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Dirt Components Wheels


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I'm in the market for some new 29" wheels as my AL bontrager line comp 30 hubs gave out in less than a years use.  

If the folks at Dirt Components make good wheels (with strong hubs) I'd like to give them a try.  I'll probably stick with aluminum, but really want strong hubs with high engagement. 

Anyone  have experience with Dirt Components wheels?  Of course other suggestions are welcome. 

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I had heard nothing but good things about those Bontrager hubs. I was thinking about buying those exact wheels. what failed on them that is not repairable?

what size axles are you looking for?

 

I am a high-engagement hub snob and I didn't find the offerings that I saw from Dirt to be impressive in that department.

Edited by mack_turtle
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17 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I had heard nothing but good things about those Bontrager hubs. I was thinking about buying those exact wheels. what failed on them that is not repairable?

what size axles are you looking for?

 

I am a high-engagement hub snob and I didn't find the offerings that I saw from Dirt to be impressive in that department.

I love the engagement on the line comp 30 hubs especially with the upgraded 6 pawl setup.  Dirt wasn't bragging too much about their hub engagement, so I might consider the i9 hubs they offer.  

Hub gave out last night and I haven't had a chance to take it apart yet.  The cranks can turn the cassette but the wheel is not moving.  Usually this means the hub is out. 

I'm gonna try to warranty these wheels since I've had them less than a year.

These are boost 148 size axles.  

Edited by JRIDER
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17 minutes ago, JRIDER said:

The cranks can turn the cassette but the wheel is not moving.  Usually this means the hub is out. 

If it still clicks when you turn the cranks backwards, but then you get no purchase when you spin forward, this likely means the ratchet ring is slipping in the hub shell. 

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I get that you're thinking ahead and looking for a replacement, but I am more interested in the diagnosis now. Those hubs should pop apart pretty easily. Let us know what you find in there.

FWIW: Industry 9 makes their newer 1/1 hubs in house and they are quite a bit cheaper than the Hydras. Seems like a solid value.

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1 hour ago, Barry said:

If it still clicks when you turn the cranks backwards, but then you get no purchase when you spin forward, this likely means the ratchet ring is slipping in the hub shell. 

Stopped by BSS and the mechanic believes the drive ring inside the hub needs to be replaced.  The mechanic looked at the bike, but I couldn't talk to the mechanic directly.   This information was relayed to me through the salesperson helping me outside.  The salesperson did not think the drive ring can be replaced (would need a new hub).  But that is the salesperson stating that, not the mechanic.  

If that is the issue, then the wheel should be fixed\replaced under warranty.   I'll open it up tonight to see if Barry's or Mack_turtle's suggestions work out.

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FWIW, I've had 3 Stan's Neo rear hubs blow-up on me in less than 2 yrs. Ratchet ring came loose at least for 1 of them...  None were fixable and all 3 warrantied.  Stan's finally gave me a Hope Pro 4 after the 3rd time and that's been solid for over 2 years!

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@JRIDER good luck. I have years of history destroying hubs. High mileage combined with 200+ pounds combined with punchy high torque climbs just kills them. Finally 2 years ago I switched to I9s and haven't had an issue since. 

 

It is rare that a ratchet ring (AKA drive ring) can be replaced. Some are backwards threaded and screwed in (why aren't they all!?), some are indexed and pressed in, and some (worse case) are simply bonded in. I've had them break in parts, I've had them lose a lot of teeth, and I've had them simply defeat their bonding and spin. And luckily most all those happened under warranty.

 

2 minutes ago, ssorgs said:

I've had 3 Stan's Neo rear hubs blow-up on me in less than 2 yrs. Ratchet ring came loose at least for 1 of them...  None were fixable and all 3 warrantied.  Stan's finally gave me a Hope Pro 4 after the 3rd time and that's been solid for over 2 years!

Almost the same story. I had Performance give me 3 entirely new rear wheels because Stan's hubs failed. Finally got just out of my warranty and the 4th one failed on me. Interestingly, Stan's just decided to send me another new one! I still have it and have put almost no use on it because I had decided to move on to I9 by then. 

 

This is just a fairly recent. I had the same story with a Novatec hub 3 years ago. I just swapped it out for a Hope and all was well. And before that and before that...

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Salesperson basically said I need a new hub if the mechanic's assessment is correct.   

I've broken 2 bontrager hubs (pre line comp 30) before on brushy.  Both were busted within 3 consecutive rides on that dang climb after swag rock.   BSS built me a custom wheel with a dt swiss hub which worked until sold that bike.

And I busted a cheap hub (Chinese carbon wheel) on last year's Das Hugel ride. 

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1 hour ago, Barry said:

@JRIDER good luck. I have years of history destroying hubs. High mileage combined with 200+ pounds combined with punchy high torque climbs just kills them. Finally 2 years ago I switched to I9s and haven't had an issue since. 

 

It is rare that a ratchet ring (AKA drive ring) can be replaced. Some are backwards threaded and screwed in (why aren't they all!?), some are indexed and pressed in, and some (worse case) are simply bonded in. I've had them break in parts, I've had them lose a lot of teeth, and I've had them simply defeat their bonding and spin. And luckily most all those happened under warranty.

 

Almost the same story. I had Performance give me 3 entirely new rear wheels because Stan's hubs failed. Finally got just out of my warranty and the 4th one failed on me. Interestingly, Stan's just decided to send me another new one! I still have it and have put almost no use on it because I had decided to move on to I9 by then. 

 

This is just a fairly recent. I had the same story with a Novatec hub 3 years ago. I just swapped it out for a Hope and all was well. And before that and before that...

Have you ever asked the hub companies whose hubs you break what their hubs are rated to?  Based on our size similarity your PRs and KOMs and your propensity to wear out pivots and drivetrains and such--and my performance 8-9 years ago--I'm guessing you're north of 2kW for 1-2 seconds.

I know the CycleOps PowerTap Hub is rated at 2kW (power rating doesn't say a lot since that assumes certain RPM) and I've sent those back 4x.

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2 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

Have you ever asked the hub companies whose hubs you break what their hubs are rated to?

It never occured to me to ask, since I've never used a power meter and don't have any real world data. I did have Novatec tell me on a phone call that their fat bike hub was for "snow cover use only," as though plenty of people don't ride their fat bikes year round.  For entertainment, I just went back and read that email chain with Novatec.  I had only used that hub for about 600 miles before it went to hell. First, the ratchet ring broke into 7 pieces, so they sent me a new ratchet ring, and instructed me to press in the new one with blue loctite. That went well, but once I got it in, it became obvious that I had actually managed to ovalize the hub shell.  Man that thing was junk! 

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6 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

I am a high-engagement hub snob and I didn't find the offerings that I saw from Dirt to be impressive in that department.

I used to consider myself a hub snob when I rode Chris Kings. Then, spacing changed, I got a new bike with a crappy Specialized branded hub, and I've been riding it for years now. So, I'm basically like a "wine snob" that drinks Franzia when nobody's looking.

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1 hour ago, notyal said:

I used to consider myself a hub snob when I rode Chris Kings. Then, spacing changed, I got a new bike with a crappy Specialized branded hub, and I've been riding it for years now. So, I'm basically like a "wine snob" that drinks Franzia when nobody's looking.

Similar, I rode and love king hubs, but honestly, if I had to actually open my wallet and buy something new, it would be DT Swiss. I have had 3 king wheelsets in my life, two were used and one was brand new when I went all out on a new build (having a job was a lot of fun).

But DT Swiss packs the price/performance that you can't argue with. 

Plus, there is nothing wrong with drinking boxed wine, I get some pretty good cardboardeaux from time to time. Once, in Italy, the grocery store had big metal barrels full of wine and you poured it into a 2 liter pop bottle for ~2Euro per bottle. It was awesome and fresh from the local vineyards.

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6 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

I get that you're thinking ahead and looking for a replacement, but I am more interested in the diagnosis now. Those hubs should pop apart pretty easily. Let us know what you find in there.

FWIW: Industry 9 makes their newer 1/1 hubs in house and they are quite a bit cheaper than the Hydras. Seems like a solid value.

Rode the 1/1 on a demo bike and they felt as good as my torch hubs. My next set hopefully a long time from now will be the 1/1's for the great value

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  • 1 year later...

so my Dirt hubs have failed after jus a few hundred miles of riding.  I'm 230 with riding gear and mostly ride Brushy with this bike.  I don't dent rims, but have busted somewhere around 5 hubs in as many years.

I want to run anywhere from 29" 2.4 - 2.6 tires on this bike.  The Santa Cruz Reserve wheels have a max tire recommendation of 29*2.5.  Not a deal breaker, but that kinda sucks.

The I9 101 hubs seem like a good mix or durability\engagement.  Any recommendations for a good solid carbon wheel\hub?  I'm looking for hubs that have decent engagement, but more importantly need to handle a lot of torque.  My mechanic recommended the NOX carbon rims so I might look at those.

 

Thanks!

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@JRIDER you might consider ChiCarbon with DT Swiss hubs. I've had absurdly good luck with EIE wheels riding a shit-ton of singletrack on Chamois Hagar, and so has @CBaron on his Stache.  After 4k miles, my 25.5mm IW wheels running 50mm tires haven't so much as broken a spoke, and have stayed as true as the day I took them out of the box--even though they're not helped by suspension. EIE's 35mm IW wheel would be a great match for 2.6" tires. The only problem is the extended shipping times, and the fact that warranties aren't as good as a US company like NOX or SC. But I'm quite convinced that the actual wheels are every bit as good or better than my DannyMac-approved SC wheels on the 5010. And about 60% of the price.

 

 

Edited by Barry
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3 hours ago, JRIDER said:

so my Dirt hubs have failed after jus a few hundred miles of riding.  I'm 230 with riding gear and mostly ride Brushy with this bike.  I don't dent rims, but have busted somewhere around 5 hubs in as many years.

I want to run anywhere from 29" 2.4 - 2.6 tires on this bike.  The Santa Cruz Reserve wheels have a max tire recommendation of 29*2.5.  Not a deal breaker, but that kinda sucks.

The I9 101 hubs seem like a good mix or durability\engagement.  Any recommendations for a good solid carbon wheel\hub?  I'm looking for hubs that have decent engagement, but more importantly need to handle a lot of torque.  My mechanic recommended the NOX carbon rims so I might look at those.

 

Thanks!

Don't get too caught up in max tire width. The actual tire widths vary so much from one manufacturer to another.

Can also say the 2.5s seem to handle a little better than 2.6 at the limit. The extra volume is nice though.

My vote for reserve or zipp

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3 hours ago, Barry said:

@JRIDER you might consider ChiCarbon with DT Swiss hubs. I've had absurdly good luck with EIE wheels riding a shit-ton of singletrack on Chamois Hagar, and so has @CBaron on his Stache.  After 4k miles, my 25.5mm IW wheels running 50mm tires haven't so much as broken a spoke, and have stayed as true as the day I took them out of the box--even though they're not helped by suspension. EIE's 35mm IW wheel would be a great match for 2.6" tires. The only problem is the extended shipping times, and the fact that warranties aren't as good as a US company like NOX or SC. But I'm quite convinced that the actual wheels are every bit as good or better than my DannyMac-approved SC wheels on the 5010. And about 60% of the price.

 

 

 

Yep I turned @Barry on to EIE with the purchase of my i39 rims (wheels) for my Stache about 2.5 yrs ago.  I just checked yesterday and I've got 3300 off-road miles on them and THEY"VE NEVER EVEN NEEDED TRUEING.  I've also covered over 200 mi at LGT on them (and race pace).  Early on my biggest concern was smashing the side wall of the rim on our local rock strewn trails.  These rims are sooooo wide that they leave a lot of material exposed.  Additionally, they are pretty damn light....that translates into thin walled rims.  So far, no problems, but I can see abrasion marls from rocks and such.  Lastly, my plan reqarding warranty and durability was that I would simply buy another rim (and have it relaced locally) if I ever had an issue.  $700 wheels....+ a future $225 rim (and $50 labor) would still only equal sub-$1k for the wheel set in case of needed replacement on my part.  Now, considering how much use I've had with them, I'd happily replace one of the rims with no ill-thoughts towards longevity if I toasted one.

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