Rides4Beer

Any drag or durability issues with the 54t? I can imagine that the quicker engagement is especially helpful when climbing. I didn't think about it until just now, but it is annoying when you have to shift on a climb and lose momentum because of that hesitation in engagement, would def be nice on the steeper climbs around here.

noodle soup

I didn't notice any difference in drag while riding, but on the stand there was a slight difference. Durability was never an issue for me, but the bike was stolen after 10k miles on that wheelset.

Marcus_Ti

You can drive yourself nuts or psych yourself out with worrying about POE.

It only really matters when you stop pedaling and resume...on an MTB with varied terrain this could be a big thing. On a road bike with more or less steady-state pedaling it isn't, except sprinting.....or excepting the pedal-coast-pedal-coast riding population of which there are many out there.

The coolest class of hubs are instant-engagement...namely sprag clutches. No POE, just instant engagement--and dead silent--which today is just OnyxRP, and they're very nice hubs...LB USA even offers them for a relative steal.



Tech - Onyx Racing Products



https://www.fanatikbike.com/blogs/en...mtb-hub-review

deepakvrao

Yes, I think so too. So, do we know what bearings come with what LB supplies?

noodle soup

Cool hubs, if weight is of no concern.

noodle soup

From the experience that @Rides4Beer had, I'd guess they aren't very good quality bearings.

deepakvrao

Yup. On another note, how does one know that the bearings are shot? Lateral play? Noise?

noodle soup

I first noticed the sound while riding over bumps(caused by lateral play). I'm sure there was some roughness in the bearings first, but I never checked for it before noticing the sound.

Rides4Beer

That's what I figured, real world with a rider's weight on the bike, prob not any noticeable drag. That really sucks that your bike was stolen, but 10k miles with no issues is good.


The engagement on climbs is probably nice. I'm pretty steady state rider when solo, but in a group there's a fair amount of coasting. Like I said above, I haven't had any complaints with 27t, but sometimes you don't know what you don't know until you try it. Those Onyx hubs are def nice.


For me there was noise (off and on, not constant, I'm guessing it would have gotten worse had I kept riding on them), and I could feel an increase in pedaling effort. I'm very familiar with what certain sections of my regular ride should feel like and what kind of speed I should be able to carry, and I was going slower with more effort. Then I put my alloys back on and it was a night and day difference on my ride the next day, which really told me something was up.

smashndash

All right. Got to talk to the global team. Turns out that they really just meant it's slightly more difficult to build the wheel (since you can't use a normal spoke driver or wrench) and the tire/tape stripping is what really gets you. I plan on using veloplugs and tubed tires with this wheel initially to make sure the wheelbuild is stable, before setting up tubeless tape/sealant/tire.

I got a few photos for good measure:



PS: Does anyone know how to resize images? Ugh.

Anyway, nothing seems out of the ordinary for this design.

Apparently, LB can/does use Sapim "upside down" inverted nipples. The reasons I want those are 1) they're rounded and polished on the part that touches the rim and 2) they can tolerate some misalignment between the eyelet and the angle of spoke entry. This should theoretically reduce the amount of effort required to turn the nipple at a given tension and maybe even reduce the odds of a spoke unwinding or breaking (maybe). The nipple shown seems to be a regular polyax nipple since internal nipples are uncolored - which means if you don't ask, LB might use a regular polyax nipple upside down.

Lastly, the global team confirmed that they don't have a flyweight layup or anything. They can "try" to give me a lighter example, but that will most likely be within the 15 gram tolerance.

I'm pretty sold on these, so I'll probably be ordering these/posting about them in the next couple weeks.

EDIT: They also mentioned something about going with "double box" nipples - I assume they meant "double square": https://www.asterion-wheels.com/en/a...le-square.html
Essentially this is a normal nipple that can be tightened with a square driver. I have no idea why this was recommended before/in lieu of the inverted nipple. Oh well.

Double edit:

Chi_Z

feel the bearing with you hand, if it does not spin smoothly and you feel notching sensation, the bearing is gone

deepakvrao

So, got a mail from LB saying that they have run out of the Pillar brass nipples, and whether they can use Sapim instead. They said that matching nipples and spokes would be better, and my build has the Pillar spokes. Will it really be an issue to use Sapim nipples with Pillar spokes?

GailT

November Bicycles has a new blog post on difficult times for wheel builders. They mention Light Bicycles:

Chi_Z

let's face it, wheel building is not an art like those wheelbuilders wants you to believe, it is very straight forward and anyone with patience and a tension meter can build a good set of wheel. With easier access to quality parts, it makes no sense to spend more the same product. My DT350 CX-Ray HSon Hydra cost less than $450, to get similar wheel form November would cost me $800+

Marcus_Ti

...Zipp being a division of SRAM for 10 years now, they're probably not in near as had a shape as ENVE

79pmooney

The conventional spoke/nipple shown on the right has a spoke 2mm too short, Yes it will break as shown. A longer spoke that comes flush with the top won't break nipples. (They show spoke threading too short to do that. Not an issue with the spokes I buy. Usually DT.)

Ben

Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​If you don't already have an image editing progress, go to getpaint.net and install the software. Open a picture (on your computer), go to the image menu, select resize. Something like 900 px wide is good. Save as a copy, don't overwrite the original. Upload the smaller one not the big one.

It sounds like more work than it actually is.

deepakvrao

You mean after you open the hub, and check the bearings, or rotate the wheel itself?

stevoo

In regards to the spoke nipple comment I agree. The quad drives and / or the Squorx nipples work very well and using the driver while torquing the nipples from the rim outside while building is great. Also does not mar up the nipple and allows tensioning without fear or any nipple rounding.
BTW. Have built many wheels using the LB rims. They build up really easily and have worked well for my needs both mtn and road in varying depths.
I usually build w C-Xrays and Squorx nipples. Bladed spokes also make builing easier as you hold the blade to ensure zero spoke wind up. I build with round too sometimes, but bladed slightly easier.
I splurge on good hubs as they are the heart of a good wheel. I enjoy quality trouble free hubs. Have to pay the piper somewhere.
Have dealt with wheels from folks who have lower end hubs. Some issues I have dealt with are bad bearings, even ruined bearing bores as well as incorrect dimensions causing bearing crush when wheel is tightened in frame. Not seen these issues on higher quality hubs.
Good luck.

surak

People who ordered from LB, did you ask for spare spokes? Also, if you ordered from the global site and went over $800, did you have to pay customs duty? Finally, I see they say they're celebrating their 8th anniversary, but are wheelsets on sale or just rims?

firebird854

I have similar concerns as others have noted when it comes to the almost extreme value of this brand. Frankly, I'm looking to purchase a carbon, deep-section, wheel-set in the area of 45-55mm depth. My concern is, I was initially planning on purchasing the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 TLR Disc Road Wheelset for around $1,300, but a similar wheelset from LB is only around $650? Not to mention it's considerably lighter, LB's coming in at 1550g for 55mm depth and Trek coming in at 1,720g for a lesser, 50mm depth.

Yes, I know it's a weird concern that the price and weight is too low, but normally it's a situation of light/aero, quality, $$, pick 2.

noodle soup

The v-shaped 35/45/55mm hoops have been out for about a year now, and I haven't been able to find anything but very positive reviews on forums/blogs(and I searched for months). If you see something negative written about them, please share it.

There is a 5 year old review of some of their mountain rims that is somewhat negative, but most of it was caused by the reviewer.

noodle soup

I asked for an extra of each spoke length used, and they sent 1 of each(with nipple) for no charge.

WhyFi

I don't think that the disparity is much of a red flag in an of itself. You're comparing a large brand with R&D, marketing and distribution/sales support vs a company that has minimal marketing, no middleman, no B&M presence and something like a month lead time. Seems like a fair trade to me, it's just up to the individual to decide where they find value.

robbyville