44 Bikes

[Britishbane]

That bike is a 10 outta 10. That red...

^^that thing rocks. I9 hubs = excellent choice. I like the lettering on the top of the DT too.

Does WTB still make the Dirt Drop bars, or are those NOS?

Could they be Salsa's woodchipper?

[dgaddis]

Could they be Salsa's woodchipper?

IIRC I saw WTB logos on them on a pic on Facebook.

[Britishbane]

IIRC I saw WTB logos on them on a pic on Facebook.

You are 100% correct, I retract my salsa statement. You can see WTB here:


44 Huntsman CX by 44 Bikes, on Flickr

[fortyfour]

^^that thing rocks. I9 hubs = excellent choice. I like the lettering on the top of the DT too.

Does WTB still make the Dirt Drop bars, or are those NOS?

Thanks. This powder really pops in the sun (Tiger Drylac's Dormant Sparkle Red Powder). I'm having some different sample DT logos made up right now and will be doing a wrap of them on the DT later this week (same position). Trying an outline so the logo is a bit more subtle and the color shows through.

These are the older style I9 Classic's which have been updated with their Torch Classics. Just an FYI to all: Their road versions and their soon to be released 11 spd compatible CX disc 135 versions sport only 3 pawls instead of the 6 pawls (my subtle complaint has been file regarding the lack of engagement - that's their signature. Stick to your guns I9! Give me engagement.). So every 6 degree's of engagement vs the mountain's 3 degrees of engagement. Apparently to shave that bit of weight that those pawls add. And I guess some found the noise irritating? IMO: I'll take engagement and a loud freewheel any day. Crazy roadies...

Regarding the WTB Bars: That's a good question. I got them via eBay a while back. They're the WTB "Mountain Road Drop Bars" which is a nice tongue twister. I like the width on them personally and the shallow scoop. So I suppose these are NOS as I no longer see them via WTB's current website.

[fortyfour]

You are 100% correct, I retract my salsa statement.

More shots coming later this week on this one. I'll be converting it to tubeless too later this summer as well.

For what it's worth, and an insider line on my builds: all of my bikes with the exception of my fat bike share 135mm rear dropout spacing. The above wheelset is Industry 9 Classics laced to Stan's Arch EX rims with DT double butted spokes and alloy nips. A bit robust for this setup, but the bigger reason I build all my personal bikes like this is so I can share wheelsets no matter what the setup. I can flop wheels, use different tire setups and if one wheel goes down for repair, and I don't have time to do the repair immediately, I can quickly pull from another build. "Back in the day" I'd have a road bike and a mountain bike built up and didn't have the extra cash to spare on a spare set of mountain wheels which would take a beating. I'd be down for days or sometimes more than a week if something happened. Now with this forethought, I'm back on the trails or roads with a quick switch and I can true or replace a bent / broken spoke at my leisure.

May not work for everyone, but for me, my terrain and riding, it's the hot setup.

[dgaddis]

Thanks. This powder really pops in the sun (Tiger Drylac's Dormant Sparkle Red Powder). I'm having some different sample DT logos made up right now and will be doing a wrap of them on the DT later this week (same position). Trying an outline so the logo is a bit more subtle and the color shows through.

These are the older style I9 Classic's which have been updated with their Torch Classics. Just an FYI to all: Their road versions and their soon to be released 11 spd compatible CX disc 135 versions sport only 3 pawls instead of the 6 pawls (my subtle complaint has been file regarding the lack of engagement - that's their signature. Stick to your guns I9! Give me engagement.). So every 6 degree's of engagement vs the mountain's 3 degrees of engagement. Apparently to shave that bit of weight that those pawls add. And I guess some found the noise irritating? IMO: I'll take engagement and a loud freewheel any day. Crazy roadies...

Regarding the WTB Bars: That's a good question. I got them via eBay a while back. They're the WTB "Mountain Road Drop Bars" which is a nice tongue twister. I like the width on them personally and the shallow scoop. So I suppose these are NOS as I no longer see them via WTB's current website.

A lot of folks were pulling 3 of the pawls out of the original road hubs I believe, to lower the drag and noise when coasting, so I guess they're responding to that by just doing it themselves. That said, the new Torch hubs have a revised pawl design and seals, and they have much less drag than the older hubs. And they're ~100g lighter too.

[fortyfour]

Drag? Noise? People are funny. If you can feel the drag of those 6 pawls, you're either A. using the brakes too much or B. you're going too slow. (I'm kidding naturally here). But then again, I love loud, clicky freewheels.

The new Torch Classics are beautiful IMO. The mechanism inside is a lot simpler with less parts too from the 4 pairs I've built up so far using them. They also removed that large bearing that was wrapped around the cassette freewheel which was a bit of a PITA to seat when you convert them to XX1 drive shells or doing any maintenance that required removing the cassette body - it had a tendency to rock one way or the other before it seated. Not to mention the end caps don't screw on anymore which is nice.

[devlin]

One very easy way of dulling the freewheel noise is to use a thicker oil instead of a grease in the hub. I find any of the severe condition chain lubes do a fantastic job of potecting the pawl system. The great shear strength of chain lubes and teh abiltity to continuously recoat the mating surfaces mean that friction and wear are kept to a minimum. You can also fine tune you dB rating by how much you use.

Beautiful bike Kris. Really top shelf stuff.

[shirk]

Drag? Noise? People are funny. If you can feel the drag of those 6 pawls, you're either A. using the brakes too much or B. you're going too slow. (I'm kidding naturally here). But then again, I love loud, clicky freewheels.

I have a set of Hope hubs on my mtb and next set of hubs will be something quiet. On the trail it's not an issue but I ride a couple of paths and alleys to get to the trails and find it intrusive to others. Especially as I roll downhill in the alley behind our house, feel like the screaming hub is bothering my neighbours, coming home from night rides at 10pm I feel like a bad neighbour.

[dgaddis]

I have a set of Hope hubs on my mtb and next set of hubs will be something quiet. On the trail it's not an issue but I ride a couple of paths and alleys to get to the trails and find it intrusive to others. Especially as I roll downhill in the alley behind our house, feel like the screaming hub is bothering my neighbours, coming home from night rides at 10pm I feel like a bad neighbour.

Loud hubs are fantastic for letting people know you're behind them though, whether it's someone out walking their dog on the greeneway or someone holding you up in a race.

[blasdelf]

I have a set of Hope hubs on my mtb and next set of hubs will be something quiet. On the trail it's not an issue but I ride a couple of paths and alleys to get to the trails and find it intrusive to others. Especially as I roll downhill in the alley behind our house, feel like the screaming hub is bothering my neighbours, coming home from night rides at 10pm I feel like a bad neighbour.

I didn't quite realize it, but my Hope freehub was getting louder and louder

it had gotten nearly dry — lube your pawls people

just pack the whole fucking thing with grease

[fortyfour]

Correct to all: you can quiet them up a bit by lubing or giving your pawls some grease lovin'. The Hope's are incredibly loud. I used to be a DT Swiss man because of that freewheel.

But I9's engagement out on the mountain is a game changer in tech. I'm building up a set of fat wheels (Hope 135F/170R hubs and Surly Marge Lites) and I naturally pulled out the rear hub just to give a listen. One thing I noticed is that there are a few spots where you rotate backwards, get the click, but when you rotate it forward, it actually rotates a bit before the pawls seat themselves completely. The peaks and valleys of the spline/pawls are large on these so that is what was going on and hence a bit more noise I believe. The smaller peaks/valleys of the I9's drive mechanism means the pawls have to travel a shorter distance up/down, so that's less friction and less distance the pawl has to travel and less motion that the pawl is coming back down into the spline (Which in my head, means less noise and less drag).

Since Paul Comp. is using I9 drivers on their hubs now, especially their 170Rhub's, that has been a huge help out in the snow. Riding snow is completely different than riding dirt I found. It's very akin to slow speed tech. Very balancy, very slow cadence at times as you're perched on a packed trail that is only 12" wide at times, but to the left and right is over 2 feet of powder. One false move and you're in the wash. Having a hub that is waiting for you to pedal is amazing in situations like this.

@Shirk: Sorry to hear about the neighbors. Mine live a good distance from me, but it's nice to warn the wildlife who's coming. "Wildlife" in this case includes humans...

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

[jBay]

A friend and I were riding in Kristofer's neck of the woods over the weekend and stopped by to see if the man himself might be around. He was, of course, out riding. I wouldn't want it any other way!

44-workshop-1024.jpg

-- John

[fortyfour]

Sorry I missed you John. I was out on an epic 55 mile mountain bike ride. Totally beat at the end of that one... Next time let's make sure our paths meet!

[jBay]

I'll try to do a little more planning next time!

-- John