Pantour hub report
BROL Message Board
From: Andrew Douglas
Email: adouglas@optonline.net
Date: 12/16/01
Time: 01:00 PM
 

Comments
Just got back from a chilly 28-miler (unstreamlined... one of my wooden fairing mount rods broke when the bike fell over during loading after the last ride, and I didn't want to waste daylight making a new one). Result: Oooooo.... smooooth.... This thing definitely does work. No interference issues. No handling issues. No brake issues (I did have to reset the brake pads [while sitting on the bike... important because of suspension preload] to begin with, but there are no problems during use). I intentionally looked for rough pavement and bumps. I also ran over a few well-known filling-rattlers that I usually try to avoid. While I could still feel the bumps (making them totally disappear would be impossible), the suspension took all the harshness out of it. No teeth-rattling jolts... just a solid "thunk" that's not at all unpleasant. One of my least-favorite things is rough chip-and-tar road surfaces. Not only are they uncomfortable, they totally kill your momentum. While a suspension can't do anything about the loss of speed, it does make the experience a lot less unpleasant. I can still feel road shock and vibration coming from the rear wheel. Full suspension would be nifty. But the hub does do what I hoped it would... remove harshness, take the sting out of sharp bumps, and improve handling over rough pavement at speed. Is this better than a suspension fork? I don't know. I've never ridden a bike with a suspension fork. It sure does seem like a good compromise, though... 220 grams for the hub (roughly 100 grams more than a plain hub) vs. a weight penalty of a pound or more for a suspension fork. I kind of doubt it would be all that great on a LWB because of the much lower relative loading on the front wheel of LWB bikes. But on a SWB it works as advertised. Andrew Douglas MARS http://www.recumbents.com/mars --