Project321 Launching Extremely-Quick Gravel Hubs

Having simply rebooted the model with new mountain bike hubs, Project321 was displaying off a barely quieter model for gravel bikes on the 2024 Sea Otter Basic.

As Lightning McQueen realized, generally it’s good to go gradual to go quick, and that’s the pondering behind the gravel hubs. Project321 has trimmed again the variety of pawls contained in the hub, which slows down the engagement barely however makes it quieter and infinitesimally reduces drag.

internal ratchet ring and pawl details on prototype gravel hubs from project 321

The massive distinction between the mountain bike hubs, which have eight pawls working in pairs of two, is the halving of of the pawls to 4. This will increase the engagement from 1.25º for the MTB hubs to 2.55º for gravel, with an efficient 144 factors of engagement.

Two pawls stay engaged in any respect time, with the opposite two phased by half a step to interact subsequent. That’s nonetheless actually fast, particularly for gravel (or street) the place you’re sustaining a relentless cadence. The pawls are magnetically pulled into engagement, so there aren’t any small springs that may come out throughout servicing.

closeup details of prototype gravel hubs from project 321closeup details of prototype gravel hubs from project 321

The hubs place two double-row bearings on the edges of the freehub physique, usually the purpose experiencing the very best torque and sheer forces.

brake rotor mounting adapters for prototype gravel hubs from project 321brake rotor mounting adapters for prototype gravel hubs from project 321

They use their identical 6-Lock rotor rings, letting you run 6-bolt or Heart Lock rotors on the identical hub. They’re natively Heart Lock, however use a lock-ring type attachment to repair 6-bolt rotors to them. Launch date and pricing TBA.

Project321.com