Day 94...Alchemy Hubs

Ive talked about these hubs for a bit, and have recommended them ever since having a sit down with the owner of Alchemy and getting a tour of the rear ORC hub.  The front is just as impressive.  Now there are those out there who are die hard fans of Chris King, DT Swiss and others, but IMO these are the most well thought out hubs on the market and made with the intent being built to a rim from the ground up.  Alchemy just didnt set out to make a great hub, they set out to make a great hub that builds into a great wheel.

Im trying to set up an interview with Alchemy and get an actual video interview with the owners so they can explain every single aspect of the hubs.  Lil things like flanges that are angled in at an optimal 6 degrees for building. Oversized pawl/ratchet engagement system that helps to transmit maximum power input for maximum power output to the wheel. The front ELF hub has bearings that sit outside the hub flange making it 30% stiffer than any hub on the market in lateral stiffness tests.  2 bearings dedicated strictly to supporting the freehub body which in most hubs is simply compressed onto the hub shell making it sticky if overloaded. Many many other features as well.  When I get that interview Ill post it up here, but until then, enjoy these glimpses into the ORC hub.

this is the unpolished version, they come in Anodized Red, Black and Silver...all hand polished here in  Colorado

the cut away of the ORC hub.  

the 3 pawl system, with ratchets set at an optimal 10 degrees apart for almost instantaneous engagement. 

You can see 4 of the 5 bearings here. 1 at each end of the axle, directly against the end caps, 1 on the axle at the base of the freehub body, and the super BIG one at the driveside flange which directly supports the pawl/ratchet mechanism.

There's the 5th bearing directly underneath the pawl/ratchet mechanism, again optimally placed to take load from the freehub body

preload is adjusted with 2 5mm hex keys at the ends. there should be enough play that when clamped in the dropouts the play goes away, so as to avoid over tightening which overloads the cartridge bearing internal races

this nifty hidden bearing sits between the pawl/ratchet mechanism and the oversized outer bearing on the freehub body, again taking load off the freehub body

the oversized freehub bearing, directly on top of the ring drive and directly in line with the drive side flanges

another look at the pawl/ratchet system and 2 of the 3 bearings that help support it

the non drive side outer bearing. as you can see its placed outside the flange which makes for a super stiff wheel on the lateral plain.

Now there are many more features of these hubs that I haven't gone over, mostly because I want Alchemy themselves to tell you about them.  If you look up some wheelbuilder forums on interweb and search for Alchemy hubs, you'll find nothing but awesome comments about them.  Also, their website is going to get some love in the near future.  Currently its more of a word doc made into a webpage.

In addition to hubs, Alchemy also makes some awesome wheelbuilding tools, hub tools to work on their products, came up with an amazing bearing press kit(currently available through Wheels Manufacturing) and is currently working on their MTB Disc version, which should be out this summer!

Until next time...

...boots out.