Onyx Hub opinions

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Originally Posted by beaterdit

On my third season on two sets of Onyx classics now. One set on my handrail, the other was on a 138mm bike, now on a 163mm bike. They’ve been totally bomber and the silence is sublime, so is the engagement. They still spin as fast as day one, zero drag.

Don’t feel like the weight or engagement really adversely affects my suspension but that’s a lot of variables and I’ve never ridden these bikes with anything else. Canfield claims the CBF has relatively low chain growth and pretty nuetral anti-squat/anti-rise.

I’ll never run another hub if I can help it, just love them. At the time my wheelbuilder still recommended the classic but in the future I will likely go with the Vesper to save a bit of weight, especially for a suspension bike. That looks like it will be distant future at this point.

Only negative thing I’ve ever heard personally is one friend had an early Vesper that was replaced due to slippage and then he reported a “softer” feeling engagement compared to his Classics. He described it almost like having a rubber band for a chain and he didn’t like it. Maybe the Vesper has more flex? Haven’t ridden them outside of a parking lot myself so can’t comment but haven’t heard anyone else complain about current gen Vespers.

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Thanks for the other comments - follow-up question: the Onyx website suggests Vesper for riders weighing 180 or less and recommends that Classic for ebikes and other heavy stuff. Unclear to me what a 195 pound rider on a regular bike (Spire) should get. Half a Classic?

For future reference, NOBL publishes weights of hubs -- Hydras weigh 301g for Boost/microspline/6-bolt version, DT 350 (277g), Vesper (410g), Classic (458g). https://noblwheels.com/blog/actual-hub-weights/

I’ve had my classic Onyx hubs since 2016 on two different bikes. I did replace the front hub in 2020 when I upgraded to a modern fork with boost spacing. They’ve held up well and I’m just as happy with them as I was to start. I love the silence.

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Originally Posted by jqualls

What's the collective say about these hubs. Maybe my search sucks but I cant find much. Mainly looking for first hand knowledge on function and durability of both the classic and Vesper. I can evaluate the weight and price.

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I have several onyx classics. One singlespeed with just under a 1,000 miles, a suspension bike with a 2,500 miles and a bikepacking bike with almost 7,000 miles. Wife’s bikepacking bike has probably 5,000 miles. I’ve never had a missed beat or any problems. I just opened the higher mileage one this year and it was clean and minty fresh inside.

For smoothness and long term durability I would not hesitate, these are great hubs. Stick with the classic for sure, I’ve heard a few stories about vespers being a little light duty…

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Originally Posted by meter-man

I looked at P321, but WAO doesn't build wheels with that hub, and P321's webpage says that they aren't producing gen 2 anymore and have not yet started producing gen 3.

I'm already leery of small parts manufacturers but I don't even see how to buy one of these hubs! https://project321.com/

Oh yeah, and apparently they are now part of a firearms trigger manufacturer or something. Yay?

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You might have seen my posts here over the last 3 yrs about how project 321 are the new benchmark IME. They’re becoming pretty mainstream actually…. https://bikerumor.com/resistance-is-...-freehub-drag/

I’m seeing brick n mortar bike shops routinely stock them for higher end wheel builds.

All the hubsets I have were made in Bend OR. Since they moved to Canada, I’ve bought some different end caps recently but haven’t had to deal with the company otger than that.

This is relevant to the pedal kickback issue, many of you may find it intriguing.

https://www.ochain.bike/ochain-mtb-g...kback-solution

Love my vespers so far. I’m a bigger dude, 200-210 riding weight but right how they are in an lighter hard tail setup not doing anything too intense. Probably around 1000 miles with no issues.


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If you buy these, upgrade the bearings or spend the money on whatever their upgrade is. The stock bearings are not long for this world in even moderately wet conditions. Onyx gave me a real hard time about replacement bearings after all of them seized up a couple months in - didn't think it was excellent service. I ended up buying them myself from Enduro so I could get nicer ones.

Hubs are fine otherwise. They did caution that part of the clutch setup is not anti-corrosion coated and not stainless, which I thought was odd, but haven't had any issue yet.

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Originally Posted by meter-man

Any more recent opinions on these Hubs? Considering putting some in a pair of WAOs.

The silence is the part that’s most attractive to me.

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Trigger pulled - WAO Convergence with Onyx Vespers and CX-Ray spokes (@ 20% off). Psyched to give these a whirl!

That’ll be a sweet setup! Post thoughts on the hubs once you have them. I’m deeply curious.

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Originally Posted by meter-man

Trigger pulled - WAO Convergence with Onxy Vespers and CX-Ray spokes (@ 20% off). Psyched to give these a whirl!

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Couple days ago I was riding a maybe mile long gradual downhill, pretty smooth, on Pine needles, just flying and all I could hear was the crunch of the Pine needles, and I thought oh I should record this so you guys could (not), hear it.

Anyone have experience with the tairin hubs? Seem to be a pawl design with a disconnect that makes it similarly silent, and comes in a bit cheaper. Onyx seems proven durability wise though

Bump... question for the Onyx loyalists out there: I was thinking about buying my buddy's wheelset (WAO Union w/ Onyx Vesper hubs), so he let me borrow the rear wheel to test ride since I've never ridden an Onyx hub before. I did a little bit of reading last night on various forums and reviews, and a lot of people mention the "elastic-y" (or spongey) feeling when you engage the hubs. I definitely felt that but I really noticed it even more on steep, constant climbs. It's almost like the hub lost engagement for a split second on every pedal revolution, and I lost torque/power as a result. Is that normal, or is it possibly some crappy bearings?

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Originally Posted by smmokan

Bump... question for the Onyx loyalists out there: I was thinking about buying my buddy's wheelset (WAO Union w/ Onyx Vesper hubs), so he let me borrow the rear wheel to test ride since I've never ridden an Onyx hub before. I did a little bit of reading last night on various forums and reviews, and a lot of people mention the "elastic-y" (or spongey) feeling when you engage the hubs. I definitely felt that but I really noticed it even more on steep, constant climbs. It's almost like the hub lost engagement for a split second on every pedal revolution, and I lost torque/power as a result. Is that normal, or is it possibly some crappy bearings?

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Maybe I don’t have this type of sensitivity, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. When I went to Onyx hub, I was a little worried about “kickback” on my full suspension bike. This never happened. Actually, I kind of feel the opposite of what you describe. They feel rock solid and quick. I like the no delay on engagement.

It was similar to this (minus the part about transferring energy to heat): https://www.mtbr.com/threads/are-ony...14048/#replies

I think bad bearings. Was pretty common at one point on the vespers? I think they are pretty efficient drag wise compared to other hubs when coasting and they should feel rock solid once engaged. Mine feel like freaking rockets and instant compared to my 240s with 52tooth.


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Originally Posted by smmokan

It was similar to this (minus the part about transferring energy to heat): https://www.mtbr.com/threads/are-ony...14048/#replies

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I read the thread, and all I can say is that after a full summer of riding I have none of the soft or not-instantaneous engagement that some people talk about. Mine is just like that guy’s in the shared YouTube video with the blue bike on the stand. I did buy it with the bearing upgrade and built it up myself.

My guess is the bearings are shot… happy to let my friend update those and I’ll give them another try. :)

When the Vesper first came out a few years ago they had some issues with slippage on the lighter weight sprag clutch. Now they've seemingly fixed it but a friend on Vespers said they had a spongy feeling compared to his classics. I think they still recommend the Classic over a certain weight and my wheelbuilder still recommends the Classics regardless. Never ridden the Vespers outside of a parking lot so can't personally comment but I definitely don't get anything like that on my Classics, and you never hear about it. I just deal with the weight.

FYI, mine are vespers.

maybe people are just repeating something they read ? Due to drugs/ old age I don't remember much but what i do remember is these 2 lawyers who had read stuff on MBA, would come into the shop to regurgitate stuff that Richard Cuningham had written verbatim, it was like they were repeating a legal brief

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Originally Posted by plugboots

FYI, mine are vespers.

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The more I think about this I bet it’s just a bit more flex in the lighter weight shell and clutch in the Vespers effectively giving them a slightly ‘softer’ engagement than the Classics. Onyx for sure fixed the slippage issue with the Gen 1 Vesper in the first year. Considering Vespers for my next set of wheels.

All hub drive mechanisms have some degree of flex under power. The much vaunted i9 Hydra is engineered to use it. Initially only one pawl engages them with flex under power a second and third engage. That’s one of the reasons they can get the engagement so tight on that hub. May also give it a slightly softer engagement than other ratchet style hubs.

Mine are Vespers as well without any problems. And I’m 200+ lbs. FWIW.


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cut/paste, musta been Harvard graduates

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

maybe people are just repeating something they read ? Due to drugs/ old age I don't remember much but what i do remember is these 2 lawyers who had read stuff on MBA, would come into the shop to regurgitate stuff that Richard Cuningham had written verbatim, it was like they were repeating a legal brief

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UBC law school at best ^^ but they did seem to have good memories, they always wanted a deal but we know they made lots of money ( cuz lawyers eh ) so no deal for them, they could have net made way more $ by just sitting in their office double billing a client. They weren't alone cuz often when people were repeating things they heard they use the same wording as what they read somewhere and 20 yrs ago that was MBA


I used to watch junior pull the front wheel up and bounce against the pawls on a cheap back wheel for half a minute, I always figured that had to be hard on the hub, he broke a lot of stuff but he never broke a hub

I only feel some springiness when ratcheting. Sustained spinning feels just like any other hub.

It kinda sounds like the sprags are slipping. That can happen if they get dirty or contaminated. Mine were clean when I sent them in for service after 3 years.

Also Vesper curious, any more feedback? Mostly worried about how much abuse they’ll take, I’m ~210 w/o gear, ride hard but nothing crazy, like jumps and rough trails but only ride bike park a handful of times a year. Can the Vesper hold up? Somewhat curious about the kickback, but also on a CBF bike, not sure if that matters at all but I saw it mentioned…

CBF has minimal chain growth, I don’t notice it. If you’re in a high gear (small cog) and moving forward at a decent clip it’s literally not an issue. In a low gear and moving slow while getting deep into the travel is mostly when you’d feel it. Like an acid drop situation.

Mentioned it up thread, I’m light but ride hard-ish(?) My wheel builder recommended the Classic for bomberness.

Appreciate it, thanks!! Not sure if I want the weight penalty or if the classic is even available as an option for the wheels I’m looking at? Super concerned the Vesper isn't burly enough? Love the CBF perspective, thanks!

Seems at least a few guys in here get along fine with the Vespers, even bigger guys IIRC.

Oh I ride a Canfield BTW. Metal bike, it’s already heavy hahaha.