Bueller... Bueller...

 

I assume you are talking about the rear as the front hubs are the same as any other really?

I have a Novatec rear hub on my full-sus, so far no problem and I don't see any reason why that should change. The design is very similar to the likes of Hope so, as long as they didn't make the bits out of cheese, it should last.

When rooting around the net, I did find hubs that suffered failure in the freehub body. They removed metal in between the pawl sockets and it seems to have taken too much strength out.

But it looks like they've fixed this. My hubs, and all of the hubs I see on sale today, no longer have these cutouts.

Having said that, I still think aluminium is a totally stupid material for something as highly loaded as a freehub body. Novatec make a gazillion different hubs and options though so I run my hub with both a steel freehub body and a steel axle, the alloy ones are in a drawer. I'd rather pedal a fractionally heavier bike than walk a fractionally lighter one!

 

I assume you are talking about the rear as the front hubs are the same as any other really?

I have a Novatec rear hub on my full-sus, so far no problem and I don't see any reason why that should change. The design is very similar to the likes of Hope so, as long as they didn't make the bits out of cheese, it should last.

When rooting around the net, I did find hubs that suffered failure in the freehub body. They removed metal in between the pawl sockets and it seems to have taken too much strength out.

View attachment 1118338

But it looks like they've fixed this. My hubs, and all of the hubs I see on sale today, no longer have these cutouts.

View attachment 1118339

Having said that, I still think aluminium is a totally stupid material for something as highly loaded as a freehub body. Novatec make a gazillion different hubs and options though so I run my hub with both a steel freehub body and a steel axle, the alloy ones are in a drawer. I'd rather pedal a fractionally heavier bike than walk a fractionally lighter one!

im using this Shimano, things built like a tank, and zero maintenance. im sure its heavier but less pita too me = king

 

I have had Novatec hubs on two gravel bikes and they have been perfect. They have been the X-Light versions which are great for building super light, but cheap wheels. I have been riding them non-stop through our wet and muddy off-seasons and they seem to be sealed pretty good. Bearings stay super smooth even after two/three years.

I don't know about their hubs that are aimed for trail riding and enduro, but I would be willing to try them. Spare parts seem to be easily and cheaply available (in EU check cnc-bike.de), so no big deal if you break something.

 

They have to be kept clean so each pawl gets full engagement. If they go silent it's time to clean them

 

I've broken 4 of these hubs!!!! 4!!!! Now I did put a ton of miles on them, and I've broken many wheelsets, but still. Killing these hubs is easy if you ride a lot.

 

You're doing worse than me, I've only destroyed two of them, but the last time it totally locked up and left me stranded five miles out in the woods. Finally just said screw it and went out and bought a new rear wheel with a DT Swiss hub. Haven't had one single issue since. It's embarrassing that SC uses these hubs. The company is a joke.

 

The Novatec / Race Face Arc40 wheels that came on my '17 Chameleon creak and tick (assuming poor spoke tension?) and that bike has less than 200 miles on it, most of it very gentle. I would 100% not buy any build that includes Novatec in the future... but I'm also learning that I'm so picky about the rest of my components, any future build will be a complete custom build anyways.

 

It's not spoke tension....it's just a poorly built hub. No matter what you do, that creaking and ticking won't go away.

 

My front hub works fine. Rear replaced with a DT Swiss 350.

 

Just did the same thing, DT Swiss 350 rear and the front is just a tube with bearings so it should be fine.

 

There appear to be several levels of Novatec hubs spec'd on SC bikes. Mine are the d541/2 series and they have been solid so far, but I did repack and regrease them mid-season last year. They are not the 3 prawl pictured above, but rather have 6 prawls and larger diameter cartridge bearings.

Some of the other (cheaper?) Novatec hubs can be pretty iffy, apparently. So I would say it really depends on the model. Novatec makes some pretty good stuff and some pretty cheap stuff.

 

You guys that are blowing up freehubs, which model/year do/did you have?
I took apart my d542sb-b12 to do routine maintainance recently and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of it and how clean everything was after a year of riding it on dirt. All the bearings were butter smooth and say "Japan EZO" on them (is that good?)
I cleaned up and re greased the pawls (6, like kpdemello said) and the toothed ring and it quieted it down a bit. Still louder than I would like but better. Maybe I can just add so much grease that the pawls can't move anymore, then they'll STFU, lol.
So now I'm thinking its pretty good and I should just keep it, it has given me no trouble.

 

Lets see, the newest ones are on my 2018 tallboy carbon c(these are all rear hubs by the way). But I've also had them on light bicycle rims (rims where fine, hub destroyed). those would be 2015-2016. And then destroyed another off some 2016-2017 rims I picked up. Don't remember the exact models of hubs, it's been too long.

 

Been on xd641/2sb Novatec hubs...6 pawl hubs, for 4 years with annual disassemble and grease....no creak, noe failures. Bullet proof as far as I'm concerned...being 245lbs and ridding pretty hard and at least weekly

 

When does the patent run out on DT Swiss star ratchet?

 

I have an 18 Transition Scout, mine is creaking, TR said it needs to be replaced from novatec RMA. Im going to put a DT 350 on it, May send it in to novatec and then sell the replacement.

 

i broke the freewheel. had a shop get them warrantied. shop got some parts but it didnt fix the problem. not sure what is going on but i think its time for a new wheelset :madman:

 

I broke the freewheel.

Which part broke?

 

after using my bike for 3 months the rear hub completely went to S****, the front hub work great, after talking to SC they replaced the whole wheel for one with a SRAM HUB, in the mean while I got a new set of carbon wheels. If anyone is looking for a new set of wheels let me know.

 

Interesting... I've got 83 miles on my Transition Sentinel and the rear wheel just took a sh|t this morning. Just spins. Awaiting the call from the shop...

 

I would love to see pictures of the failed hubs to see which bits are actually breaking.

 

My shop guys said most of the pawls sheared off and there was another "sliding ring" that was being replaced as well but he didn't specify what was wrong with the ring...

Looking into a set of Speed Dream Wheels from Dave Thomas now.

Even though these are gonna be replaced under warranty it leaves me little faith in them I should be able to ride 3 years without a problem, not 3 months...

 

I suspect mines a pawl or drive ring problem, it would pop when laying down power, almost sounded like a spoke moving


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mine actually locked up, which is the opposite of what usually happens to me

 

looks like they replaced the novatecs with the DTswiss 370. My bike came with them instead of the novatecs, a pleasant surprise.

 

I have a set of Novatec Jetfly wheels on my road bike, which obviously have Novatec hubs. I think they're awesome. Probably 1000 miles on them by now with ZERO issues.

 

Novatec makes hubs from $40 to $400. The issues in this thread have to do with the cheaper end being used on $4000+ all mountain bikes and failing.

 

i have Deore hubs on my 8 year old hardtail. except for tightening up the rear axle, when it was a couple months old, theyve been flawless

 

My drive ring broke into 7 pieces.

 

Mine is still doing great, having never been opened/maintained. It's been fantastic. However, a customer came in with the same rear hub I have and it's making really bad noises. Autopsy/SC warranty coming soon.

 

My 18 HTLT came with D642 hubs, the front has been perfect but I blew up the rear x2, failure came from cranking force and blowing out the freehub body where the pawl applies pressure.

In terms of creaking and noises they have shown zero of those symptoms. Interestly everytime the hub failed I was still able to ride on it to get home but I was able to hear less engagements.

After blowing up the second hub Novatec upgraded me from their 84poe freehub/ring to the 120poe so far 5 months on the 120poe setup and it has been flawless. There is some deformation on the xd spline from the cassette but the freehub internals are issue free. I will service the hub by cleaning the ring + pawls and lube the pawl bases with some Dumonte freehub oil, I run the hubs fairly dry in general and they seem to like it.

For the record I am 6'8" 250lbs and athletic so I really crank on drivetrain. I reported the hub failure to SC and they offered me a set of i9/TRS+ wheels as a warranty replacement. I took them up on the offer and have those as a backup, I will also be getting the steel i9 freehub since durability is my main focus.

For those of you experiencing issues with the D642s I highly recommend the 120poe upgrade if resolved my durability issues and you get faster engagement!

Here are some pics of the failures and also the 84 vs 120 poe

Evan

 

View attachment 1198340

This is basically the same failure as the other hubs. They have removed too much metal from the area supporting the pawls. Hopefully they will learn.

 

Wildly different experiences in this thread. Maybe Novatec is just a name applied to any hubs of these patterns coming from China... or is it Taiwan? Just got a set of D791SB-D792SB on Ebay, and they shipped from Xiamen, China. The packaging inside says 'made in Taiwan'. Yes, they're just across the water from each other, but both for $88US? I'm betting they were made with Communist slave labor on the mainland. The drive is 4-pawl and bearings are marked 'Amigo'. They're for a budget urban commuter bike. Maybe they won't blow up.