Virtually indestructible. Unlike so-called bomb-proof hubs, our clutch mechanism is encased within a vault-like one-piece shell. Now that’s fat.
It’s crud-proof. The clutch is protected by 10 independent rubber seals and two labyrinth seals to keep dirt, water and crud from turning your ride into a total grind.
Compatible with Shimano XT, 8-speed XTR and 9-speed Dura Ace.
Submitted by
James Flynn
a
from Coventry, UK Date Reviewed: November 3, 2001
Favorite Trail:
Local trials spots in Coventry
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$150.00
Purchased At:
Broadribbs, Leamington
Strengths:
Light Looks nice Easy to service/maintain
Weaknesses:
Engagement, feels weak and with only 16 clicks per revolution, it doesn't satisfy me (Me is a trials rider)
Similar Products Used:
several Shimano models Hope Bulb Coda 200 Diatech Disc
Bike Setup:
Cortina Dual Frame, Orange trials forks... Oh sod it! Just take a look right here.
Bottom Line:
I don't really know who should buy this hub, they say its bombproof enough for DH but it certainly does't feel that way to me, it hasn't got the strength or the engagement points to be a trials hub and XC riders can get better hubs. Hmm... This hubs abit of a loser, I don't recommend it. Just to annoy you all, I ordered a Chris King Classic rear hub last week so that should soon replace the Syncros.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Tobi
a
from Germany !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Date Reviewed: February 14, 2001
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Weaknesses:
NOT VERY STIFF !!!!!! Only for x-country !
Similar Products Used:
Shimano STX
Bike Setup:
Syncros + Race Face
Bottom Line:
I had very much trouble with this Hub: The axle had play and the Bearings got broken.
B U Y E V E R Y T H I N G F R O M S Y N C R O S , B U T N O T T H E H U B S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Jim Kramer
a Cross Country Rider
from Marion, Iowa USA Date Reviewed: August 23, 2000
Favorite Trail:
Surgar Bottom
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Price Paid:
$189.00
Purchased At:
Hall Bicycles
Strengths:
None.
Weaknesses:
Too much play, water contamination to bearings, many other problems.
Similar Products Used:
NA
Bike Setup:
Gripshift - Good stuff.
Bottom Line:
Blows, good thing you can not buy them anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A real suprise considering the quality of their other products.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Teg
a Cross-Country Rider
from Toronto, Ontario Date Reviewed: January 9, 2000
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Similar Products Used:
XTR STX
Bike Setup:
Full syncros XT/XTR Marzocchi Z3 light Trek Alpha Alum
Bottom Line:
I have had similar problems as the rest. Lots of play, poor design, and I even snapped the axle. I also have the front hub, and it performs flawlessly. Real dissapointement, considering the rest of their components are great.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Clayton Covemaker
a Racer
from Carbondale, IL Date Reviewed: November 15, 1999
Favorite Trail:
Cedar Lake
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Similar Products Used:
Shimano LX (97&99)
Bottom Line:
Everyone is welcome to the own opinion but I have nothing but praise for this hub set I am a 225 pound nightmare on equipment I ride hard and I have not had a single thing go wrong with them. The only thing bad that has happened to them this the aluminum freehub shell got nicked up by some over enthusiastic shop employees but other than that everything is fine.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
derek
a Cross-Country Rider
from saskatoon, saskatchewan Date Reviewed: September 29, 1999
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Strengths:
nice looking, sounds good
Weaknesses:
the bearings are always loosening up, which is no surprise since reading the reviews. I wish i would have read them BEFORE i bought the hub. Also once and a while the freehub doesnt engage properly and skips a notch. That sucks too. I thought syncros was always such good stuff, but not anymore. I only way 140lb, and ride on the praries, how much less abused can a hub get. I wouldnt recommend this hub to anyone. I would just like to say, go for a shimano, they are heavier, but trouble free. My XT hub gets ridden everyday on my winter bike through the worst of the worst and it is still alive. I dont even think i will try any warrenty stuff, just wait for next season and a set of XTR hubs. Maybe i should ride the syncros this winter and see how long it lasts.
Similar Products Used:
xt, white industries
Bike Setup:
brodie soveriegn xtr cook bros z2 atom bomb worn out syncros hubs w/mavi 517 rims
Bottom Line:
Its a no good piece of crap made by a respectable Canadian company. Canadian EH, it embarrases me.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
mike
a Racer
from washington.dc Date Reviewed: September 17, 1999
Favorite Trail:
accotink
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Strengths:
none
Weaknesses:
expensive piece of crap..no customer service..axle comes loose..freehub spring broke..
Similar Products Used:
xtr..xt..lx
Bike Setup:
m2..manitou carbon
Bottom Line:
I bought a syncros wheelset a year ago and have nothing but trouble out of the rearhub...the front hub and rims are fine..the rear hub was loose when new..finally after tightening it 5-6 times it held..then the spring that keeps the pawls for the freehub in place broke..little bits of the broken spring locked up the hub..had that fixed now the hub is loose again...syncros should stick to making things with no moving parts...I've got a 3 year old lx hub that I've beaten the sh*t out of that works better than this thing..
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Tom
a Cross-Country Rider
from Cooksville, MD Date Reviewed: September 17, 1999
Favorite Trail:
Frederick, MD wate shed
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Strengths:
relatively trouble free
Weaknesses:
Axle nut on drive side needs to be checked every couple rides ro tightness.
Similar Products Used:
Chris King's White Industry originals White Ind. Speed Racers Paul's SS hubs
Bike Setup:
Litespeed w/ SX carbon Ventana Habanero w/ Zoke Z-1 Indy Fab Planet X Spot w/ Judy SL w/ White Bro. springs Outback cro. mo. w/ SX-Ti 853 road bike
Bottom Line:
Well, I heard there were some problems with some of these hubs, but I guess I,m one of the two guys out there that has had good luck with them. When they were new, I had to check the drive side axle nut and retorque it to 60 in. lbs. I still check them but it is infrequent that I have to retorque them. I have pulled them apart two times to grease the bearings but that was just PM. I use these hub for most of my XC riding and the really rocky races that I compete in. I don't baby them, I use them for the really epic rides. One thing I learned from the original White Ind. hubs is that after a ride or two the bearings set and you have to re-tension them no matter who the mfr. is. Just because it a sealed crtrigde bearing does not mean you can ride and forget normal maintenance. I used some Chris King hubs on my 'cross bike and after a particularly wet race (read torrential downpour)I pulled the rear hub apart and check the bearings. One of them (the drive side hub bearing) had muddy water run out of it. This bearing seal is exsposed to elements where as all of the syncros bearings have some kind of shield that mud and water have to work thru to contaminate the bearings.I have use many of their products and have been satisfied with all of them. Their headset is every bit as good as King's. I might get godsmacked the next time I ride these hubs, but I would give them two thunbs up.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Mark
a Cross-Country Rider
from Tampa, FL Date Reviewed: August 24, 1999
Favorite Trail:
flatwoods
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Strengths:
looks
Weaknesses:
SLOPPY BEARINGS
Similar Products Used:
xt, crosslands
Bike Setup:
FSR, sun Oxc, black spokes, alloy nips.(looks cool anyways)
Bottom Line:
My hub sucks as much as everyone elses. I can't even ride it anymore. only had it six months and wish i read these reviews first. I don't think much more needs to be said.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Derek
a Weekend Warrior
from B.C. Canada Date Reviewed: July 4, 1999
Favorite Trail:
All of them
Duration Product Used:
less than 1 month
Strengths:
Looks good
Weaknesses:
Excessive unremovable play.
Similar Products Used:
Wheels of all sorts.
Bike Setup:
Rocky Mountain Element
Bottom Line:
Syncros needs a product support! Attempts to contact them were futile, and the solution to there defective hub was to trade for another persons product of equal value. So I did what I thought was best, I payed a little more and bought King hubs. I'll rate them 1 chille just because I got my $$ out of them.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Keith Thompson
a Cross-Country Rider
from St. Catharines, Ontario Date Reviewed: July 1, 1999
Favorite Trail:
Short Hills
Duration Product Used:
less than 1 month
Strengths:
At least it looks kinda cool.
Weaknesses:
I am a bike mechanic here and when I first received my rear hub out of the box it had massive amount of drag. So much that my chain was hitting my rear wheel. I was sent THREE more with the same problem, so finally I got fed up with the run-around from Jason Haycock in warranty at Syncros that I built the last one they sent me only to find out that 40 min. into my ride that the freaking freehub body broke away from the actual hub. I almost killed myself! I would not recomend this hub or any other Syncros product on even my worse enemy!
Similar Products Used:
Rolf, Shimano's XTR.
Bike Setup:
'98 Trek 8900 custom build.
Bottom Line:
This product may be Canadian and have a warranty, but the quality as well as the warranty is garbage!! Even with the warranty in hand, you are just politely pushed aside hoping to go away.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Michiel Beumer
a Weekend Warrior
from Venlo Date Reviewed: June 9, 1999
Favorite Trail:
downhill
Duration Product Used:
less than 1 month
Strengths:
great sound!
Weaknesses:
axle
Similar Products Used:
Dt Hügi
Bike Setup:
steel hardtail with obsys40
Bottom Line:
this rear hub sucks, 3 weeks after purchasing I was biking along with my granny and from out of nothing I hear a bang, the moment after I almost knock my teeth out as Islam into the asphalt . It appeared the axle broke and got stuck!You can probably understand why I hate this hub.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Tom
a Racer
from Toronto Date Reviewed: May 8, 1999
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Bike Setup:
Wheeler Titanium E11 Manitou Mach 5 Forks USE Suspension seat post.
Bottom Line:
This HUB is dangerous, My third one within a year seized while I was riding it, almost running me into a tree. This hub is gone and am now trying a Chris King Hub. DO NOT BUY THIS HUB!!!!!
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Justin
a cross-country rider
from Utah Date Reviewed: February 20, 1999
Bottom Line:
Well kids, I spoke too soon. My Syncros rear hub has now developed play which will not disappear. We'll see what happens I guess. Any suggestions TO FIX this hub other than replacing with a Hugi or a King?
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Kevin
a racer
from Canada Date Reviewed: January 18, 1999
Bottom Line:
I dont know what happened with all of these guys but the pair of syncros hubs i HAVE been riding for a year now have had no problems, no play and no repacking. The only thing I can say about mine is they have been bombproof and perfect. I am 190 pounds and ride downhill/xc in Vancouver with these laced to a rhyno lite (also an awesome wheel)and have had no problems. GOOD LUCK
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Justin
a cross-country rider
from Utah Date Reviewed: January 15, 1999
Bottom Line:
These reviews are scary to say the least. I have had a Syncros hubset for 11 months now and had only one problem. I was in Moab and developed play in the rear axel. I stopped by Poison Spider (who rules all in Mobe)to have it fixed. The mechanic could not get the bearings adjusted until he COMPLETELY disassembled the hub and greased everything. It has since worked great. I raced 13 races and rode the hubs all year. So far so good I guess! I have since had both hubs torn down and after several Moab trips and racing all year, they were not even dirty. Kudos to Syncros but I will keep my fingers crossed.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Martin
a cross-country rider
from Sweden Date Reviewed: December 5, 1998
Bottom Line:
I Now know where the play in this hub is located. It's because of the bearings and not a poorly designed axle or freehub(even though the design obviously is poor). Ive taken this hub apart and tried to find where the play comes from many times and im sick of it. It's the bearings!!!!!!. I switched to flawless SKF bearings (Swedish made) and the play is gone. SYNCROS PLEASE SWITCH TO QUALITY SKF BEARINGS. To all the other unhappy rear hub owners, your problems with this hub will dissapear with SKF'S. P.S I have never had a better front hub than syncros.!!!!!!!!!!
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Alan
a cross-country rider
from Santa Cruz, CA Date Reviewed: October 4, 1998
Bottom Line:
This failed after six months. First of all I'm an experienced bicycle mechanic and I own many bikes and I ride them all enough that each bike gets out at least once per week. The Syncros hubs were on a lightweight hardtail I typically use on fire roads and non-technical trails. Several times the hub started squeaking, which is something I've never had happen on a freshly lubed hub. Whether it was from the rubber seal contact or coming from the bearings is still a mystery. It was annoying to say the least. After 4 months and several total re-builds, I was unable to adjust the play out of it. This seems to be a common problem with this hub. After 6 months, now a sloppy rear wheel, the freewheel started to have intermittent heavy drag. At this point I dumped the hub and rebuilt the wheels with a set of flawless XTRs I had laying around. (BTW, these XTR's I've had for nearly 3 years and I've only repacked them once.)The Shimano XTR hubs have out performed yet another set of high-buck hubs. I'm getting sick of XTR grey, so if anyone else wants to challenge Shimano, go for it. However, I'm going to be a bit reluctant to try another high-zoot aftermarket design. I had high expectations from Syncros, but I'm never going to use a rear hub from them again. The front hub, for what it's worth, is working fine but it's by far a lot less complex component.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
ShopChick
a cross-country rider
from Texas Date Reviewed: October 3, 1998
Bottom Line:
I work in a bike shop and I have seen more Syncros seatposts and hubs returned than I have seen bottles of the infamous bad batch of White Lightning. All of Syncros' shit breaks...don't waste your money. The guy who made up the joke about this company was right: Syncros is Canadian for broken!!
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Tom
a racer
from Toronto, Ont Date Reviewed: September 19, 1998
Bottom Line:
The first one I received had several manufacturing flaws. It was returned for warranty work and I received it back only four weeks later. The replacement squeaked when I first got it but taking it apart and repacking it with grease seems to have helped. Now it works great but if it breaks again its out the window. It has been more trouble than its worth.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
pol
a cross-country rider
from SF CA Date Reviewed: August 9, 1998
Bottom Line:
As seems to be the case with most of the other reviews here, I had problems with play in the rear axle. While syncros copped to the problem of some poorly made axles, the replacement they sent was also defective. Needless to say, that was the end of Syncros hubs for me. On to Chris King noisemakers.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Paul Richardson
a weekend warrior
from Oakland, Ca USA Date Reviewed: August 7, 1998
Bottom Line:
Well, I had new wheels built using the syncros front and rear hubs. The front hub is fineI have gone through a new clutch on the rear in less than 5 mos. Syncros admitted that some of the rear hubs suffer from excessive play due to a design problem. They sent me down a new hub, the LBS built up a new wheel and discovered that the new hub was also loose with a lot of play. I am quite disappointed and will be moving onto a new hub. Probably a Chris King
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
yuri
a cross-country rider
from Ottawa Date Reviewed: June 17, 1998
Bottom Line:
Junk.Mine had the following problems: - freehub catches when coasting (did this out of the box) - loose bearings (should be press-fit) - lots of play - scored axle nuts (probably from the amount of play) - ratchet teeth broke leaving metal filings inside freehubThe main seal between hub and freehub is poorly designed and won't last. The warranty policy has been a nightmare. Other owners had the same problems, including the first reviewer here.Spend your money elsewhere.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Capn Canuck
a cross-country rider
from Victoria, B.C. Date Reviewed: May 14, 1998
Bottom Line:
Hey Alan (below) a weak Canadian dollar actually gives you a discount when buying products made north of the border. I've paid Candian cash for all my Syncros stuff and still find it well worth the price. R i d e
o n
B r o'
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Alan
a cross-country rider
from Santa Cruz, CA Date Reviewed: March 6, 1998
Bottom Line:
First of all I have been a fan of Syncros hardware for a few years. Syncros components tend to be no-nonsense and high quality. In many respects this hub is no exception. However, Syncros components are very pricey, even more so when you consider the weak Canadian dollar. From an engineering standpoint, the Syncros rear hub is a masterpiece. The bearings are properly sealed and are large enough to last a long time. It's somewhat light weight and has a quieter ratchet mechanism than the XTR. The engagement is not as frequent as a Chris King, but more so then an XTR. The axle ends are hardened steel to ”bite” into the frame dropouts and hold more securely, a problem with other hubs in extreme situations. Maintaining this hub is a breeze, but like all hubs, you must use the proper lubricants. One potential problem is the aluminum freewheel body. This might be nit-picky, but steel cogs have a tendency to cut into alloy bodies, even the smallest 3. Syncos could have used steel or Ti to prevent this from happening. XTR uses Ti and costs half as much. This is also a problem with King rear hubs, although the new Chris King disc hub will use steel. The hub finish is far from perfect. Chris King wins hands down here. Machining groves are visible like LX hubs, and I suspect the black finish and Syncros label (which looks screen printed on) will wear off after a few cleanings. Black is the only color option they come in. So far the hub has been as trouble-free as any good hub should be.
Overall Rating:
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