The North-Carolina hub and wheel specialist had been in the lead in the Points Of Engagement, or POE, game with their old Torch-series hubs, but decided to take things 6 notches further when they introduced the Hydra in 2018. The Torch already exhibited a respectable 360 engagement points, or 1 degree of torsional backlash, but the Hydra leaves it looking, well, six times slower than before, with the introduction of a whopping 690 POE or 0,52 degrees of backlash! Every engineer's wet dream, eh?
I had been lusting over a set of i9 hubs since I first saw and especially heard them on my friend's bike, so when I was after a new set of wheels this spring I knew I had to have Hydra in the back.
Hydra is available in a plethora of colors and in most modern MTB and even road fitments, including:
- 12x142
- 12x148 Boost
- 12x157 Super Boost (For you Pivot fanboys out there!)
- 170/117 and 190/197 fat bike fits
And several different freewheel and brake disc attachment combos, including:
- Shimano SG
- Sram XD
- Shimano Micro Spline
- 6 bolt and center lock brake rotor attachments
All the different combination can be seen on the i9 Hydra support page
The basic construction of the hub is the same as for the older Torch -series, so 2 bearings in the hub shell, press-fitted and without any axial adjustment (Simple and effective!) and 2 bearings in the freehub body. The freehub uses 6 offset pawls with dual teeth and relies on flex in the components to engage several pawls at a time for maximum torque transfer. In my experience this system works well and I have not experienced any skipping or unwanted noise from the hub. The sealing system is the same labyrinth arrangement as in the new 101-series hubs, so less friction from the seals and potentially a lighter rolling hub. And yes, the hub does seem to roll freely and certainly much better than my Mavic hubs.
HOWEVER, I do have a major gripe with the bearing arrangement! In their infinite wisdom, i9 have decided to use a proprietary 15307 bearing on the drive side of the hub shell. The bearing is made by Enduro, who for some reason have made a name for themselves in the bicycle industry, but are completely unheard of in heavier mechanical industry. The bearing is not listed anywhere, even on the enduro website, and so far I have only found it available from the Industry Nine website. i9 advertise their hubs as easy to service, which is true, but I still would have preferred a more common bearing.
One can question if 2000km is a long enough lifetime for a hub bearing, but in my opinion it's not. I would have preffered a wider bearing on the NDS, like the 10mm wide 63804 instead of the 7mm wide 61804.
Time will tell how durable the hub is, but so far I have been reasonably satisfied with it, and apart from the NDS bearing issue the hub has been trouble free.
I had been lusting over a set of i9 hubs since I first saw and especially heard them on my friend's bike, so when I was after a new set of wheels this spring I knew I had to have Hydra in the back.
Hydra is available in a plethora of colors and in most modern MTB and even road fitments, including:
- 12x142
- 12x148 Boost
- 12x157 Super Boost (For you Pivot fanboys out there!)
- 170/117 and 190/197 fat bike fits
And several different freewheel and brake disc attachment combos, including:
- Shimano SG
- Sram XD
- Shimano Micro Spline
- 6 bolt and center lock brake rotor attachments
All the different combination can be seen on the i9 Hydra support page
The basic construction of the hub is the same as for the older Torch -series, so 2 bearings in the hub shell, press-fitted and without any axial adjustment (Simple and effective!) and 2 bearings in the freehub body. The freehub uses 6 offset pawls with dual teeth and relies on flex in the components to engage several pawls at a time for maximum torque transfer. In my experience this system works well and I have not experienced any skipping or unwanted noise from the hub. The sealing system is the same labyrinth arrangement as in the new 101-series hubs, so less friction from the seals and potentially a lighter rolling hub. And yes, the hub does seem to roll freely and certainly much better than my Mavic hubs.
HOWEVER, I do have a major gripe with the bearing arrangement! In their infinite wisdom, i9 have decided to use a proprietary 15307 bearing on the drive side of the hub shell. The bearing is made by Enduro, who for some reason have made a name for themselves in the bicycle industry, but are completely unheard of in heavier mechanical industry. The bearing is not listed anywhere, even on the enduro website, and so far I have only found it available from the Industry Nine website. i9 advertise their hubs as easy to service, which is true, but I still would have preferred a more common bearing.
Reliability
I have now ran the Hydra rear hub in my custom built i9 / Nextie carbon trail wheelset for about 2000km, and when cleaning my bike after a 2 day race last weekend I noticed a lot of roughness in the rear hub. Turns out the non drive side bearing had failed. Luckily this is a standard 61804 / 6804 ball bearing, also made by Enduro, so I could quickly get a replacement from my LBS Sporthammer. Replacing the bearing was very easy, and required only basic tools and some knowledge of bearing replacements. To put it short: Pull off hub end caps, pull out freehub boy, place wheel or hub on a pair of wooden planks and tap out the NDS bearing using the shaft. Replace bearing and press or tap in place with a suitable diameter socket. Done!One can question if 2000km is a long enough lifetime for a hub bearing, but in my opinion it's not. I would have preffered a wider bearing on the NDS, like the 10mm wide 63804 instead of the 7mm wide 61804.
Conclusion
The Hydra hub and its lighting fast engagement gives you a whole new riding experience! Jumping for 50ish POE in my Sram 900 and Mavic ID360 hubs to a whopping 690 is definitely a noticable change and a welcome one. Will it make you a better rider? In slow, technical sections, yes, but everywhere else likely not. The sound of the freehub is very distinct and you either like the "bee-stuck-in-a-jar" sound or you don't, but I like the fine, mechanical buzz and certainly prefer it to the pebble grinder sound of DT hubs, for example.Time will tell how durable the hub is, but so far I have been reasonably satisfied with it, and apart from the NDS bearing issue the hub has been trouble free.
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