Endless Shows Off Prototype Single Chainrings, Industry Nine Fat Bike Hubs Spotted

Ms. Powell may be currently running the show at Endless, but Marshall Hance and Adam Winton were the founders. Sources: http://www.dirtragmag.com/printrag/builder-profile-endless-bike-co and Marshall was a friend of a friend back in the day when they were still producing the Lifetime frame.

BOO AND YAH. Endless cogs are awesome and wear wonderfully. I-9 hubs are the jam, 120 point engagement will be nice kicking around in the snow and bushwhacking.

Dave is correct. Marshall and Adam are the founders of Endless. I have been running the company on my own since purchasing it from Marshall in June of 2008… guess now I am the show. Thank you for helping clarify Dave.

James, I hope you are able to appreciate that the cogs destroy your expensive freehub less by not having play in them… what can I say aside from not all freehub bodies are machined to the same sizes or even tolerances… you can take material away, but you can’t add.

Thanks Fattie!

p.s. Marshall is still involved with Endless as the product designer.

Awesome for Endless… love their SS cogs and have ZERO doubt on the quality… good stuff!

I am with Bill…explain why I should buy your product for 2 or 3x the price of a Race Face narrow/wide chain ring?
It is not lighter, stronger, or better performing…both are made in North America.
Endless does not have the brand cache of a King…or even I9. Hell, I never even heard of them.

Thank you Fatlip!

Dave, I didn’t feel like your comment was disrespectful, and I didn’t mean to sound offended, just clear. I’m stoked to hear you are still very happy with your Lifetime and that you have been satisfied with our customer service… as far as the teeth sticking above the chain, I believe you will find no issue more than any other chainring.

Bill and Jeff, if you notice from the photo there is a nice smooth rib around the entire diameter of the chainring that is quite different from the other products on the market. This I-beam if you will adds lateral stiffness to the chainring thus making it quite a bit stronger as well as creating stability for the chain so it is less likely to derail without either a clutch type derailleur or chain guide. This I-beam is a feature that I feel is very important to the performance of the product but that unfortunately adds to the manufacturing costs.

Another reason Bill,that my chainrings are at a higher price point than Wolftooth, who makes a very good product, is that I had to consider distributor pricing and the resulting dealer pricing. Some dealers order direct from me but most use a distributor. As I understand it (please correct me if I am wrong) Wolftooth is offering retailers 15-20% off of retail and doesn’t deal with distributors. That offers their retailers very little margin for sale to the customer. Whether retailers order from me or from a distributor, they get a good margin on my product. I am looking out for the LBS as well as the customer.

Jeff, as far as Race Face goes, they are a huge company that I am sure manufactures hundreds of thousands of dollars more of product each year; that would bring their costs down on material alone. A one woman show purchasing from a local machine shop (supporting the local community) can’t compete with that. You cannot however from a photograph deduce that my product is not stronger or better performing than the Race Face, admittedly it is not lighter. I feel like you are trolling with your last statement alone.

… Jeff is correct on one thing, EndlessBikeCo does not have the “brand Cache” of King or I9. Endless has however been a staple of the single speed community for quite some time. I do not have the marketing dollars of either Race Face or or even i9 but I strive to have a positive presence in the single speed community as well as my local cycling community. I can promise you that I will always manufacture my product in the USA.

I have created this product to give my dedicated single speed customers what they have been asking me about for years, another product to help complete their kick ass single speed drive train. I appreciate all of their dedication beyond words. Thanks to these dedicated riders/customers/friends I have been able to grow my company though slowly, with intention. Thank you everyone for your time. Happy Riding!

Will these chainrings work with a SS running a 9 speed chain as long as the rear cog is even numbered?

now i know why that guy was so fast running the barriers…

I love my kick ass cog! It took a while to file it down to fit my cassette. The customer service I got from Endless was stellar and super helpful.

Question (hopefully Shanna is still looking at this): Will the chainring holes be threaded so bolts can be mounted directly into the chainring?

We’ve been cranking out wolftooth rings at our shop as our premium chainring option vs the raceface when doing 1×10 setups. Getting the people to make the jump from a $45 ring to a $70 ring is tough. I don’t know how I’d upsell them to a $120 ring when the features/benefits are the same as the $70 model. Just my $.02.

I see that everyone reads that..

You don’t have to make chainrings in Taiwan to make it of excellent value to customer and still be able to offer it to distributors. We proudly make them in Poland (Europe) with best possible materials you can get on the market as a civilian. We source from best manufacturer on this side of the globe in Germany.

@Marshall/Shanna – i would be careful saying something is of best durability or smoothest rolling on the market when not having truly tested your competition beforehand. By todays standards 7075 T6 is very common material in bike industry and it is not the strongest available anymore from some time. Thus we use a very modified version of it to make our products incredibly light yet really strong (using FEA analysis).

have a great day out!
Marcin

If you want cheap parts, buy cheap parts. I’m pretty sure that if you have to skimp on parts in this price range, you have bigger issues in your life that need addressing.

Great rings, by the way. Not sure about the wisdom of the interrupted ridge around the outside, but they sure are pretty.

I say speak to what you know. I know that every Endless product I’ve used has been 100% excellent. I ordered four different sized cogs four years ago and each is still being used on one bike or another.
Besides the cogs the company is top notch and I’d say on par with King, i9, Paul, and Wolftooth (which I have been happily using for several months now.) A small company that makes two things really well is better than a large company that makes many things okay. I’m excited to see Endless tackling a new project.