I haven’t yet seen a microspline cog and I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. I’m guessing here but I suppose microspline cogs may appear onto the market but surely they’ll come at a premium as they may be a very niche component.

Single speed 'drive trains’ are simple and relatively inexpensive, arguably therein lies the basis of their purity.

What concerns me more is the shrinking availability of affordable/reasonably priced single speed specific boost, 148 hubs for modern bikes. A single speed hub with a HG driver certainly does the trick. As much as I’d like to, I ain’t exactly thrilled about spending $450 for a hub, yeah?

 

As much as I'd like to, I ain't exactly thrilled about spending $450 for a hub, yeah?

I may be in the minority here, but I feel like $450 is very reasonable for what you're getting in a quality hub. A good rear hub will not only last a very long time, but it can change your riding experience. Especially on a single speed where engagement feels more beneficial.

I hear a lot of people get bent out of shape talking about expensive hubs, and I am always curious what they realistically expect. A quality rear hub takes a lot of engineering, design and machining to build. It's not a cheap process.

I'm not calling you out specifically, I am just generally curious what people are looking for in a hub. Don't get me wrong, if someone made a really nice high engagement hub and only marketed it for $250 I would be all over it. I just don't see that happening.

 

I can understand the attraction to Hope. I had a set on my Stache and thought the quality and tolerances were somewhat lackluster. They also had a ton of bearing issues on previous iterations. As a general rule though they are definitely better than most complete build wheelsets. Has anyone emailed them to ask if they plan on putting out a Boost SS hub?

I would also be curious to hear feedback on the Bontragers. I know their wheels in the past came with Formula hubs, which are known to be disposable after a couple seasons.

Again, take this for what it's worth... I am a bit snobby with my wheels and hubs are one thing I have no problem paying a bit more for.

 

I can understand the attraction to Hope. I had a set on my Stache and thought the quality and tolerances were somewhat lackluster. They also had a ton of bearing issues on previous iterations. As a general rule though they are definitely better than most complete build wheelsets. Has anyone emailed them to ask if they plan on putting out a Boost SS hub?

I have been happy with Hopes and to be honest having tried out Onyx and I9s on other peoples bikes I wouldn't pay more for those. But I figure it is all personal preference. I'd still love a Profile rear hub though.

 

I asked Hope a year or two ago if they planned to make a boost SS hub. They said "no". I asked again a few weeks ago and they are still not interested. I am sure they analyzed their reasons, but it seems like they are missing a worthwhile bit of the market. Oh well.

 

I wonder who is their intended market for that non-boost SS hub? I have been happy with the Hope Pro 4s I have been running for the last year and a half and think they are a great hub, especially considering their price.

 

Why question with SS specific boost hubs is are they really needed? I know you can decrease the cassette area and therefore increase the width between the flanges which should lead to a stronger wheel but the whole point of boost is to do the same thing. I mean is anyone out there single speeding with boost hubs and bending wheels a lot? I kind of wonder if the manufacturers of hubs look at boost and think the same thing and it saves them from making another hub.

 

high-end hubs are all going to be Microspline or SRAM XD in the near future.

It's just not true.

Any decent rear hub is convertible from QR to TA, and back, and from XD to HG and now Micro.

You'll be able to run HG cassettes (or single cogs) indefinitely.

 

It's just not true.

I don't see HG disappearing completely, but I would not be surprised if it becomes relegated to bikes with QR axles, straight steerer tubes, kick stand plates, and rim brakes. I don't have a problem with HG, it works just fine for me. I just can't imagine it competing with the new options in the long run on mid- to high end bike parts. Finding a hub with HG will be like trying to find a suspension fork with canti mounts in the near future. Just something to keep in mind if you want to "future proof" your purchases.

 

The Hope conversion kit sounds useful if you already bought a Hope SS hub some time ago and want to put it in a new frame. I don't see the point in buying a non-boost hub and then putting adapters on it though.

I have given up on finding a SS boost hub. Not much advantage for me over just using a regular boost hub with cog spacers.

 

I have given up on finding a SS boost hub.

Um, Onyx?

 

New bikes are specced with an HG driver with the low end Sram cassettes.

I wouldn't worry about HG disappearing any time soon.

 

While the Onyx SS, Boost hub is expensive, it is really a quality hub. I can see it lasting for many years. It runs silently and its cool to be in the mountains away from everyone and not hear my rear hub.

I have a King SS, QR hub on my Klunker. I ran that hub on my SS 29er for 9 years before retiring it to the Klunker. It still spins beautifully.

I have an older I9 SS hub, QR, that is 10 years old and still functions perfectly.

Quality SS hubs will last years. You get what you pay for.

And BTW, have Had DT Swiss SS hubs also. They don’t compare to those lists above.

 

I regret not getting an Onyx hub sooner, well worth the hefty price tag, I checked around and no one has plans to Make a SS microspline cog anytime soon but as it was pointed out the HG freehub will most certainly be available for a long long time.

 

I suspect it will be a smaller company like Endless or Wolf Tooth that makes the first MS SS cog. Wouldn't be surprised if we see it by mid summer.

 

If quality is King there is only one, KING.

 

They were pretty slow to adopt MS in the first place. Not expecting a snappy response to the very small SS cog market. If ever.

 

Paul Components makes a boost hub that you can thread a freewheel onto. For that reason alone I believe that HG freehubs will be around for a very long time yet.

I will never again ride a hub that does not have some form of ratchet drive system. DT 350 hubs are unparalleled in their value. I've also had very good luck with the Mavic ID360 system.

Pawls suck and there's no reason to be riding them on a single speed.

Edit: That is, pawls suck unless they are in a White freewheel.

 

Paul Components makes a boost hub that you can thread a freewheel onto. For that reason alone I believe that HG freehubs will be around for a very long time yet.

I will never again ride a hub that does not have some form of ratchet drive system. DT 350 hubs are unparalleled in their value. I've also had very good luck with the Mavic ID360 system.

Pawls suck and there's no reason to be riding them on a single speed.

Edit: That is, pawls suck unless they are in a White freewheel.

Nobody tell him that they use the same pawls in their geared hubs. It will apparently ruin his impression of the freewheels, which I agree are pretty bomb proof.

 

Most hubs have some sort of pawl/ratchet ring design in them. There are only a few outliers.

I emailed Problem Solvers about the lack of MS singlespeed cogs. I am sure it's not their top priority, but it's on their radar and they're just the company to make such an oddball solution.

 

Honestly, it would be relatively easy for them to adapt their current "six-bolt" adaptor to it.

 

I rode BMX and remember lusting for a Profile hub because they were loud. I rode a modified Nankai freecoaster for a while and it felt weird. I told myself that I could gauge my speed by the sound of the hub, but that might be nonsense.

 

You may be right. Honestly it's not something I can really explain in a coherent manner... A loud hub just provides some kind of weird feedback that I find necessary. The best way I could describe riding Onyx the first time would be to say it felt sort of unbalanced.

 

As a group, we are a bunch of luddites. You see more posts about steel frames than carbon here. It wouldn't be profitable for a company to make microspline cogs. Someone will fill this niche, but I do not think it will be the standard. It's very easy to switch freehub bodies on modern hubs. There would be more savings from changing freehub bodies than replacing our cogs.

 

I agree it will never become the "standard." HG will always rule SS hubs/cogs, there's no reason to change it. But it's always going to be cheaper to buy a $30 Surly cog instead of an entire freehub on a mid-high level hub.

For example, I9 freehubs go for $130, the stainless HG version goes for $225 or something.

That's a lot of Surly cogs and 8 speed chains.

 

Total sidebar:

It always amuses me what I spend money on and how I value components. $500 carbon fork on the bike? Check. Unused $900 Fox 34 fork sitting in a closet? Check. $8 chain? Check.

 

If DT Swiss would make a hub that actually has what anyone would consider "high engagement" I might buy one. They sell the hub with bullshit slow ratchets and then expect everyone to shell out another $100+ for two metal bits to make the engagement tolerable at least.

 

I don't/won't/can't speak for DT, but I suspect that they know what a tiny fraction of the market even knows what engagement *means*, much less gives a **** about it.

Sure, they could spend some R&D $$$$$ to develop something with high engagement, and they'd sell maybe a few thousand of them per year. Compare that to the hundreds of thosuands that they're selling now -- and that last forever with next to zero maintenance -- and it's easy to see why they're unmotivated to go down that road. Loss leader, most likely.

 

That makes sense. Doesn't make me any more likely to buy one.

 

Let's be honest here: You're not that likely to buy anything. You've written in this very thread that DT lacks the engagement you desire. Fair enough. For a few bucks more you could have DT with high engagement, but you've also said you won't buy that. Also -- again, right here in this very thread -- you've said that you wouldn't buy Onyx because they're too expensive.

You've sort of backed yourself into a corner. Truthfully, it's a corner that not many manufacturers care about -- if they did they would be filling the gap.

And all of this because you've convinced yourself that there's a problem that doesn't actually exist. And is not likely to exist for at least a decade, if ever.

So, if I have this right, you've created a non-existent problem, and are now e-wringing your hands because you don't like the (easily accessible and super high quality) solutions to a problem that doesn't exist?

The first world is landing hard on you today, man.

 

I still haven't figured out why everyone is so titillated with high engagement. I have 18 tooth ratchets in all of my bikes and they are great. I have never (NEVER) been in a situation where I thought to myself that higher engagement would have made something more rideable. If anything, I see slightly more benefit to higher engagement on a geared bike where you are more likely to be spinning a higher cadence (more revolutions within a given space) while being seated.

We are to a point where engagement has become purely a marketing tool, and I think it's hilarious that the same Luddites who complain about modern geometry and changing standards continue to suck up the uber-high engagement BS.

Again, I know that I'm in a minority here and I'm perfectly fine with that. I will continue to smugly ride my 18 POE DT Swiss hubs.

And FWIW, 54 tooth ratchets provide 6.6 degrees between points, not 10.

 

I still haven't figured out why everyone is so titillated with high engagement. I have 18 tooth ratchets in all of my bikes and they are great. I have never (NEVER) been in a situation where I thought to myself that higher engagement would have made something more rideable. If anything, I see slightly more benefit to higher engagement on a geared bike where you are more likely to be spinning a higher cadence (more revolutions within a given space) while being seated.

We are to a point where engagement has become purely a marketing tool, and I think it's hilarious that the same Luddites who complain about modern geometry and changing standards continue to suck up the uber-high engagement BS.

Again, I know that I'm in a minority here and I'm perfectly fine with that. I will continue to smugly ride my 18 POE DT Swiss hubs.

And FWIW, 54 tooth ratchets provide 6.6 degrees between points, not 10.

Have you ever owned a high engagement hub for a significant amount of time? Sounds like you're making some pretty strong conclusions without having spent a good amount of time on a hub with high POE.

High engagement is important to me on every bike, but much more important on a SS MTB. Hands down the one bike where high engagement has tangible benefits.

Marketing has nothing to do with my perception of the ride qualities I spec my bikes with. I have +/- 8 American made hubs with moderate to super high engagement on my bikes, all of which I built myself. I put in about 350-400 hours per year on the bike. For technical terrain in particular, I much prefer a high engagement hub, and frankly the higher the better.

There is no right or wrong, and you're entitled to your opinion, but just because you don't notice or care doesn't mean other people can't tell the difference.

 

With regards to my post above, it states that "I" don't understand the hype, and that "I" don't believe there's benefit on a SS bike. I'm not telling you not to ride a bike with high POE, but I personally don't think it's better and I stated that I do know I'm in the minority.

 

I've ridden low POE and I've ridden Chris King and several things inbetween. I also just received my new I9 Classic (90 POE) hubs from Jenson today that's going on my single speed. There's absolutely a benefit and quite noticeable one at that when riding higher POE on single speed. I agree...it's not as noticeable riding geared.

 

DT 350 for SS

Has anyone had any experience single speeding with the DT 350 rear hub?

Additionally, how about if it's laced to a Specialized Carbon Roval Control rim or the Traverse Carbon rim?

 

Has anyone had any experience single speeding with the DT 350 rear hub?

Additionally, how about if it's laced to a Specialized Carbon Roval Control rim or the Traverse Carbon rim?

I have set of 350 hubs that I picked up several years ago on a killer deal and have always planned to build them up as a spare wheelset for my SS. Although my 14 year old daughter seems to be growing like a weed and I can see her soon fitting my old Kona Unit frame currently hanging in the garage, so maybe I'll put them on that. They are proven hubs and I see no reason why it would be different than running them on any other rim or bike.

 

Thx for the reply. I've had good luck with I9's but never had DT Swiss 350 hubs. Hopefully they are solid enough to handle a single speed setup.

 

They are solid hubs, but the POE is going to be significantly less than your I9s if that matters to you.

 

Current rear DT350 hub has the Microspline. Need to run my singlespeed spacer and cog kit. Would anybody know what options that are out there? Guessing I need to change freehub out?

 

Unless something changed since I brought the topic up, you'll need to change the freehub. I'd email some companies that specialize in oddball stuff like this and let them know you're interested in a MSSS cog.