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Thanks. Think I'm mostly there on deciding to do it. I'd love to keep the option of a 30T Wolftooth oval ring for some big pedal days with steep climbs and to keep a little better chainline when I haven't bailed to the granny gear. I can't believe I'm going to type this, but after a bunch of asking people on shuttle trucks and such, an E13 hub actually sounds like less of a PITA than an Ochain. I always throw an extra rear wheel in the truck for trips anyway.
e*thirteen just launched a neat video detailing some of the development of the Sidekick hub.
The Sidekick hub’s journey began seven years ago with a vision to create a silent, low-drag hub. After more than 50 prototypes, the Sidekick hub was finally brought to life—not only achieving the original project goals but also delivering unexpected performance benefits. During prototyping and testing with athletes, improved speed due to reduced drag was clearly noticeable. Surprisingly, riders testing bikes equipped with the Sidekick also reported enhanced suspension performance and overall ride characteristics. The Sidekick isolated drivetrain feedback from both the suspension and pedals, resulting in greater speed and composure through rough terrain. However, these benefits were not always consistent. A major breakthrough occurred when engagement across varying degrees of deadband was set, marking a pivotal milestone in the hub’s development. Sidekick as it is known today was born. “It’s not a simple evolution, but we are talking here about a small revolution” - Fabien Barel.
Apologies for resurrecting this old thread, but I figured we don't need a new one for discussing our Sidekick experiences.
I've had the base V2 Sidekick on a Megatower for a few weeks now and wonder how did you all make your bikes quiet with these hubs?
Edit: I was wrong about the source of the clang, my assumption below is incorrect.
In my limited experience / observation, here's what I assume is happening. Whenever a bouncing top chain pulls on the cassette hard (jump, drop), the freehub spins clockwise through the deadband until the pawls engage and bounce off the ratchet ring, which is almost always accompanied by a loud metallic clang coming from the hub. I pulled all the stops to silence this bike - STFU, stays wrapped with extra rubbery stuff, chain guide, 11sp XX1 RD / XX1 chain - and the noise is still killing me. It's like riding a Walmart clunker. How does everyone deal with this?
I've only ridden it with 9 degrees of deadband so far, but even that adds lots of slop when pedaling on technical singletrack so I am not too excited about switching to 13 or 18 degrees.
I've ridden the hub a lot and have not experienced this at all. I found my bike quieter. That said, I'm in the max position (18 degrees) and exclusively ran V2 on an Epic 8 Evo (with good results). Maybe the lack of travel kept it from "cycling" like you are experiencing?
@e*thirteen to the white curtesy phone...bet they can help you out.
Hey @ballz ,
We occasionally get feedback about the noise that the pawls make when they engage the ratchet ring during initial pedaling movement, but your description sounds pretty extreme and not the norm. Can you drop us a line at support@ethirteen.com and we can dig into it with you.
Thanks!
Thank you both for your replies. It made me dig deeper and the hub is, in fact, innocent. Two things seem to be happening instead - the RD makes this metallic clang when the bike bounces, with or without chain, which is odd. The entire wheel rings quite a bit when this happens, which adds to the overall acoustic impression that confused me. I am not sure what's going on with the RD as it has the Hall lock and it never gave me problems before, but at least I am not going mad about finding the culprit anymore.
@ballz - Great to hear you got it figured out and that it was not the hub.
I'm pretty sure I'm having the same issue or similar. I'm not sure mine is the derailleur though.
@sickshredsled - Reach out to us at support@ethirteen.com with some details and photos of your setup and what you are experiencing and we can assist.
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