Daan

I received a free set of Dominion A2's from Hayes (did you have anything to do with that @Ali C? Otherwise they must have been super impressed with my trials skills and massive social media following.. :D). Basically the same power as the A4, but with 2 x 24 mm pistons instead of 4 x 17 mm (makes for roughly the same surface area), and a slightly shorter pad. A tad lighter too. Build quality is better than on my previous A4 set: caliper halves line up, pad clearance is the same between the two calipers and all bolt heads are intact. Pad clearance is super minimal though, impossible to set them up rub free if your disc has the slightest wobble. I guess that's a drawback of a high hyrdraulic leverage ratio and still wanting to have a lever that engages quite early. Anyway, put them on my Hex, and so far so good two rides in! Hold is great with the stock semi metal pads, better than Magura MT5 with the long levers and Hope T3 V4. Modulation is there too and the lever action feels almost too light if that's possible. Pad knock is severe though, personally I find that unbearable, but a bit of ducktape thankfully fixed that. Let's see how they cope long term and if they start leaking.

Great! Mine is again giving me the very occasional skip, double springs, fresh clean & lube and everything. I'll just live with it I guess, shouldn't fail catastrophically, I hope

Driving Chinese slaves without any regard for the environment is what does that. Great name too. Plus, it's not carbon, just some partially carbon hub shell or maybe even just carbon coloured sticker on the hub. I'd say boycot this and all junk from Alibabba, makes for a somehwat clearer conscience.

Check again, this issue is there with every brake. Tiny bit of pad doesn't touch the disc. Anyway, don't sweat it, it's normal on this bike. Edit: I asked Adam from Tarty a few years ago about this as well. To ease your mind, this is what he said: "Inspired have gone to the top of the tolerance on these specs to avoid issues with people going 'the other way' (trying to use a 203 rotor when it should be 200) and ensure full compatibility between brake systems (it will still work if an IS style caliper is a bit high but you're stuffed if it's too low!). Removing some material from the adaptors will work (happy to help with that if you like - we have a milling machine here), alternatively using smaller adaptors (for, say, 160 or 165) then a few washers between the adaptor and caliper will do the trick too, and allow you to fine-tune the rotor vs caliper position."

No, but you have to get both faces where the caliper mounts onto perfectly straight and perpendicular to the mount, otherwise your caliper will sit at a slight angle, which is bad for performance.

Same here, disc mount on the Hex (our model at least) seems to be +23 mm, not +20. So using an IS->PM +20mm adapter and a 180 rotor will have a bit too much space above the disc. Ideally you'd run a 183 mm disc, or file 1.5 mm off the adapter. Tried the latter, but couldn't get it perfectly straight without access to a proper machine shop, so I just live with it. Just make sure to sand down the little ledge that will form at the top part of your pads once in awhile.

Good suggestion, but I'm positive I've got the correct end caps, there's only room for an M10 bolt in there, plus I've got two sets, which both are the same. Quite unfortunate these issues, but I9 support is great as always, they're sending me a load of stuff to help me sort it. Still, for a hub almost twice the price of a Hope, you'd hope you wouldn't need all this support.

So, did some experimenting on why that freehub is binding, turns out there's simply too much pressure exerted by the drive side end cap on the bearings, when the hub bolt is tightened down. That's also of course why the teflon seal of the end cap got crushed. Turns out the axle in this hub is 0.2 mm shorter than that of the hub with the damaged drive ring I still have in a box for spares. Side by side it's even visible to the naked eye. Drive side bearings are toast already as well, obviously because of the too high preload. Switched the axles around, and the bearings too, and it's slightly better, although still not perfect. So this'll keep destroying bearings in no time. Looking for one or a few super thin spacers to stick between axle and end-cap to remedy this, but of course these are impossible to find. In contact with I9 about this. Man this hub is such a disappointment!

Creaking as in crunching, or more like squeaking? If it happens under light load only, when engaging, maybe give the drive ring and pawls and springs a super good clean (WD-40, but be careful not getting it on the bearings), and then put it all back together again. I would suggest using some very light grease in the pawl seats, and a dab of oil on the drive ring. As for bearings being toast: yes, mine are getting quite bad too, the main bearings that is. They still spin freely, but make a lot of noise. Hub not that old, never seen dirt or water, but I did notice that when I crank down the bolt-on axle bolts hard (relatively, with a multi-tool) and give the wheel a good spin (without chain on obviously), the freehub doesn't always spin along and randomly wants to (dis)engage (aka starts to rattle). When I back off on the axle bolts torque, the wheel spins freely again without the freehub disengaging. So some interference going on with too much pressure on the bearings, not good. I found the hub end-cap in the freehub had a teflon seal ring around its edge which was crushed. Think the end cap can press too hard on the bearings, at least in my case. No washers are missing, so tolerances must be off here. You may want to check yours for this @DJEHB? I've again contacted I9 to see what they say.

There's this great thread on Ridemonkey about MTB brakes and why they all suck in a way. It also has a spreadsheet with a lot of measurements taken for a lot of different brakes, of their levers and hydraulic ratio's, so you can sort of objectively compare their power: https://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/frankenbrakes-and-brake-improvement-discussion.274164/. To visualize the data in that thread, I built a small tool, in which you can also mix and match different levers and calipers to see how they stack up to factory brakes. Again. it's not super accurate because of the way the leverage ratio of the lever is measured and calculated, but it does give a bit of an indication: https://brakes.ddzyne.nl/

Sounds good. Lever action a lot lighter as well than the T3 then? Always felt the return spring on the T3 is super heavy. Might give the levers a go on my old calipers, when they become available separately.

I have the Spank hub, though not on my trials bike but on my mountain bike. And only when it's not in single speed mode, so I've ridden it only twice so far :D. I've opened it up, and it's your typical pawl hub with a few tweaks, basically the same as the Hope, but with more teeth on the drive ring and two more pawls. With the higher teeth count on the drive ring, and hence way smaller teeth, logic dictates it's more delicate than Hope. They've sort of tried to counter that by having pawls with three teeth on them, so the engagement area is a bit higher. They say all pawls always engage (hard to check if this is actually the case when under power), while with the Hope Trials hub it's half the pawls. No idea how this all stacks up, but I reckon the problems you're having with Hope, will develop on the Spank hub too eventually. Btw, which issues are you having? Given the freehub a good cleaning and regrease/reoil with some light weight stuff?

It's not about the mount being faced, it's about the adapter not being parallel to the mount. It has a slight angle by design, you can see it in your picture. It needs those washers, as the bolt head is not perpendicular to the adapter face. Otherwise something will break very quickly with the stresses put on, and as you've experienced, also makes it hard to setup. But I reckon you're a stubborn man, so try Hope, they make a four bolt +20 mm adapter as well :P. Edit, for clarification's sake, this is what it should look like, conical washers between bolt head and caliper to allow for that angle without additional stresses:

You're missing the conical washers beneath the bolt heads (same as those behind v-brake pads). Absolutely vital on an inline PM adapter, due to the adapter face not being 100% parallel to the fork/frame mount. Try it with those (and some very long bolts, they all should've come with the adapter) and you should have no issues.

1) Pressing with your finger, you should be able to move it up and down a centimeter or so. 2) Yes this is normal, chain rings and sprockets are never perfectly round or 100% aligned to the center. So be sure to have that cm movement in the tightest spot. 3) This could definitely mean the chain is too tight, as a very tight chain will put a lot of force on your freehub, and a lot of wear too. It of course can also mean the disc is rubbing a lot, or your bearings are beat. For an illustrated example, see https://youtu.be/88tDcVvS7mU?t=252 Tighten the wheel nuts down very hard to prevent slipping (especially if the frame doesn't have any chain tugs to keep the wheel in position). Depending on the way the disc caliper is mounted and the wheel's fore-aft position, you may also need to play around with thin washers underneath the caliper to get the vertical alignment perfect. Good luck!

I've been using the Putoline HPX in my Magura disc brakes for a few years. All good, no leaks or swollen seals, even though it's a synthetic oil. It's definitely thinner than Magura oil, but on a disc brake can't say I noticed a difference in feel. I've also used Citroën LHM+ oil, but I find it's a bit on the thick side.

Magura hose has a slightly larger internal diameter than Shimano BH-90 hose (which is what comes stock on Saint, Zee, XT, etc), but the same as BH-59 hose (stock on cheaper or road/touring brakes). This means that with a Magura hose, you use either the Magura barb, or the BH-59 barb, and a Shimano BH-90 or BH-59 olive (these are the same). The BH-90 barb will be slightly too thin for the Magura hose, making for a less than perfect fit, and there's a chance you will need to tighten the compression nut a bit too much or get leaks.

Made the same one as Ali did, from 1.5 mm thick titanium in my case. Wouldn't go any thicker, hard enough to bend as it is. Broke the first one, because my bend was a little too sharp and I went a bit too far with bending. So made the second one with more of an even smooth bend all over. Use power tools or a new very fine blade if you use a hand saw, and a new drill bit, and use cutting fluid, otherwise it's a lot of work to cut. In the end I went back to the standard dual pulley tensioner. More chain wrap and nothing pulling down on your wheel (thought better safe than sorry with the very delicate I9 freewheel, as tensioning it like this does put some stress on it).

That's like polishing a turd.

Using an Absolute Black aluminium narrow wide sprocket here, about a year in, still good.

Is trials this hard on your rear brake caliper piston seals? I'd been running some Magura MT5 calipers for a year or two, and in the end they tended to slowly get a bit wet around the pistons. The pads occassionally got contaminated and needed to be cleaned/replaced, after which is was generally fine again for a good while. Had had this before: years ago I tried some Formula T1 brakes for trials, two sets actually, which both started to blast oil past the pistons immediately on their first ride. Anway, I replaced the Magura's with some Hope Tech3 V4 brakes I still had in a box from my downhill bike, and they worked great for a month or two. However after not having used the bike for a few weeks, I just found out one of the piston seals of the rear brake has crapped out massively. One of the pistons is covered in black junk, as is the pad. Of course, and frustratingly so, after cleaning up and clamping the brakes on hard for a while on a bleed block, they remain dry. So I reckon replacing the seal won't make any difference. This was the same with the Formula brakes, replaced the seals, still spewed oil on the first back hop, while they still worked fine and didn't leak on a regular mountain bike. So is this a common occurrence with disc brakes being abused for trials? Or perhaps maybe something to do with the plastic phenolic pistons used on these brakes and their tolerances/finishing quality? (I've always wondered why Hope equips their Trial Zone with aluminium pistons)

Hi Nigel, Think you're right, will most likely happen with a new one as well. It did for me. Are you running bolt on or through axle? Industry Nine offered to make me a special freehub with a bushing that should help resolve the issue, but that was a no go in my case, as it would only work on through axle hubs, not enough space on bolt ons. Double spring mod seems to have solved it. As I wrote earlier, I also tweaked the dropout alignment, but not sure if that's of influence. Not at home right now, but can post a clip of the sound end of this week if you like. It is obnoxiously loud, and especially the drag is insane. But better than skipping right?

Damn, that's really disappointing. Ricky is the guy to talk to at I9. Let us know how it goes. I've been wondering if it could have something to do with the rear end of the frame not being exactly in line. The Hex frame is so stiff, I figured it causes some static stress/flex in the axle when it's tightened down with a misaligned rear end, which might mess up the designed axle flex of the Hydra that's needed for proper full engagement? At least on my Hex, the rear end was quite out of wack. Sort of fixed that by using a dummy axle to face down the insides a tiny bit, at least the whole wheel doesn't want to come out of the dropouts now when I tighten them down.

Happy to help. I actually used a second set of the standard springs, which I put inside the other springs, doubling them up. This was recommended to me by Industry Nine themselves, after I'd broken the drive ring from too much skipping. They sent me a new hub, so I had a spare set of springs from my broken hub. Anyway, I'd ride it first, and if you notice yours starting to skip, you can get a second set springs from your dealer. Or contact I9, they might send you a set for free.

Using oil in mine. Hub did not come with any additional lubricant in the box. Got some Dumonde tech oil and grease here, seems to be in stock: https://marshguard.com/product-category/dumonde-tech/ Also using stronger springs in mine, as with the stock springs, the hub slipped occasionally under light load.