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I hadn't been planning to upgrade the stock wheels on the Chase (Sun Doubletrack on Coda hub) until I ballsed up a small jump at Still Woods and pretzled the front big style. Not knowing where best to get a newy I spoke to Norco Nick who suggested Rob at Bad Ass Bikes on the airport side of Bristol.
What do Hope Say
The all new Pro2 range of hubs include a further development of our proven ratchet mechanism. This features a one piece 7075 aluminium rotor body and pawl carrier. Four pawls engage into a twenty-four tooth steel ratchet which is fixed into the hub shell and is sealed with a frictionless, non contact labyrinth seal. The axle runs on five cartridge bearings. The hub shell is machined from a solid billet of 2014 T6 aluminium.
So whats it like
After a quick phone call he suggested I pop over for a chat to see what he could do for me. He explained he wouldn't be as cheap as those on t'internet but would build me a strong wheel that he would re-true for free if my heavy handed riding put it out of true. That sealed it for me, and after explaining my riding preferences to Rob ie ham fisted, prone to sudden crashing and the like he hooked me up with a 36 hole Hope Pro II with a Mavic XM321 rim. Rob prefers to use silver spokes as they are tougher than black anodised so I went back in a few days to pick up my new wheel. I have to say it looked the business so I bolted it in and off I went.
Now I'm not the easiest on a bike, and in the few months I've had this rim I've done uplift days at Afan, Cwm plus countless other downhill, dirt and NS sessions and this rim is still running like a swiss watch. Bare in mind I'm running a hardtail with 4 inchs of front travel only and you'll get an idea of just how good a build this is.
Turns out that Rob is not only a top wheel builder but also a very handy downhiller racer and freerider (check him casing the wall at Cwmcarn on the Bristol Freeriders gallery). So i've been back a few times for services and bits and bobs, he is one of the rare breed that don't give you the hard sell but try to find out exactly what you need and hes now built me a rear wheel and tuned my fork as well. I'm happy to hand over my hard earned for this type of quality service.
Links:
Bad Ass Bikes
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