For the past 15 years, True Precision Components’ Stealth hubs have been silently propelling BMX racers to countless victories. The hubs offered a magical combination of both completely silent freewheeling and instant engagement thanks to the use of a one-way bearing. Recently though, it was time for a change. That change was Box Components purchasing the rights to produce their own version of Stealth, now part of the Box One product line.
While the Stealth hubs are no longer produced by True Precision Components, Box claims that “all of the materials, construction, tolerances, and internal construction remains the same.” That means they use the same German-Made one-way bearing to offer silent, instant engagement. How does that differ from something like an Onyx hub? Where Onyx uses a sprag clutch bearing, Box claims that since the one-way bearing has moving rollers inside, it offers less drag, decreased wear, and faster engagement than a sprag clutch bearing.
The internals of the hubs are the same, so what’s changed? On the outside, all of the hub shells have been reshaped with slimmer profiles to drop 15-25g and they have angle flanges for better spoke alignment. The mountain bike hubs gain a lighter axle configuration, and the BMX hubs now have 10mm axles with bolts that use an 8mm allen key.
More importantly, the BMX hubs now use a driver that accepts a standard Shimano cog and lockring instead of the proprietary cog and driver from the TPC hubs.
Like seemingly all hubs that use a one-way bearing or sprag clutch, the weight of the rear hub is on the heavy side at 475g for the MTB hub and 315g for the BMX hub. Of course that weight is at the center of the wheel, but it’s still something to consider.
To be eventually sold as individual mountain bike hubs, you are only able to “make a reservation” to purchase them. Once the ability to preorder them is open, you’ll be given a notification. The 6 bolt mountain bike hubs will be offered in 28 or 32h options with Boost 148×12/110x15mm spacing and will have options for Shimano or SRAM XD freehubs. Pricing is set at $149.99 for the front and $349.99 for the rear.
The BMX hubs are available for purchase now, for the same price per hub.
