So here's the first review we have had in a while so what shall we talk about? There have been no shortage in shiny new goodies over the last few years as BMX has grew and appealed to more and more people but what has stood out as being worth a place on a real rider’s bike? Well assuming you don’t want me to talk about the benefits of ODI longnecks and KMC chains I suppose I should show you something a bit special. I’ll warn you now this review is long so stick the kettle on and settle in.
Introducing the G Sport Ratchet.
Earlier in the year I had the good fortune to swap careers from being a full time name badge to working at a BMX store which is dangerous as it can soon lead to working for bike parts instead of bill and beer tokens, an outcome that was inevitable in the first month. As a self confessed fan of almost anything made by George French and having drooled over this hub in the past upon its arrival it was built into a wheel (needless to and rode that night. Here are my thoughts from the following months.
So let’s start with the obvious thing that will stop many people riding this hub it weighs 564g. Forgive me for not waiting for the weight weenies to change their shirts after spitting out a mouthful of PG in shock but there is good reason for this hub being a chunky monkey. It’s strong, damn strong. This is partly down to the hefty lifetime warranted 20mm female axle but in all honesty everything about this hub is big the bearings the collars everything.
As we have touched on the axle I’d like to let you know a little more about it. It won’t break. I know saying something in BMX is unbreakable is a lie and I will admit to that but this axle has been around for over 10 years now as it originally featured on the Homer hubs and I don’t know anyone that has bent one and chances are you don’t either though I guess there’s always one.
As with all good hubs the hardware is all cromolly from the non-drive side spacer to the 14mm hollow bolts, broached for a 6mm hex wrench, which are an off the peg thread size so if you break one or lose one then your local hardware store will have a replacement. Also worth mentioning at this point is the axle is not threaded instead it uses a helicoil system which is kind of like a spring that screws into the hub then the bolt screws into that. It makes it much harder to strip and pretty foolproof on the cross threading front plus if it does go Pete Tong then it's easy enough to replace just the helicoil part again from a hardware store.
The main hub bearings are huge to make them smooth and strong and have been tested to similar strengths as bottom bracket bearings which is the part of your bike that takes the most force so yeah there strong bearings. Now obviously I didn’t expect to bust the bearings in a few months of riding it but I am a chunky guy with 4 pegs and a riding style rougher than a badgers arse so I thought there might be some vibration when you spin the wheel and hold a peg but nothing to report so far.
In terms of looks the hub body looks pretty much the same as the Homer and still features the thickest angled collars that still allow standard spokes. I have no hub guard on my bike and there’s no damage to the collars so far but I think it would take quite a lot of abuse to bend a collar so thick and so tight to the rest of the body. Much like Windows default settings only knowing 16 colors (most of which are gray) this hub comes in the BMX standard black, white, gold and silver plus whatever limited edition run odyssey are doing that any given month.
So we come to the last part of the hub that needs to have judgment passed... the driver. The driver is usually the part that lets the rest of the hub down due to the ridiculous amount of pressure the pawls and bearings are under. This isn’t helped by people wanting smaller and smaller drivers which make the driver bearings smaller too then riding brakeless. Luckily the driver doesn't have to cope with sideways impacts like the rest of the hub so G sport use needle bearings which can deal with much more load than a standard ball bearing 960kg of load in fact.
This driver has more up its sleeve than just being able to take more pressure than John Prescott’s toilet seat though; it can also be changed from left to right hand drive using only the tools needed to remove the wheel and a flathead screwdriver. No more really needs to be said about that brilliant idea every hub should do it makes life easier and saves shops and distributor’s time, space and money having to hold/order 2 types of the same hub.
You should expect to wave goodbye to around £140 to get one of these new. I always feel a little cautious when talking about money for bike stuff I guess it comes from hearing parents gasps of shock upon hearing me tell them the minimum they should spend on a bike is £300 and anything less they are pissing their money away on fixing whatever the latest Halfords home brew is. I don’t think I need to worry too much this time though, most riders that will read this review know that you spend your money on what you love and what you trust. The ones that haven’t worked that out yet are probably the ones with parents happy to spend whatever it takes to shut little Timmy up long enough to watch Emerdale in peace.
Conclusion? If you are a smooth rider that’s never had trouble with drivers slipping, collars bending or bent axles then this is simply not for you. Yeah sure you can wait for the ti axle and ti bolt upgrade and you'll probably get the weight down around 460g but if you’re going to do that you didn't need a hub like this in the first place in fact you’re the perfect candidate for a profile it will be the nicest thing you have ridden smooth light and good looking. If however you like doing drops, gaps and grind everything in the neignourhood like a dog marking its territory or even just want something you can count on it lasting then I recommend this highly, it’s a damn fine hub made to the highest standard.
Cheers to anyone still reading keep your eyes peeled for the next review.
Peace, Love and Destruction
Rhino
No comments:
Post a Comment