Levo Gen 2 i9 Hydra hubs vs. Stock DT Swiss...the sound!

[The Flying Dutchman]

I'm guilty of liking a loud zingy hub!

Upping the POE is more relevant on an EMTB hub in my opinion as there is a compounding effect of having 2 ratchet systems in the drivetrain

well thats how I justify spending $$ to the wife

 

[Forever Wild]

I swapped out the standard DT Swiss hubs/wheelset for Carbon fiber rims and i9 Hydra hubs.

behold the video I made for the occasion.

Just bought the I9 hydra. I love the high engagement hub design. Sounds better with the tire installed.

 

[rtp]

OMG, thanks for that video. Have been looking into building some wheels, DT350...and someone recommended the i9s.
You couldn't pay me to ride with that sound.

(Long time browser, first time poster but OMG that sound!!)

 

[RebornRider]

I have I9 Hydra hubs. The sound is zingy, but it's not loud when I'm out on the trail. I guess if I put the bike on a rack, gave the rear wheel some revs, and held my phone near the hub, then it would sound quite loud.

 

[Deleted member 7464]

I quite like it. Is it not similar to the Chris King noise?

I’m in the middle of riding the South Downs Way as we speak and as Reborn' mentions it would help out with all the deaf/oblivious/ear bud wearing walkers. That'd scare the crap out of them at full song! ?

I have chris king hubs and they do sound the same.To me it's an awesome sound,enough so that I got some industry nine hubs too.

 

[flash]

I put the swarm of bees on my eZesty because the Fazua engagement is a bit slow. A faster engaging hub helps noticably. I don’t mind the sound but it’s also the only sound on a really quiet bike so you really do notice it. It’s not my favourite hub sound but it does what it needs to do.

Gordon

 

[RustyIron]

OMG, thanks for that video. Have been looking into building some wheels, DT350...and someone recommended the i9s.
You couldn't pay me to ride with that sound.

To be fair, the i9 hubs are loud when lubed with the oil that the factory recommends. I prefer an NLGI 0 grease in all my freehubs to improve longevity and inhibit the intrusion of contaminants. Sounds are always dampened no matter whether you're running i9, DT Swiss, or Schwinn. That aside, I'm not sure I'd buy i9's again. I'm running Torches on one bike. The o-ring system that holds it all together isn't the best. It's too hard to get apart, and it's so delicate that it fails easily. The pawl springs are nearly microscopic, making service more difficult than it needs to be. Lastly, I broke the axle once. There were a lot of rough miles on it, so I'm not certain any other hub would have held up. But it still broke. All of those things added up move i9 from the top of my list.

The parts and design of the DT, on the other hand, are robust. They come apart easy, are easy to service, and are a of a burlier design. I've never seen a pawl-style hub that was better than DT's ratchet-style. If fewer points of engagement aren't a dealbreaker, they're worth a look.

 

[333psi]

I have i9 Hydras for my gravel bike, i9 Torches on MTB, and a set of i9 1|1s on my eMTB.

The 1|1s are ok but extremely curious on how Hydras would react on my eMTB. I think that the high engagement would blast me after a stop pedal when avoiding pedal strikes!!!

 

[RebornRider]

I have Hydras on my gen 2 Levo. There has been no down side to the quicker engagement. I have acceleration set to zero, so I can't say how the Hydra rear hub would behave if you had acceleration boost. Also, I almost never use turbo mode, but when I do, I haven't noticed any undesirable changes from the Hydra rear hub. In fact, the Hydra hub feels more "natural" to me because there's no free play when I start pedaling.

Regarding a sudden pedal stop to avoid a strike, there is the fraction-of-a-second "run-on" programmed into motor support. Most times that is helpful, but sometimes I've needed a big handful of brake to stop forward momentum when I wanted to stop but the motor thought I should keep going. The hub doesn't change that.

 

[cjc.emtb]

Awesome sound and the engagement is one of best upgrades for your bike.

 

[333psi]

Awesome sound and the engagement is one of best upgrades for your bike.

Agreed. And very simple to maintain and easily rebuilt. Worth buying their hub toolkit and lubes.

 

[F4Flyer]

I prefer the Hydra sound over any pawl hub, DT hub, or the I9 Torch hub. It seems not as loud to me and just more of a whine-buzz than a clicking. I prefer the Chris King over Hydras but Onyx silence is golden. I only use those three- Chris Kin, Onyx, Hydra as a last resort. They all have very high engagement but I do not particularly prefer anything above 70 or so points. I find more pedal kickback as the engagement goes higher.