Merrit bearingless driver coaster

[GUMP_]

http://merrittbmx.com/products/hardgoods/final-drive-freecoaster/

So big gods what is the general consensus of this coaster?

Yes a khe clone. But no stupid bearings in the driver.

Are we just hoping the clutch will solve all the issues and everything else is just garbage?

Horrid looking hub shell but I guess you could retro fit it in to another clone shell.

I'm bored so posting bullshit to try and get a conversation going

[dude...]

hasnt this been done already? im suprised if not.

also suprised to see they gave a torque rating for the cone nut, thats the sort of shit that bg 08 would have been creaming over, ironic that now that the engineering nerds have all stopped caring

[JFax]

Without knowing exactly how it is built up I would expect that the torque rating is due to the bearings.
I expect that if you put too much pressure on the bushings that they stick. Either that they compress and deform to a point where they dont spin freely enough or if the are pressed together too hard, depending on the bushing design.

I ran KHE bushing BB for a while and the torque was paramount to if you could ride them or not (which made the whole idea working horrible with profile-esque designs unfortunately).

Could also perhaps be due to people stripping cone nuts, but I bet on the bushings reason.

[JFax]

Regarding the product as a whole; not sure why so many companies are bombarding the market with new coaster designs, the market seems absolutely flooded.

This could work but I doubt it would make a difference and it would probably have a lot of complications for people wanting to ride anything faster than slow street.

[G]

The worry would be that with a freecoaster the entire hub runs ON the driver, so the driver bearings have to take the full weight of the rider and any impact loads (particularly side loads). When you are pedaling there will be much more load on the driver bearings than there is on a normal cassette driver...
Having said this:-
1. I haven't actually seen this hub or taken it apart.
2. I work for a competing company and we have a rival product coming out very soon.

So you should probably take that into consideration when weighing my input/criticism.


G.

[dude...]

i agree with that, if bushings were suitable for load bearing applications like this then surely we would have ditched ball bearings completely in our hubs years ago?

[Prodigal Son]

Didn't éclat make a bushing cassette?

[dude...]

yeah theres been a few cassettes, but not a coaster.

its different in a cassette cos you have bearings in both sides of the hubshell, wheras in these yuhub coasters, the driveside bearing sits on the outside of the driver itself, meaning forces from landing etc are transferred through the driver bearings

some draw a diagram if you dont get what i mean

[condrbkr]

Wasn't the Cult coaster bushings? I remember it being hotly anticipated and failing miserably.

[Spev]

Wasn't the Cult coaster bushings? I remember it being hotly anticipated and failing miserably.

The Cult coaster had/has a needle bearing in driver along with 1 (and now 2) sealed bearings.
Most other Yu-Hub/KHE style coasters had/have a bushing and 2 sealed bearings in the driver.

[GUMP_]

Yeah the cult was full of exploding bearings

[condrbkr]

With it's torque rating and explicit 'get this installed by a professional' talk, it sounds like they're already preparing for a hit or miss on this one.

[LeonLikesToRock]

With it's torque rating and explicit 'get this installed by a professional' talk, it sounds like they're already preparing for a hit or miss on this one.

With the issues coming out with new hubs that aren't damn near a flat out copy of something else I can't blame them.

[condrbkr]

I don't think it warrants a new thread but it seems like Tree is coming out with their own freecoaster. I spotted it on Timmy Theus bike check over on ridebmx.com. It doesn't look fancy and I'm definitely not qualified to claim that it is or isn't a KHE clone but it's a Tree none the less. Tree hubs always seem to be different and quality... but then again I haven't heard stuff about Tree in a hot second.