Hasta La Gadget!

This fixed/single speed mountain-bike hub from Affix has a few things to dislike: the weird, oversized pie-plate-style ring for one, and the weight (570g or 1.3-pounds) for another. But if you can get over that it could be a rather useful, if niche, piece of bike gear.

The hub’s purpose is to eliminate the need for a flip-flop hub. A flip-flop hub has threading on both sides so you can remove the wheel and quickly change gears on a single speed bike, either to use a slightly smaller or bigger fixed-gear cog, or to swap to a freewheel. The problem: it takes a minute or two, and you get dirty grease on your fingers.

Affix’s solution is to have a convertible hub. You press and twist that big ring and the hub locks or unlocks, allowing you to coast or to skid-stop on the same side. This could be handy a few ways: for bike polo (I told you it was a niche product) you could ride around on a fixed but switch to single-speed on the court (many polo players use a rear brake). Or you could put it in the mountain bike for which it is designed and just choose depending on mood.

The cog comes in 14 or 15-tooth sizes, and is splined for a slide-on fit (you still get a lock-ring, though). And here is probably the biggest practical objection: Many people choose a bigger cog on the freewheel side of a flip-flop to make hill-climbing easier. With the Affix hub, you are stuck with one gear ratio.

The aluminum, 32-hole hub comes in 120, 130 and 135mm spacings to fit any frame, and costs a rather scary $270.

MTB SS/Fixed Hub [Affix]

Affix Free and Fix Hub store [Ben’s Cycle]

See Also:

• Hands-On With the Sram Torpedo Hub
• Sturmey Archer Three-Speed Fixed Gear Hub