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Novatec rides hard w/ tough, affordable new Factor Diablo XL mountain bike wheels

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Mountain bikes are more capable than ever, and Novatec saw a hole in affordably priced wheels that could keep up. The new Factor Diablo XL is their answer to the modern long travel, do it all mountain bike. Light enough to climb, strong enough for enduro racing and aggressive park riding, and wide enough for modern tires. During development, the 29er downhill movement came around, so they added that to the docket and brought out the wheel for both sizes. They’ve even been testing them in both wheel sizes with World Cup riders on DH courses.

Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable

The new 6069 alloy rim is made in house and is welded to make a stronger, more airtight design than pinned versions they’ve used before. Dimensions are 30mm internal width, 35mm external width, a 5mm tall sidewall and 21mm total height.

Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable

Novatec’s U.S. team says these wheels are ready for downhill racing, but the push is to get them on 140-180mm travel bikes. They’re designed around a 2.4″ to 2.85″ tire and will come pre-taped with tubeless valve stems in the box.

Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable

The rims are identical between wheel sizes and are very laterally stiff. One of their teams, Norco, was using the Schwalbe ProCore system, so Novatec worked with them to get the rim measurements dialed to work with that system, and naturally just as well with standard tubeless tires, too.

Factor hubs get 60 tooth ratchet and pawls versus Factor 42 tooth version Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable

The hubs are the same ones proven on course by their World Cup athletes. It’s these, and what’s inside, that separate the Factor Diablo XL wheelset from the lower priced Novatec Diablo XL wheels.

Factor hubs get 60 tooth ratchet and pawls versus Factor 42 tooth version

Factor is Novatec’s high end brand, and these get a new 60-tooth ratchet ring…

Factor hubs get 60 tooth ratchet and pawls versus Factor 42 tooth version

…with six pawls designed specifically for it. Shown on the left, you can see the difference in size and spacing for the 60-tooth pawls versus the Novatec hub’s 42-tooth pawls.

Factor hubs get 60 tooth ratchet and pawls versus Factor 42 tooth version
The 60-tooth freehub body on left only looks larger because the seal flange is installed, otherwise they’re the same except for the pawls.

The teeth are offset such that three of the pawls are engaged at any time, resulting in a very tight 3° engagement. The only other real difference is the Factor hub shells get additional polishing for a more brilliant finish.

Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable

Each wheelset is handbuilt to order.

Novatec Factor Diablo XL enduro mountain bike wheels are tough and affordable

The Novatec Diablo XL wheels use the same rims, but get their slightly down-spec’d hub with a 42-tooth ratchet ring for 4.6° engagement. The upside? They come in black and a rainbow of anodized colors.

Since they’re so similar, weights are the same for both models. Claimed weights are: 2,020g (27.5″) and 2,135g (29er). The Factor model will retail for $850, and Novatec wheels for $750. Shops and teams can get custom laser engraving on the hubs for a small upcharge. Available around the end of October.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

2018 Novatec Factor Diablo XL dh enduro mountain bike wheels ride review

We rode these through Kingdom Trails and the Burke Bike Park in Vermont, set up with various Onza tires, and ran them through everything from climby XC stuff to rowdy, loamy “trails” that had been rough cut into the mountain side. There was a little shuttling, but we earned plenty of those turns and came away exhausted from two solid days of riding.

Immediately apparent was the wheels’ stiffness, especially laterally. Personally, I’m used to riding XC wheels, which admittedly sacrifice some overall stiffness for weight savings. And in my opinion, it’s also done to improve ride feel. But when you’re bombing down hill or traversing rocky, technical terrain at top speed, precision starts to matter more than light weight. And these wheels are precise. Combined with Onza’s grippy rubber (especially on day two when we were running the new Aaron Gwin Signature Series Aquila tires), the wheels went directly where pointed. This inspired confidence and let me push the corners harder and faster than I ever would on my XC rigs.

That was impressive enough, but I was also wowed by the fact that they didn’t feel sluggish with the extra rotational weight. In this case, they certainly felt more nimble on day one with the lighter Onza Ibex tires mounted (The Aquilas are a good bit heavier, but they are also World Cup DH tires). We climbed quite a bit and they never seemed heavy or slow to accelerate.

One rider in our group hit a rock or log hard enough to substantially ding the rim’s edge, but it still held the tire through the ride. In fact, we didn’t even notice the damage until after our ride was complete, so he got quite a few more miles of aggressive descending out of it. All in all, these wheels took a good bit of abuse not just from us, but also Neko Mullally and Graham Aggasiz, and we had zero issues. If you’re looking for a strong set of wheels that won’t break the bank, put these on your short list.

Our trip was put together by Novatec’s US importer, Bike Fettish, and the rides were organized by Vermont Mountain Bike Tours (check them out, Alex and Ella are awesome!).

NovatechUSA.net

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16 Comments
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Cameron Lloyd
6 years ago

Hopefully the hubs aon these wheels are better than the hubs that came on my Hightower C bike on the Race Face wheels. Absolute garbage. Glad I bought some I9 wheels. Poof all problems solved!

Lancetigerblood
Lancetigerblood
6 years ago

yea… there hubs in the past have been brutal

ascarlarkinyar
6 years ago

Every Novatech hub is just about to explode when built. They do not last and somehow built of aluminum butter. After three back and forth with long shipping times to China I gave up. No matter what they say, these are just not up to riding standards.

myke2241
myke2241
6 years ago
Reply to  ascarlarkinyar

I heard the same story about their products over and over. Really who is buying Novatec stuff! Who!

J-dog
J-dog
6 years ago

Garbage. Seriously. Failure prone. Save your money for something better.

Maus Haus
Maus Haus
6 years ago

Ouch… the track record has spoken. Thanks for the warning.

uzurpator
uzurpator
6 years ago

Novatec makes hubs for several brands, either as a rebadge or as a custom designs. Those are literally everywhere.

My experience with them is very positive. I never had issues, cracks and whatnot. I know there were issues with alloy freehubs in the past tho.

Exodux
6 years ago

I have a Novatec rear hub on my singlespeed, built the wheel back in 2002, still works quite well with little mantainance. Also have a set of cross wheels with Novatec hubs, again, running strong for over a year and a half.
Not saying that they are the best hubs available, but I have not experienced the problems some claim to have.

Tim
Tim
6 years ago

There are very few people who post here who have anything good to say about anything. Makes you wonder why they ride bikes

myke2241
myke2241
6 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Isn’t that a pretty negative…. experience and knowledge can save people time and money.

JNH
JNH
6 years ago

$850, as in £650 before tax? That’s almost $400 more than a set of Hope wheels for alloy rims, steel spokes and the very definition of average hubs. What on God’s Green and blue planet do you have to be smoking to put the words ‘affordable’ and value’ anywhere within a mile of these? As a set of wheels they look ok, but that pricing is completely disconnected from reality when Hope Hoops are almost half.

VeloFreak
VeloFreak
6 years ago

No straight pull spokes? It’s 2017 novatec. Bitec hubs have similar if not better quality hubs, straightpull available.

JD
JD
6 years ago

My Novatec 642DB Hubs have held up fine with heavy use in the year I have had them. Nice and loud too.

RobertW
RobertW
6 years ago

Love the J bend hubs. It’s 2017 and we know that straight pull are just a sales ploy for the ignorant. Give me a working man’s hub any day over that straight pull gimmickry.

Jeb
Jeb
6 years ago

Novatec needs to understand how fat most Americans are and use that as their test protocol rather than assuming we are the size of the rest of the world. Trying to get 250lbs of chunk moving is hard on drivetrains.

Craig soucy
Craig soucy
4 years ago

I have been running mine hard for 3 months. Iam 235lbs and ride my bike pretty aggressive and have had no issues. Not sure about the older stuff but i love these wheels.

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