instructions, although extremely detailed (it is a german product), were NO help in this area. You have to wrap 1 cable around the shifter and cram it in there, while holding tension, and cussing like mad. Then you remove the shifter a little, enough to hook up the other cable.
(EDIT: found supplementary instructions on cable installation. My method was completely wrong. Cable install done properly is an easy, 30 second, job.)
Once you get the shifter done, then you carefully trim the cables at the other end. Careful... trim them too short and you have to 1)buy new cables and 2)rethread the new cables through the darn shifter.
Overall, the thing, and all parts, are beautifully made. There is a very precise fit to all parts. It look like it should last a quarter-million miles.
I hate grip shift, but I love it on this thing.
Cyclemonkey paired it up with a nice hand built wheel. I gave about $2100 for the hub, spokes, nipples, disk rotor, wheel, external shift box, torque arm, monkeybone adapter, and race face bb-crank-chainring.
If you're on the fence, buy one.
But back to the topic...
I have _never_ seen an item with such glowing feedback on amazon as this thing. People are nuts about it, after they turn aloose of the cash to purchase one. I said 'ok' and ordered one from cyclemonkey, the sole US service center for them.
I have pretty high standards, and they were pushed even higher by the price I had to pay for the hub, wheel, spokes, wheelbuilding, disk rotor, and nuts/bolts you need to attach it to your bike.
Yes, the thing is heavy, but that's deceptive. It concentrates the weight in the rear hub. Net weight gain is around 1 lb, depending on configuration. If you've got a frame built for it (dropouts) and an eccentric bottom bracket (no chain tensioner needed), you can get by pretty good on weight.
They do make a little noise, but it wasn't as bad a the youtube videos I had watched.
Shifts are quick and very precise. I was worried about this. They say indexing happens in the hub, and the shifter is dumb. So I was worried that shifting would be imprecise, mushy, and prone to skip around due to the grip shift (rapid-fire not an option).
All of those were false. You can shift by ear, feel (through your hand), or feel (pedal feedback). Pedal feedback is the hardest since shifts are SO quick and seamless.
And yes, you can shift while stopped, coasting, pedaling backwards, pedaling forwards (light to heavy load), and anything in between. Gear engagements are solid. I never 'missed a shift', overshot a gear, got stuck in neutral, or had other problems.
Installation took ~4 hours. I was not in a hurry. Had to work out some small problems with my crank arms and chainring, but that was not a hub problem.
The hardest part was the shift cable installation. Getting that sucker in the grip shift was close to a nightmare. The instructions, although extremely detailed (it is a german product), were NO help in this area. You have to wrap 1 cable around the shifter and cram it in there, while holding tension, and cussing like mad. Then you remove the shifter a little, enough to hook up the other cable.
(EDIT: found supplementary instructions on cable installation. My method was completely wrong. Cable install done properly is an easy, 30 second, job.)
Once you get the shifter done, then you carefully trim the cables at the other end. Careful... trim them too short and you have to 1)buy new cables and 2)rethread the new cables through the darn shifter.
Overall, the thing, and all parts, are beautifully made. There is a very precise fit to all parts. It look like it should last a quarter-million miles.
I hate grip shift, but I love it on this thing.
Cyclemonkey paired it up with a nice hand built wheel. I gave about $2100 for the hub, spokes, nipples, disk rotor, wheel, external shift box, torque arm, monkeybone adapter, and race face bb-crank-chainring.
If you're on the fence, buy one.
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