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ENVE rolls into alloy with new aluminum road bike hubs for rim& disc brakes

ENVE alloy road disc brake hub truing stand
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ENVE has debuted a new line of performance aluminum road bike hubs that follow a similar design philosophy as their recent carbon hubs. At almost half the price of the carbon versions the ENVE Alloy Road Hubs lace their proprietary hub tech into more affordable carbon wheelsets for road and gravel riding in both rim brake & disc brake variants, or are available on their own for custom wheel builds.

ENVE Alloy Road Hub – Rim Brake

ENVE alloy rim brake hub set QR black 2019

ENVE is no stranger to hubs, recently introducing an updated pair of premium carbon fiber shell, rim brake road hubs. It should come as no surprise that ENVE is leaning on the expertise of their new(ish) parent company Mavic, who has decades of experience in hubs as well, and now hopes to establish themselves as a trusted hub maker both in their own wheels and the aftermarket.

According to ENVE, the new alloy hub project started with three goals:

  1. Optimize the hub shell & flanges for system-like wheel performance,
  2. Achieve best-in-class reliability with minimal maintenance requirements, and
  3. Maximize ride dynamics while keeping weight competitive

Using a similar overall lobed profile as the carbon version, the new alloy hubs feature the same paired spoke design for all models (except the front, rim brake hub). According to ENVE Chief Engineer Kevin Nelson, “The benefit of this design is that the paired spoke hole pattern of the hub flange allows us to remove more material from the flange, saving weight, while at the same time achieving bracing angles that improve efficiency and ride feel.”ENVE aluminum road hub flanges and spoke angle compare to DT and KingThis allows for what ENVE calls “Virtual 3X Lacing”, with optimized spoke angles detailed above.

Also like the carbon hubs, the new aluminum models use ENVE’s Perfect Preload system.

ENVE aluminum alloy road hub Perfect Preload diagramThis system was explained to us by ENVE VP of Product and Consumer Experience, Jake Pantone:

“Generally speaking, there are two primary methods for establishing bearing pre-load, straight stack-up, or some form of adjustable pre-load mechanism. From our experience a straight stack-up design can cause premature bearing wear and fatigue if tolerances don’t line up perfectly all the time. On the other hand, our customers consistently complain about bearing play associated with adjustable pre-load mechanisms which left
unattended, can create larger problems down the road. Our solution to this problem is Perfect Pre-Load.”

Bearing preload is set by a wave washer sitting between the bearing and a snap ring installed to the axle, providing a fixed preload setting that doesn’t require adjustment.

The hubs also use the same internals and 40-tooth ratchet ring as the carbon models, with full compatibility for Shimano, Campagnolo & SRAM XDR. It even includes a removable rubber gasket that allows you to tune the volume of noise from the hub while free-wheeling. Could this be the hub to finally bring all riders together, regardless of race, gender, and freehub noise preferences?

ENVE Alloy Road Hub – Disc Brake

ENVE alloy disc brake hub set thru axle black 2019

The disc brake version of ENVE’s alloy hubs follow all of the same key design principles as the rim brake models. They use the same wave-spring preload, paired spoke flanges, and rear hub ratchet internals.

ENVE alloy disc brake hub on gravel bike 2019

Brake rotor compatibility follows the Centerlock standard, but each hub includes an adapter for 6-bolt rotors as well. Axle compatibility includes QR or 12mm thru-axles.

Check out full the full specs for all ENVE road hubs in the chart below.

ENVE aluminum alloy road hub specifications chart 2019

Both rim and disc brake hub sets are available now – either in complete SES or G Series wheelsets from $2559, or as standalone aftermarket hubs for $575 per pair (44% less than their carbon hubs). They follow the ENVE 5-year warranty with Lifetime Incident Protection Program. Even though they now have a wide in-house hub offering, ENVE will continue to offer custom wheel builds with select premium hub manufacturers.

Learn more at ENVE.com.

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24 Comments
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kavitator
5 years ago

Hasnt got stainlress steel bearing less load capacity than steel bearings?
Too bad Novatec and some others low budget made that kind of flanges – and when i saw this zigzag just looks cheap. Time will tell if they are great.

Greg
Greg
5 years ago
Reply to  kavitator

20% lower load capacity. But bike hub bearings don’t fail from being overloaded. They fail from contamination most of the time, and excess preload for one reason or another the rest of the time. A smart company will specify bearing sizes knowing that they will be stainless.

David Pena
David Pena
5 years ago

not just cold outside is it? I couldn’t find a novatec hub with flanges like that. Wouldn’t matter if I did anyway when something is “better” it gets reproduced. You pay for quality engineering son. Also what kind of load are you putting on your bike that you need plain steel bearings? Read a book!

blahblahblah
blahblahblah
5 years ago
Reply to  David Pena

they may not be novatec but there are plenty of cheap Chinese hubs that look like that and have been around for a long time now, and i agree it does look cheap

Seraph
Seraph
5 years ago

Patiently waiting for the carbon version of the disc hub.

Joe Schmoie
Joe Schmoie
5 years ago

When are the carbon/alloy mtn bike hubs coming out ? 🙂

bryan
bryan
5 years ago

I might suggest an edit to the title. Right now it reads that Enve has a new aluminum rim and a hub for disc brakes.

A more clear title might say- Enve rolls into alloy with new aluminum hubs for rim and disc brakes.

jjames
jjames
5 years ago
Reply to  bryan

this.

RobertW
RobertW
5 years ago

The finish looks nice and it’s good to have more hub options. I’m not envious of the straight aluminum freehub. Don’t even the cheaper brand hubs have a steel anti bite guard these days? Comparing the rim brake to Dura Ace, the DA is 35g heavier but has a ti freehub, larger bearings, and they are less expensive.

kavitator
5 years ago

I am tlking about exploding bearings – if they are big this wont be problem. DS hubbody bearing and inner Freehub bearing are problematic. If they have 6903 it is big enough.
White industries has doublerow in freehub , Bitey has now two 6802 in freehub. Just because of this problem. Higer static load.

sergio gonzalez
sergio gonzalez
5 years ago

Are enve copying the rotor rvolver hubs form ??????

Cheese
Cheese
5 years ago

Where are they machined?

Throwawaystuff
Throwawaystuff
5 years ago

This is like the old bontrager wheels with the side by side spokes at the rim, just reversed so the hub is side by side… recycled tech……..

AJ
AJ
5 years ago

clickbait! i thought enve make alloy wheelset!

WILLIAM R BARNES
WILLIAM R BARNES
5 years ago
Reply to  AJ

Hah, I thought the same thing – holy crap the sky is falling Enve is making alloy rims.

godzillafanmonster
5 years ago

yet another hub launch by Enve that doesn’t show hub internals.

Bre Rue
Bre Rue
5 years ago

All they did was take the Mavic copy of the DT star ratchet and slap it in there for the freehub system. They look like they were machined in someones garage as the set I had in the shop last week was super roughly finished. Not with a 10 foot pole, like most of their “engineered” products…

K-Pop is dangerous to your health
K-Pop is dangerous to your health
5 years ago

Looks like Enve took the old discontinued paired hole Novatec A271SB-F372SB design and laced them a bit different. $575 for an aluminum hub set that isn’t made in-house is a bit of a reach. I get it though, because Enve.

T
T
5 years ago

Because enve was purchased by mavics parent company which needs enve to be more profitable

K-Pop is dangerous to your health
K-Pop is dangerous to your health
5 years ago
Reply to  T

Seems you haven’t been paying attention.. Amer Sport announced late last year that their cycling divisions (Mavic & Enve) are underperforming and up for sale.

From the horses mouth: “Mavic has been an underperformer among Amer’s brands in recent years”, and “Mavic and Enve brands, are now counted as discontinued operations”.

Speculation doesn’t really work if you don’t have facts to back up your statements. Do a little research before making comments, it’s not too much to ask.

Felix Wolf
Felix Wolf
5 years ago

Hey Enve, you’ve spend lots of efforts into huge flanges an ideal leverage,thats great! But why did you chose such a poor flange stance? With 41,8/15,8mm @55mm this gives only 38% spoke tension on the non drive flange or with your tension recommendation 496/1300N. This is weakening every wheel and cause early spoke failure. DTSwiss has 677/1300N and King’s R45 has 654/1300N. So why so much love to detail on only one eye?

bikemark
bikemark
5 years ago
Reply to  Felix Wolf

Because they are depending on a stiff carbon rim to do all the work? At least the geometry is better on the disc version.

Felix Wolf
Felix Wolf
5 years ago
Reply to  bikemark

It would be even worse for the wheel, if used with a normal low profile alloy rim, you’re right. But even a stiff carbon rim can’t solve a very low spoke tension on the NDS that’s caused by a poor flange geometry. But it doesn’t make sense to spend lots of R&D into flange diametre and position of the drillings but completely overlook flange position.

Spark Wheel Works
Spark Wheel Works
5 years ago
Reply to  Felix Wolf

Thought the exact same thing, Felix. Very disappointing to see those numbers. Apparently they don’t think physics applies to them?

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