BEEFY BOLT ON COG HUBS! in production

http://valliecomponents.com/

American Mob now building specific bolt on hubs for track bikes. Been handed out to a few trick riders to test out. They looks beefy in the pics and sounds strong as f**k looking at specs. Price unknown…

And they only weigh half a kilo :roll:

Meh… Just buy a BMX

+1

some corrections (i mentioned these hubs in the discussion about using mtb hubs for rear wheels):

  • actually he is canadian (vancouver, bc)… he is just living in NYC for another 3mths while his wifey finishes school there.
  • its not quite a mob as it is one guy :wink:
  • its not in production, as there are only prototypes made, next round of protos are scheduled for a few months away right now and he already has a few refinements planned.
  • they are as beefy as it looks and the guy has a deep background in mtb, bmx and serious bike nerding. he and the other rider (right now) will not only put these hubs through a real street test but they will be recording all the feedback in minute detail. he also has been lucky enough to befriend some pretty smart people in the industry and has been getting some good feedback from them.

he isnt looking to take on phil wood or formula or even profile… simply to contribute his
ideas to the street fixed world and use his brain for something he loves. like many of us he worked a job he became increasingly dissatisfied with and decided to do something about it. if it works out and he can build a self-supporting company out of it, then he will be happy. if not, then he tried… the guy isnt a afraid of hard work and its all self-funded.

ive been following the evolution of these hubs from first ideas over 2years ago to seeing the first shots of them from the machinists floor.

as for the ‘buy a bmx’ comment… both of the testers have bmxes (in fact the current canadian tester was very hooked up for a long while in vancouver) and ride them regularly. this hub borrows strongly from bmx technology and ideas as it along with mtb is their background and a lot of what works there transfers well to urban riding (as opposed to DA and track hubs that are designed for indoor velodromes).

price will be a little while off i think… he has some ideas, but it will depend on what the production costs turn out to be. he knows he cant charge the same or higher price than phils and they wont be as cheap as dia compes.

i’ll ask him what the weight is for the current prototypes…

[EDIT: changed my mistype from nike to bike nerding - lyle wanted it clear he doesnt collect sneakers!]

I have no doubt that these are well made from the finest materials but it just seems like a rather roundabout way to making a ‘good’ product, over building is by no way the best way to achieve it.

If you look at the current state of BMX products everything is at an all time lightest weight yet adaquately strong enough to deal with street riders hucking themselves down rails, along ledges and over gaps.

Basically every BMX rear hub with a 14mm axle is lighter than these and that is even including a cassette mechanism which ‘track’ hubs do not.

has anybody on here tried converting their BMX to fixed?

could be fun

a few years back there were a couple of fixed bmxs on fixed gear gallery. IIRC the owners mainly did it ‘to see if they could’ and seemed to say it wasnt much good for day-to-day use.

i’ve ridden a fixed kid’s bike (14" wheels), it had an adult sized chain ring but its was crazy turning such short cranks.

got a reply back from my friend… basically he agreed, saying that BMX stuff is lighter than its ever been, but “just as recently as 2002 parts were built like my hub. then the attitudes shifted, the tricks changed, and parts became expendable because the makers know that the kids aren’t in it for long enough, and their tastes/bmx fashions change as they go through their teens.”

you could argue the same for the most visible aspects of the fixed gear community… but thats not really his market per se. he is happy for profile, a brand he definitely respects, to sell as many purple hubs as they can (watch for their bolt-on cog hubs to appear this year ), especially since his hubs arent likely to be generally available for a while.

i hear your comments on overdesigning not being the key to good design… but if you have to pick a starting point, isnt it smarter to have a little extra and cut down, rather than start too small and have to design out of failure (see H+son - valid or not, their 2nd release of rims were beefier than the first batch). if the production weight if these hubs come in close to phils (417gms) then i think a lot of comments will thin out.

Iv’e got one running at the moment on a 20" trials frame with a flip flop style hub. Running 14 fixed one side and an E13 freewheel the other.

Took it up Mt Glorious fixed for the annual Australia Day roadie ride, then flipped it to freewheel to come back down. Had a good chat with an Olympic team mechanic when I rolled past him on the way back down.

Good bike for polo too.