-
Home
- Team FRO
- What is Fro
- Flatland News
- Flatland Links
- Bike Links
- Flatland Pics
- Your Pics
- Staff
- Articles |
| [
Interview From SYM:HUB ] |
SYM:HUB Interview
>1. When did you get the idea for this new hub?
I can't remember exactly when, but I had some inspiration from back in '94. I
read in Ride USA that Chad Degroot had been knocked off his bike by a gang of
hoodlums etc etc and after the incident he couldn't get his freecoaster to
work. As a temporary measure he bolted a front wheel on the back and removed
his chain. If you check out Props 6 (I think!) you can see him riding this set
up.
It dawned on me that in order to have a freecoaster where the back wheel
couldn't cause the cranks to spin by accident a system was needed that allowed
the rear wheel to be totally disconnected from the drive chain (i.e. rear
sprocket, chain, cranks etc). In other words, when you're not pedalling you
want your rear wheel to behave as though you'd bolted a front wheel on the
back and removed your chain like Chad did.
Also, I was tired of having to adjust my freecoaster all the time etc. Back
around '93 Alex Leech (a mini-ramp, street wizard from Oxford UK) came out
with his PE hub. This hub had a 20mm axle, huge sealed bearings and no cones
to adjust. The PE hub was fitted to the frame by a regular axle which skewered
the over-sized one, so you didn't have to modify your dropouts. Running one of
these hubs up front convinced me that freecoasters should go this way as well,
no cone spanners, no open bearings, no problems aligning the wheel, super
strong axle but no need to modify your frame, just tighten your wheel nuts and
you're set!
It wasn't until the the beginning of '97 that I starting making the first
version of the SYM:HUB though.
>2. Do you ride?
>3. If you do ride then what style (ie. street, vert, dirt, park, flat)?
Yes, I've been riding BMX since the summer of '83. Over the years I've dabbled
with racing, dirt jumping and mini-ramp but flatland is by far my main thing.
>4. Do you think this new hub can REALLY withstand the hard core riders (the
>ones who break rims the first time out) ?
Yes, I think it will. The sealed bearings used are the largest on any hub out
there and as most hard core riders are using 14mm axles and the SYM:HUB has a
17mm axle that should be fine too. The strength of this type of "Fat axle with
skewer" hub has been proved time and again by many riders, who have over the
years used either a PE Hub or a G-sport hub (which uses thread-in bolts).
>5. Who has been testing your hub for the past 2 years ?
>6. How hardcore are these riders(does their rideing represent the abuse hard ?
>riders will put on your hub)
I've been testing the hub. This has consisted of flatland riding and lots of
sprints and hill-riding to ensure the clutch system is reliable and strong.
The strength of this type of hub, as I said above, has already been proven by
the likes of Ian Morris and Gerry Galley so I've concentrated on testing the
new aspects of the design.
>7.The hub is pretty beefy, how much will it weigh especially compaired to
normal freecoasters.
>8. If the hub is heavier than usual do you think this will pose a problem?
I've never weighed the hub but it's about the same as a normal freecoaster.
>9. What do you think this new hub will mean for the 20" scene?
I think the minimum the SYM:HUB will do is provide riders with the option of
running a freecoaster that is as reliable and strong as all the other
high-quality components that have evolved over the last 10 years or so.
If you asked someone like Martti Kuoppa or Andrew Faris to run some plastic
cranks because you'd seen a 5 year old girl using them on her bike I'm sure
they'd laugh at you, yet every pro flatlander out there is using the same rear
hub as found on that little girl's bike! Now they don't have to!!!
At best, I hope it will open the door to all kinds of new riding styles like
all the fakie stuff that Krt Schmidt (see Props 6 again for a half-cab
tailwhip nosepick to fakie on mini-ramp in 1994) and Rick Moliterno were doing
ages ago but hasn't really been tapped into. Flatlanders won't have to run two
bikes any more because the SYM:HUB is strong enough for ramps etc, and
eventually I'd like to see vert riders apply the freedom provided by a good
freecoaster to their riding...just imagine in 10 years from now, a big
tailwhip air to fakie on vert, hack across the flat bottom backwards to
half-cab double barspin! Impossible? maybe, but up until now there was no way
anyone was ever going to find out because the technology wasn't available, and
20 years ago nobody would have dreamed of double flips etc.
>10. Do you see any price drop in the near future? (perhaps due to mass production or something of that nature)?
>
The SYM:HUB is an expensive item but I believe it represents very good value,
the profit made on each hub is minimal. You can think of the SYM:HUB compared
to a regular freecoaster in the same way you think of Profile SS oversize
3-piece cranks compared to a one-piece crank. The Profiles are 15 times more
expensive than the one-piece, but of course the quality, strength and function
are much improved. The same is true of the SYM:HUB except that while there is
the same jump in quality etc, it's only 4 times more expensive than a regular
freecoaster (if you live in the UK) or about 6 times more if you live in the
US due to the exchange rate.
In terms of mass production, if a large company wants to contact me with a
view to mass production then I'd be very happy to talk with them, the design
is patent pending.
>11. Do your hubs come with a life time warranty?
We don't offer a lifetime guarantee because companies that do, do so simply by
increasing their profit margins to cover the cost of replacements i.e. I could
offer such a guarantee but the SYM:HUB would cost more! I'm just a rider
trying to provide a good hub for other riders so I'm trying to keep the cost
as low as possible.
If there is a genuine problem with the hub due to a design or manufacturing
flaw then we will of course do our best to sort this out.
If you spend all year grinding the hub along a brick wall then of course it
will wear away, but there will be no need to replace the hub, you'll be able
to buy a new shell or any individual part you like because we make everything
ourselves.
I could have brought the hub out around 3 years ago and it would still have
been better than anything else out there, but I wanted it to be something
really special which is why I kept refining the design and spent so much time
testing it.
>12. Can I have a free one?....for testing purpouses of course :) ?
No, sorry. As I said, the profit margin is tiny so if I give away free hubs it
just pushes the price up for everyone else. Effraim Catlow is the only person
who will be getting a free SYM:HUB.
>13. Do you have any comments youd like to add for the people who are reading this?
>
Nope
This interview was done by our own GUMMY LALO!
|
|
|
