Rolf Prima isn’t just upgrading their road hubs with an 11-speed compatible freehub body, they’re doing it with titanium!
Starting today, their TdF4.4 and TdF5.5 road hubs will come with a CNC’d titanium freehub that’ll work with Shimano’s new 11-speed cassettes. They’ll ship with spacers to accommodate 9- and 10-speed cassettes, too, and an aftermarket upgrade kit will be available to retrofit their older hubs for 11-speed. They’ve done ti freehubs for a while, but these are a new design that’s lighter thanks to machined out sections on the fronts of each spline to save weight. The shape and width are tweaked to accommodate the additional cog.
UPDATE: all changes are on the freehub body. A thinner backing plate and slightly extended freehub body allow the 11-speed cassette to fit without modifying the rear hubshell. This means no reduction in dish, and it’s how they’ll be able to make it retrofit older 10-speed hubs.
“We know not everyone will be upgrading to the new Shimano 11-speed right away, but chances are good that we’ll be seeing 11-speed on the lower price point groups shortly. Since our customers are going to have their wheels for at least a couple of years, it is important that we provide them with versatility now.” Said Brooke Bauer, Marketing at Rolf Prima. “Making our 11-speed hubs retrofittable to older Rolf Prima wheels was an important consideration so we don’t leave anyone in a lurch as they make the move to 11-speed.”
The new Rolf Prima TdF4.4 and TdF5.5 11-speed compatible hubs will be available on their Ares, TdF, Vigor and Elan wheels. Conversion kits can be ordered now.
For disc brakes, they’ll have two models based on their ‘cross wheels and announced in the next few weeks. More to come…
