I9 Torch Road

[krooj]

Does anyone know if I9 is still producing their torch road hubs in a non-disc form anymore? I've ended up with several sets over the years and they've always been very, very good with respect to rolling smoothly, being easy to service, and lasting a long time. It'd be a shame if they were totally unavailable.

[joevers]

You might consider White Ind T11 for a similar hub but yeah, they've been listed as discontinued on distributor sites for some time now.

They drastically cut down the number of hub options and drillings they offer in the two years. I called this Spring asking about a few hub options (lower spoke count lefty and road disc hubs) and they said they just couldn't justify the number of options they had. It's a shame their rim brake hubs seem to have fallen in that category.

[corkycalvin]

You can email them. They are good at responding.

[November Dave]

They’re discontinued since probably over a year ago but they might have random sets still left. They found a few sets for me earlier this year.

[krooj]

I’ll give them a call. Looking at a spring project with some Zipp 303s hoops and was eyeing I9, since they offered an 18H front, which is somewhat uncommon.


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[krooj]

Called them this morning - RIP rim brakes. Nothing left over.

[corkycalvin]

Thanks for the update. So no more support if the freehub body needs replacement? Bearings are easy to replace.

[krooj]

I actually bought a Campy FH from them a couple of weeks ago and they said there was stock, since there aren't a whole lot of folks running that combo. I'd be curious about availability of HG bodies, though.

Bearings are trivial to replace/swap, but it's a real shame they don't still offer these hubs (or a Hydra update) on custom order.

[corkycalvin]

Originally Posted by krooj

I actually bought a Campy FH from them a couple of weeks ago and they said there was stock, since there aren't a whole lot of folks running that combo. I'd be curious about availability of HG bodies, though.

Bearings are trivial to replace/swap, but it's a real shame they don't still offer these hubs (or a Hydra update) on custom order.

What did they charge for the campy FHB? At lease that’s still an option since all 11s wheels are compatible across Campy/Shimano/SRAM.

[krooj]

$180 or so, but I bought the full assembly with bearings; they sell the bare shell for less.

[corkycalvin]

Do you know if they use the road Torch FHB on other hubs? If not, there’s no parts going onward. I know those rubber FHB dust cover will tear eventually

[krooj]

I think the Torch bodies are still in production, since they're used on current road hubs and wheels. My i9.35 road disc wheels use an HG Torch body, for example. Hydra bodies appear to be mountain only.

[corkycalvin]

Good info. Thanks

[th_boone]

Agree - big bummer they stopped making the regular hubs, but reckon they were seeing the numbers and didn't want to continue. I've owned a few sets myself, still have a set on my wife's cx bike in violet, classic flange laced to Hed Belgiums. Always good. The entire jump to disc brakes by the industry it's a large miss in my humble opinion.

[ryker]

Originally Posted by joevers

You might consider White Ind T11 for a similar hub

And if high engagement is the draw, T11 hubs can be configured with the WI mountain ratchet/pawls.