Weight Weenies

apctjb wrote:Thanks for the feedback on EDhubs. Living in CA its not often I ride in the rain

The wheels are for a bike I am building for my wife, and she hates noisy hubs when freewheeling. Are the DT 240's allot quieter??

Are you running ceramic bearings in your EDhubs or have you switched the bearings?

I have 240s on most of my MTBs, all with 18 point ratchets. They can be noisy or quiet depending on grease, like the EdHubs. My EdHubs are on the stock bearings. I don't ride in rain cuz that sounds miserable.

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240s is lighter and has stainless steel bearings. 18T star rachet (standard on both 240 and 350 models) has such slow engagement that it's barely usable.

Bitex hubs (aka ed hubs, aka BHS ultralight, ...) are lighter, have TPI bearings (same as DT Swiss) and quick 48T engagement. Also they are a lot cheaper to buy and maintain.

By the way... loud freehub is desirable and a way to go. It will remind you that you are getting lazy and some crank spinning is needed.

Very happy with my (silent) Onyx Racing hubs... Best engagement I've ever experienced; enough that they've changed how I ride.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbRzD3zjRWT/

ewwhite wrote:...enough that they've changed how I ride.

Could you elaborate on that?

@uraz - could you elaborate on DT240s being barely usable????

TonyM wrote:

ewwhite wrote:...enough that they've changed how I ride.

Could you elaborate on that?

The engagement is instant on the Onyx hubs. It feels like riding a fixed gear. There's no drivetrain clunk when starting, re-accelerating or resuming pedaling.
The quick engagement smooths out the pedal stroke and there's noticeably less noise throughout. Also, coasting is silent and with very little resistance. In a group ride setting, I lose less momentum during downhills and general coasting.

ewwhite wrote:

TonyM wrote:

ewwhite wrote:...enough that they've changed how I ride.

Could you elaborate on that?

The engagement is instant on the Onyx hubs. It feels like riding a fixed gear. There's no drivetrain clunk when starting, re-accelerating or resuming pedaling.
The quick engagement smooths out the pedal stroke and there's noticeably less noise throughout. Also, coasting is silent and with very little resistance. In a group ride setting, I lose less momentum during downhills and general coasting.

What's the lateral stiffness of your rear wheel like? The NDS flange on the Onyx is pretty tight, resulting in a shallow bracing angle for the spokes. That's generally not a good recipe for lateral stiffness.

Ozrider wrote:@uraz - could you elaborate on DT240s being barely usable????

I didn't say that 240s is barley usable. It's decent but highly overpriced hub.
On the other hand 18T star rachet is barley usable (fortunately you can buy 36 od 54T upgrade for a hefty price). I just hate slow engagement.

BdaGhisallo wrote:

ewwhite wrote:

TonyM wrote:

ewwhite wrote:...enough that they've changed how I ride.

Could you elaborate on that?

The engagement is instant on the Onyx hubs. It feels like riding a fixed gear. There's no drivetrain clunk when starting, re-accelerating or resuming pedaling.
The quick engagement smooths out the pedal stroke and there's noticeably less noise throughout. Also, coasting is silent and with very little resistance. In a group ride setting, I lose less momentum during downhills and general coasting.

What's the lateral stiffness of your rear wheel like? The NDS flange on the Onyx is pretty tight, resulting in a shallow bracing angle for the spokes. That's generally not a good recipe for lateral stiffness.

It seems fine for me (a 195lb track sprinter). No brake rub, noise or noticeably excessive flex.

And the dt road hubs will give a rear wheel that is laterally less stiff than the a wheel with the other hubs so that's the trade off you have made.

uraz wrote:

Ozrider wrote:@uraz - could you elaborate on DT240s being barely usable????

I didn't say that 240s is barley usable. It's decent but highly overpriced hub.
On the other hand 18T star rachet is barley usable (fortunately you can buy 36 od 54T upgrade for a hefty price). I just hate slow engagement.

For MTB, yes an 18T ratchet is less than ideal, but it makes absolutely no difference on the road. You are talking complete nonsense.

DT240 are the best hubs on the market IMO, their only flaw is the point mentioned above about wheel stiffness. But it's a minor point.

DJT21 wrote:

uraz wrote:

Ozrider wrote:@uraz - could you elaborate on DT240s being barely usable????

I didn't say that 240s is barley usable. It's decent but highly overpriced hub.
On the other hand 18T star rachet is barley usable (fortunately you can buy 36 od 54T upgrade for a hefty price). I just hate slow engagement.

For MTB, yes an 18T ratchet is less than ideal, but it makes absolutely no difference on the road. You are talking complete nonsense.

DT240 are the best hubs on the market IMO, their only flaw is the point mentioned above about wheel stiffness. But it's a minor point.

AND the driveside hub bearing is nearly inaccessible. You need a special tool to get the star nut out first and sometimes it's frozen in place. I've seen hubs that neither our shop, nor DT could get the star nut free.

DJT21 wrote:For MTB, yes an 18T ratchet is less than ideal, but it makes absolutely no difference on the road. You are talking complete nonsense.

Yeah as alway you are absolutly right...

18T ratchet is fine unless you have to change gear (which btw. you do quite often on a road bike) or stop pedalling for a second. After that before you can transfer any power to the rear wheel, you have to overcome 15 cm of loose movement in your crank. 18T is a joke in a hub that costs 300 USD.

If someone is talking nonsense it is definitely you.

DJT21 wrote:DT240 are the best hubs on the market IMO, their only flaw is the point mentioned above about wheel stiffness. But it's a minor point.

Please stop... Even in a DT Swiss catalog 240s are not "the best hubs". Screwed up geometry is a "minor point"... Such a fanboy.

I use novatec hubs with skf bearings. haven’t had any problems with my wheel sets.

But I do change the bearings before building the wheels. Rear hub would be really hard to change all the bearings with a complete build.

I run Bitex ED hubs on some Farsports Carbon tubs.
On the original free hub there was occasionally a distinct 'bang' on applying pressure to the pedals. I've replaced it and so far so good. New freehub also came with anti-bite insert. I'm no Chris Hoy btw.
Bracing angles are not great so they're not the stiffest wheels and don't go for 2:1 lacing on the rear like I did.
Bearings are fine and easy to replace but they are tiny on the front.
Not all year round hubs in the UK at least but similar weight to Tune for 1/3 the cost.

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