Single speed love

[Corbet]

Getting fired up for BMX season (the original single speed). Built some new wheels today for my race bike. Upgraded the fork. Overall I took 35oz off the bike, 21 was just in the wheels.

Wheel components for the other bike geeks:
Profile Elite hubs, Ti driver, 20mm front axle
Ti 2.0 spokes
DT alloy nips
24" Sun Envy hoops.

 

[Lastresort576]

no clips? I'm so far removed from the bmx game its nearly sad..But it's nice to see profile is still a thing.

 

[Corbet]

I'm going to order a pair of Time ATAC MX clipless pedals soon. I rode with my Speedplay Frogs a few time on the track. They were the near death of me as they offer really nothing if you come out of them. I'm also still trying to learn to manual, platforms better for that.

 

[Lastresort576]

good point on the learning. one of these days I need to get a set for my mtb. never rode them before but with the climbing out here theyre essential.

 

[subzali]

My 4 yr old daughter has dumped the training wheels so I figured I should bust out my old bmx to ride around with her rather than the mtb. GT Interceptor, feels like it weighs a ton, and probably looks goofy for an old man to ride with the 20" wheels. Oh well

 

[aprosise]

Rad! You'll like the Profile, hopefully you have good luck with it. Engagement and action is spot on.

Unfortunate to me, I couldn't stop blowing up mine on my mountain bike. (Much different power here) Profile seems to think I'm an anomaly since I went through 3 drivers, a axle and a hub shell in the first 3 months of owning it. I replaced it with a I9 and miss the noise and positive engagement that the elite offered. Not fully impressed with the I9 so far

 

[Corbet]

Wow, I probably built a 100 of those in my early bike shop days.

Rad! You'll like the Profile, hopefully you have good luck with it. Engagement and action is spot on.

Unfortunate to me, I couldn't stop blowing up mine on my mountain bike. (Much different power here) Profile seems to think I'm an anomaly since I went through 3 drivers, a axle and a hub shell in the first 3 months of owning it. I replaced it with a I9 and miss the noise and positive engagement that the elite offered. Not fully impressed with the I9 so far

Seems to me the biggest flaw to the MTB Profile hub would be the seal to the driver. Does not seem like it would hold back the dirt. I road the I9 on a demo bike and liked it. What is your complaint? Of course my MTB still has a simple Hugi 240.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The labyrinth seal is supposed to be the shizzle. I'd be shocked, just shocked I tell ya, to hear of Profile hub issues.

But someday I'll get a set of either those or Chris Kings.

Until then it's the same ol' cheap Stan's imported crap that gets a new freebody and bearings a couple of times a year. To be fair I'm using a Shimano cassette hub with the cog almost all the way at the end of the body so I'm sure it's about as abusive as can be.

 

[rover67]

I rocked king for a while because yanno, it's "king". gave up after sending the rear hub back like 4 times to cure some skip it had on engagement. that was after years of abuse but still, you'd figure the factory could fix it. To finniky for my taste. Now it's a 240. sure engagement sucks (I tried the finer toothed rings but they blew up) but what the hell it's been working for miles and miles. Now that I say that it'll blow up. Friends with I9's love 'em. Never ridden one.

The BMX stuff is neat. Always wanted to go out and try one but i'm sure i'd wreck.

 

[aprosise]

Wow, I probably built a 100 of those in my early bike shop days.



Seems to me the biggest flaw to the MTB Profile hub would be the seal to the driver. Does not seem like it would hold back the dirt. I road the I9 on a demo bike and liked it. What is your complaint? Of course my MTB still has a simple Hugi 240.

Yeah, the seal sucks. This is after 1 week of use.

Never had an issue with the BMX side of profile. That's why I went with the Elite MTB hubs. Torque is applied a little different on a Mountain bike... They haven't quite figured out how to get their hub to hold up to that.

My new I9 has tons of bearing play out of the box. Sending it back already. Its 3 days old.

 

[DaveInDenver]

What's wrong with that seal? It looks like it did a great job of containing all the grenade debris and slivers from getting out.

Seriously though, is that the I9 or Profile freehub? Either way you're a beast breaking them 6-prawl designs. Although I've had my doubts that it's really possible to realize the benefit over traditional setups. The distortion and flex winds up that the force is still not uniform anyway. Chris King should be in theory be ideal but you usually end up with an avalanche since only a small number of the ramps are actually fully engaged and carrying the load in the ring.

 

[aprosise]

What's wrong with that seal? It looks like it did a great job of containing all the grenade debris and slivers from getting out.

Seriously though, is that the I9 or Profile freehub? Either way you're a beast breaking them 6-prawl designs. Although I've had my doubts that it's really possible to realize the benefit over traditional setups. The distortion and flex winds up that the force is still not uniform anyway. Chris King should be in theory be ideal but you usually end up with an avalanche since only a small number of the ramps are actually fully engaged and carrying the load in the ring.

That little crack is childs play They replaced that one. The below photo is the next one in line. That's a broken axle also.
That's the Profile XD driver. 6 pawl hubs are not stronger than 4 pawl. They are easier to skip because the tooth inherently has less surface area to grab (The more teeth you pack in, the less surface area for engagement) Also, packing in more pawls allows for less material to hold the driver together.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Even more so with my Stan's which is just 3 prawls. I have to admit that my current rear 3.30HD has been pretty solid, so the larger bearings must help.

It could just be a material issue and machining in 6 removes too much. I'm betting 4 is the sweet spot since Hope hubs aren't known to give up easily. I think the Stan's can flex to the point that only one prawl is really doing the work while 4 means that it's essentially impossible to load less than 2.

 

[Corbet]

The beauty of BMX is that the races are only a couple hundred yards. So your service intervals can be so much tighter. I'm sure I'll need to open this thing up near weekly to keep it clean. And definitely after a wet race. But those don't happen often. I will say Bridger's Profile mini's have been pretty solid. But he is only 50 lbs.

I'll be pissed if these don't live up to my expectations with what I have in the wheels, Ti spokes and all.

I thought about a Set of Kings but they are just so much money. We have one on our Ventana Tandem. It's held up good so far but honestly does not have that many miles. Maybe a 1000. We did split a Hugi FR in half prior to the King.

 

[aprosise]

The beauty of BMX is that the races are only a couple hundred yards. So your service intervals can be so much tighter. I'm sure I'll need to open this thing up near weekly to keep it clean. And definitely after a wet race. But those don't happen often. I will say Bridger's Profile mini's have been pretty solid. But he is only 50 lbs.

I'll be pissed if these don't live up to my expectations with what I have in the wheels, Ti spokes and all.

I thought about a Set of Kings but they are just so much money. We have one on our Ventana Tandem. It's held up good so far but honestly does not have that many miles. Maybe a 1000. We did split a Hugi FR in half prior to the King.

Exactly. Wet weather and Profiles dont mix... you shouldnt have much to worry about there. I also havent seen failures like this in their SS mtb hub or their BMX hub.

I was a bit put off by Profile's warranty department. I guess im just used to MTB companies, but they were a serious pain to work with. With SRAM, you take pictures, call them, you have a new part the next day and they include a return shipping label. Yes, the companies are vastly different financially, but if you are selling a hub that is ~$500, I expect good customer service.

I had to de-lace my wheel 3 times to send the hub back, and pay for shipping. They shipped it ground each time, sometimes waiting days before the sent it back. This was in the middle of summer when I had races/trips every weekend. After the 3rd driver failure and the broken axle, they said I was "abusing" it and would no longer cover parts. Shane, the warranty guy, claimed they had "Pro's" on their team that have never even broken one. After almost 60 emails, 20 phone calls, they finally just shipped me a brand new hub. Laced it up. skipped it first ride. Sold the wheels, bought I9's, felt like garbage out of the box. Waiting on warranty, selling them and going back to Hopes. Looks like im staying away from US manufacturing when it comes to hubs.

In regards to Chris Kings... Ive only heard horror stories. Expensive tools to service, and if you put down power, they are easy to skip.

 

[Corbet]

I did opt for the upgraded Titanium driver in my BMX hub as I'm over 200lbs. Our King on the tandem also has the upgraded driver option, what ever it was, Stainless I think? My wife does not generate a whole lot of input to that but you'd think if it can hold up to a tandem it can pretty much handle anything.

I've never really had many issues personally with any drivers other than the early cassette stuff in the 90's. My riding now is all recreational other than the BMX. I'm hardly a stud on that.

 

[rover67]

I got the nice stuff for my king and it still skipped when i mashed the pedals and i am def. no stud.

Beyond frustrating especially after sending it back a bunch of times. Never again. They think their stuff is infallible and refused to acknowledge there was still an issue in the end.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'm able to skip my cheap junk (more of random thunks I feel in the pedals).

So King is out. Profile is questionable. Suppose that means Obi-wan Kenobi hubs, IOW, our only Hope.

Ah, what does it matter, I'm not in any position to get new wheels anyway. It's almost as cheap to buy Chinese-made Stan's wheelsets (I'm rolling on a set I paid $400) as it is for me to get parts and lace wheels.

 

[aprosise]

I'm able to skip my cheap junk (more of random thunks I feel in the pedals).

So King is out. Profile is questionable. Suppose that means Obi-wan Kenobi hubs, IOW, our only Hope.

Ah, what does it matter, I'm not in any position to get new wheels anyway. It's almost as cheap to buy Chinese-made Stan's wheelsets (I'm rolling on a set I paid $400) as it is for me to get parts and lace wheels.

You could always go with Onyx hubs.... "Cant" skip a sprag clutch. I like loud hubs though, the profiles were loud enough I didnt have to use my bell to pass.

 

[wesintl]

Not all that impressed with my king. it will skip occasionally which pisses me off and the hub seems like its constantly needs adjustment so it doesn't have play. that's bs. I don't know what i'd get as my next one...

Now my old skool ringle and hugi rachet never had a problem with engagment.