Stan's No Tubes Unveil Brand New Neo Hubs And Bravo Carbon Rims

As the brand that’s largely responsible for the wide adoption of tubeless technology across the mountain bike market, Stan’s No Tubes has consistently been growing and refining their range of wheel products since the debut of their original tubeless conversion kit. While they still offer their brilliant tubeless tape, sealant, valves and conversion rim strips, it was their wheels that we wanted to take a closer look at during the 2015 Summer PressCamp event in Park City Utah this week. About this time last year, Stan’s No Tubes released their first carbon fibre wheel set called the Valor. This high-end wheel set joined their existing line of Crest, Arch and Flow alloy wheels, offering added strength and stiffness for the XC racer boy and trail riding crowd. Looking to build on this range, Stan’s have just released the wide profile Bravo Carbon wheel set, which aims to cater towards aggressive trail riders and gravity enduro racers. But as it turned out, it wasn’t just new rims that Stan’s were excited about…

A timeline of how each Neo hub is created. The hub shell at the back is initially turned from a round piece of alloy bar stock into a piece of machined beauty. In the foreground, the forged freehub body goes through several machining processes to create the small pockets for the pawls, as well as the cassette splines.

Stan’s No Tubes have offered complete wheel sets for a number of years now, which have made use of their own 3.30 hub sets that are built with Sapim spokes and nipples. While the complete Crest/Arch/Flow wheels have achieved praise for their light weight, easy tubeless setup and great value, if there was one weakness with the wheel sets, it would have to be the hubs. Not that the 3.30 hubs were bad, but the rear hub has been criticised for its slower engagement (relative to the competition) and not being particularly well sealed. As such, we’ve found that they do require more regular maintenance to prevent early bearing death, and especially so for riders who wash their bikes regularly and ride in foul conditions. Looking to improve on the 3.30 design, Stan’s went back to the drawing board, spending the last 2 years developing an entirely new hub set called the Neo. These new hubs have been developed with a new Taiwanese manufacturing partner, and every single component has been redesigned for increased strength and better performance on the trail.

The Neo hubs are completely new from the ground up. Faster engagement, better sealing, improved strength and more precise tolerances are the order of the day.

The new Neo hubs feature a completely different architecture that sees a 100% CNC machined hubshell, which increases flange diameter over the previous version and provides higher tolerances too. The Neo hubs come in two different versions; the standard Neo and the Neo Ultimate. Both hubs are machined from a single piece of alloy bar stock, though the Ultimate sees further sculpting and chiselling to remove a few more grams. Internally, both hubs feature new swaged axles that are stronger and more precise for better alignment. The hubshell bearings are now 2mm wider and 4mm taller to pack in larger balls, which provide double the load bearing over the old 3.30 hubs. Even the axle end cap system has been revised, with a beefed up seal that doesn’t create any extra rotational drag, but drastically improves the barrier between the elements and the inside of the hubs. The other side benefit of the new end cap system is that the pieces sit inside the hub much more snugly, and won’t drop onto the ground every time you remove the wheels from the bike. Aside from the lighter hubshell, the Neo Ultimate also employs a 6-pawl freehub mechanism to provide double the engagement points (72 versus 36). Both hubs will be available in complete wheel sets, with the Ultimate wheel set also featuring lighter spokes too. Due to the hubs modular design however, if you purchased the Pro wheel set, you could always upgrade to the 6-pawl mechanism down the line if you wanted an increase in pickup speed. Speaking of modular design, the Neo hubs will be able to fit most modern axle standards, though there will also be specific Boost models with a 110mm-specific front hub and 148mm rear hub that use wider hub shells to take advantage of the Boost system’s wider spoke bracing angle.

The Neo hub features a 4-pawl design compared to the old hubs 3-pawl format. Combined with a 36 tooth ratchet ring, all 4 pawls lock onto the teeth simultaneously to deliver an impressive 10-degree engagement with a dramatic increase in load capacity over the old 3.30 hub.

The Neo Ultimate (left) features 6 pawls that boost engagement over the standard Neo (right), which only has 4 pawls. The freehub bodies are interchangeable, so you can always upgrade to faster engagement if you purchase the cheaper Team wheelset to begin with. What’s really clever about the Neo Ultimate, is that it’s 6 pawls use a phased offset to deliver 72 engagement points, which is as many as a Chris King rear hub. This phased offset means that there are always 3 pawls locked onto the ratchet ring at the one time, while the other 3 pawls are hovering halfway between the teeth. This requires very high tolerances and precise machining to get the timing springs working optimally. If the shape of the pawls is off, or the springs are set differently, you can have sporadic engagement that could lead to one pawl taking all of the drive load. Stans No Tubes are very proud of their design and the attention to detail that has been paid in their construction. For what it’s worth, their Taiwanese manufacturing partner is not a hub manufacturer. They’re actually better known for producing high-end cranksets, brakes and suspension linkages. But aside from being able to demonstrate the necessary skill to build a high-tech hub, this partnership also benefits Stans No Tubes in that their design work is somewhat protected and can’t be ripped off by just any other brand. The Neo hubs will see a phased release. The first wheelset to be equipped with the new Neo hubsets is the Bravo carbon wheelset. Stans No Tubes will start rolling Neo-equipped Valor wheels in the next couple of months, and you’ll start to see the Neo hubs on the Crest/Arch/Flow wheelsets later in the year.

The ratchet ring threads into the alloy hub shell, and is constructed from hardened tool steel for strength and longterm durability.

Bigger is always better right? Well it is when you’re talking bearing size. In the case of the Neo (left), the bearings are 4mm taller and 2mm wider than the previous bearings used in Stans 3.30 hubs (right). That equals double the load bearing capacity for much greater strength and longterm durability.

Aside from the new hubs, Stans No Tubes were also showing off their brand new Bravo wheelset that employs a wider carbon rim than the current Valor. Aimed at the trail/All Mountain crowd, the Bravo features a low profile carbon rim that measures 31mm wide externally, and features a 26.6mm internal width. They employ Stan’s clever BST (Bead Socket Technology) design, which uses ultra short hookless sidewalls that see less ‘pinching’ of the tyres casing as it leaves the rim. Aside from reducing weight and creating a stiffer sidewall, BST also has the added effect of increasing tyre volume and mimicking a wider rim. The rims are tubeless with the use of Stans Yellow tape, which comes pre-installed on the complete wheels along with a pair of tubeless valves.

The Bravo rims are ideally designed for tyres between 2.25″ – 2.4″ wide, and so they’re tuned for aggressive trail riders and Gravity Enduro racers. Like the Valor carbon rims, they features Stan’s “React” carbon technology that aims to assist with absorbing impact energy. The goal was to create a strong and lightweight carbon rim, but not one that is so vertically stiff that it shakes your teeth out on the trail – a complaint that is often heard with other carbon wheels on the market. It’s here that Stans have aimed to strike a balance between a lively and direct-handling wheelset, that still allows for a certain degree of bump-absorption on the trail. The Bravo wheels are laced up with 28 spokes front and rear, and they’re available in 26″, 27.5″ and 29″ diameters. They’ll come in a Pro version with the Neo Pro hub, and a Team version with the Ultimate hub and a lighter Sapim spoke combination. In the Goldilocks size, the complete wheelset is claimed at 1640 grams for the Bravo Pro, while the cheaper Bravo Team adds on about 65 grams.

The low profile Bravo rims sit in contrast with the current crop of deep-profile carbon rims on the market. They sit nice and wide with a 26.6mm internal width, but the BST design has the effect of creating a wider rim profile.

During PressCamp, I had the opportunity to test ride a Bravo Pro wheelset on a Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt BC Edition. I’m not going to draw any sweeping conclusions, but I can tell you that the bike felt light and sprightly under power. I’d like to get some more testing under my belt, but initial impressions indicate that the work Stans has gone into with the React design has created a carbon wheel that dampens out trail hits well. The test circuit involved a series of repeated hits along loose rocky sections that I was able to pummel the bike into, and the Bravo wheelset delivered none of the harshness that I was anticipating. The 72-point freehub buzzes away nicely on the trail while you’re coasting along, and it has a quality feel about it in your hands.

We’re still waiting for final pricing and availability of the new Bravo wheels for the Australian market, but expect the Bravo Pro to come in around $2999, while the Bravo Team will be closer to $2499. Contact Jet Black Products for more information regarding price and availability.