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Tactic Racing debuts ultralight hubs weighing just 215g…for the set!

exploded view of Tactic TR01 ultralight road and gravel bike hubs
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The new Tactic Racing TR01 hubset comes in at just 215g for the set, which they claim is 50g lighter than DT Swiss’ 180 hubs. An impressive feat, but something they say was 10 years in development and gives up nothing in terms of strength or performance.

In fact, with their patent-pending conical engagement rings, they say it offers extremely stiff, secure power transfer, and they’re both road- and gravel ready, with no rider weight limit. Here’s how they did it…

Tactic TR01 ultralight road and gravel bike hubs

The hub shells are machined from an aerospace-grade aluminum alloy, which they say is stronger and lighter than standard alloys typically used for bicycle hubs. It takes a combined three hours to machine both hub shells, and the pics below show why.

closeup details of Tactic TR01 ultralight road and gravel bike hubs

The hubs use a straight pull design and will launch with 24/24 and 28/28 spoke-count designs for front and rear, in Center Lock disc brake format. They’ll follow soon with rim brake models with 16/20/24 front and 24/28 rear spoke count options.

The hubs roll on ABEC 7 ceramic bearings with a Tungsten Disulfide low friction coating, which they say is used for extremely high performance applications, like the Mars Rover. Yes, this adds to their cost, and they’re not cheap…keep reading.

closeup details of Tactic TR01 ultralight road and gravel bike hubs

closeup details of Tactic TR01 ultralight road and gravel bike hubs

Additional weight savings comes from machining away any excess material, though they say it’s pulled from areas that don’t reduce strength, stiffness, or durability. Despite the paltry weight, they say they’re ready for offroad (read: Gravel, Cyclocross) riding and racing, too.

closeup details of Tactic TR01 ultralight road and gravel bike hubs

The result is a pair of hubs that come in at just 64g for the front and 151g for the rear, or 215g for the set. The rear hub shell barely wraps over the freehub body, showing how tight the package is, yet the insides look incredibly robust.

closeup details of Tactic TR01 ultralight hub freehub body engagement system

The freehub body has a fixed, concave ring of teeth. Spring loaded inside the hub shell is its convex mate. They call this patent-pending design a ConicalFace Gear.

Besides offering nearly instant and full engagement of all 45 teeth, the conical design locks the parts into place in perfectly straight line. This adds rigidity to the system, minimizing any bending in the hub that could occur under high torsional loads from the drivetrain. While rare, and often very slight, typical ratchet-and-pawl systems can occasionally skip under extreme circumstances.

closeup details of Tactic TR01 ultralight hub freehub body engagement system

At launch, they have XDR and 11/12sp HG freehub bodies, with Campagnolo versions coming soon. Here’s all that in bullet point form:

  • 45 point engagement
  • Shimano (11 and 12spd compatible), SRAM XDR, and Campagnolo freehub bodies
  • 12×100 front and 12×142 rear axle spacing
  • 64g front, 151g rear for DISC BRAKE
  • 100% made in Germany
  • 24/24 and 28/28 available, and 16/20/24 F and 24/28R for rim brake soon.
  • ABEC 7 ceramic bearings with a Tungsten Disulfide low friction coating
  • ConicalFace Gear
  • Tested and raced by one of the world’s leading cycling teams

Hubsets will retail for $1,300 USD ($1850 AUD /  £1000 GBP / €1150 EUR) and start shipping January 1, 2022.

The company was founded by one of the founders of Princeton Carbonworks, but remains a separate company. The goal was to do something different (and in their words, better). Taking production to Germany allowed them to use open manufacturing capacity and sidestep the tremendous backlogs in Asia, too, letting them launch a hub with inventory despite global supply shortages.

They anticipate the hubs will be offered as options from numerous wheelmakers, but you can get them now on all of Princeton Carbonworks’ aero road wheels and the GRIT 4540 gravel wheelset.

TacticRacing.com

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16 Comments
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Jaap
Jaap
2 years ago

Wow, that price isn’t for the faint hearted. But I’m digging the design and construction.

Seraph
Seraph
2 years ago

Hmm, if I replaced the 240 SP CL in my gravel wheelset with these, I could feasibly have a 1000g gravel wheelset. Not too shabby.

Dinger
Dinger
2 years ago

So ~2x the cost (an additional $600) of the DTSwiss 240’s for 50g weight savings.

Shafty
Shafty
2 years ago

Let me know when the set is <100g, has full carbon shells, is silent with instant engagement and less then $100. Until then, these just aren't good enough. Keep trying guys.

esc8engn
esc8engn
2 years ago

Intriguing product announcement. I look forward to the reviews! Wish I could afford to be an early adopter of this tech.

Centurus
Centurus
2 years ago

Basically, that’s a nonplus hubset in straight pull and centerlock, for 450€ more. None of this technology has been developped by tacting racing and I believe it’s all made by nonplus.

Also, 3 hours to machine two hubsells seems very unlikely or that’s some very unefficient machining process.

William
William
2 years ago

So….if I don’t eat for a year I could Afford this just put it in my cart I can do this.

velaro
velaro
2 years ago

Looks like relabeled Nonplus Components hub for straight pull spokes and Centerlock.

Lisiy
Lisiy
2 years ago

Well said. It’s a marketing tactic 🙂

Joshua Andrew Deetz
2 years ago

I agree the “three hours of machining is no badge of honor, nor demonstration of anything more than silliest unsustainable manufacturing practices. Also cone faced tooth clutch has been on a few Asian hubsets in an effort to sidestep (expired) patents.

G
G
2 years ago

I think I’ll just buy a pair of the 180 and take a poop and make up the difference and save myself a couple 700 bucks

Jason D West
Jason D West
2 years ago

You lost me at the Mars Rover.

Doug Brown Jr
Doug Brown Jr
2 years ago

Did anyone happen to notice the “10-years in development” comment at the start of the article? BRAVO!!!!

Martin Cosby
Martin Cosby
2 years ago

These are very expensive. I have a set of Tune hubs which weigh 249g together, and cost less than half the price ($750 AUD approx). And the Extralite Cyberhubs weigh 192g for front and rear, and cost around $900 AUD. I can’t work out why these are so much more!

Jaap
Jaap
2 years ago

@Dinger, double that, it’s 106 grams of weight saving

Alex
Alex
2 years ago

Ridiculous price and straight pull spokes is one reason I would not build up a wheelset with these. I see nothing to justify that price. They do look nice and well made, but there are other options available for a lot less money.

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