Odyssey clutch v2 opinions

[MEAT]

I know I'm basically talking to myself here, but on the off chance someone who rides BMX stumbles across this site one day, what's the opinion on the clutch?
Is it significantly better than the rest of the khe type coasters in terms of feel and engagement/mechanical reliability?

This Ezra freecoasting pawls shit all seems like witchcraft, I can't really find any opinions on it, so assume they suck?

[weedbix]

I haven't had the chance to play with one, but I keep getting told that it's the new Nankai, which is high praise

KHE resistance mech has problems

[master]

I highly haven't heard of any issues on the V2... Which means quite a bit for a coaster. I'd run one without hesitation. Odyssey would have your back if any issues arose so that helps as well.

[Prodigal Son]

The only issue I have seen is the axle. Kind of a wack design.

[paranoidmexican]

I know a few guys that run it (flatland) that really like it. Another friend bought the profile zcoaster and swears it’s the best coaster he’s ever had

[Bunky]

The only issue I have seen is the axle. Kind of a wack design.

What's wack about the axle design?  It's the strongest freecoaster axle out there.

I've got a Clutch v1, v2, a Profile Z, and an Ezra on bikes right now.  I've ridden Nankai's, NYB's, just about everything out there. 

The Clutch v2 is the best freecoaster out there.  I love mine.  Good price for a great working hub. 

[Prodigal Son]

It had like a 14mm non drive and 3/8” collared drive side bolts. That’s why I used that descriptor.

[MEAT]

V2 is 14mm both sides though right?

How's the Ezra bunky?

[Bunky]

Yeh, the v1 had a 3/8ths drive side bolt and a 14mm non-drive bolt, which was still better than a lot of other freecoasters out there that were either using two 3/8ths bolts, or just a normal 14mm axle. 

The v2's have both 14mm female bolts.

I actually really liked my Ezra hub a lot.  It popped and skipped a lot at first but then started doing it less, but still did it.  It's a light hub and I never had to replace the 6802 bearings in it.  I was cutting the 6802's out of my Geisha/poverty combo hub I was riding before that almost monthly because the inside bearing race was too tiny and would break.  I had a Greyhound too, that they changed to the 14mm inside diameter bearing races on (vs 15mm previously) and even those broke all the time and required a decent amount of work to extract the outside races.

The Ezra was the first freecoaster I ever had that I felt like I didn't need to maintain, which was a big change.  Up until that point, all of the freecoasters on the market required a decent amount of maintenance. 

[JohnW]

I had a v1 Clutch (well Sunday Cyclone since it was way cheaper, just without external slack adjustment) for a year and a half. Never had any issues or had to do any maintenance during that whole time. Ended up developing a little side to side play in the wheel. Asked Odyssey if I was right in my assumption that it needed a new non-drive shell bearing. They suggested a couple fixes and gave me a list of improvements they made on the v2 hub and offered to sell me one at a very good discount. I took them up on that and have been running it for 6 months without a single issue. Replaced my 10 year old Marmoset with a new G-Sport Simian to match the polished Clutch v2 I bought (and get better guards than the trashed Knight and BSD ones I had for the Marmoset).

Been running coasters for 10 years down and I'm super impressed with both versions of the Clutch. Saw everyone else blow up KHE, Federal, and Alienation coasters. I ran a Poverty 10t coaster for a few years before I sheared the driver in half. Replaced it with an Odyssey Reloader and out of the box I had to make custom springs to replace the stock butterfly springs. Put in the thrust bearing from the Poverty. Both of those I had to rip apart for maintenance once a month. Clutch would start sticking and not disengaging smoothly, and the driver bearings blew up after 5-6 weeks. Also had periodic issues with the resistance mechanisms resulting in slipping.

The Cyclone and the Clutch v2 have never once slipped on me, stuck, or blew a bearing up. It's a game changer not having to work on a freecoaster more often than a cassette. The v1 didn't have quite enough slack so I bought the non-adjustable max slack spacer and it was perfect. The v2 with the adjustable spacer had just a hair less slack than the v1 with the max slack spacer, and ended up being the perfect amount of slack. About the same amount of slack as my modded Reloader had. Almost never engages by accident, and there's still the option of more slack if 3/16" of a crank isn't enough for you with 28-9. Plus the dual 14mm bolts into a 20mm female axle means I no longer have to worry about damaging an axle. Both the Poverty and Reloader were discontinued when I had them, I had previously bent axles on 14mm male cassette hubs, and replacement axles were not available for my coasters. Now I don't have to worry about peg chinks or a drive side peg turning my rear hub into a paperweight.

I also ride more often now than I ever used to with the older hubs. I even go on 20-30 mile road bike rides with a freecoaster on a 20"...

[JohnW]

and even those broke all the time and required a decent amount of work to extract the outside races.

Headset star nut with the prongs bent a bit. You can also order a slightly smaller one for office furniture legs, since I used the headset one for 6902s. Hammer it in, flip the driver over, hammer the bearing race out, then flip that over in a vice and hammer the star nut out to reuse.

[Dr. Steve Brule]

I'm miles behind, was the Ody one the infamous G-Coaster.

[weedbix]

No. The Ody one is still axial clutch

[Bunky]

and even those broke all the time and required a decent amount of work to extract the outside races.

Headset star nut with the prongs bent a bit. You can also order a slightly smaller one for office furniture legs, since I used the headset one for 6902s. Hammer it in, flip the driver over, hammer the bearing race out, then flip that over in a vice and hammer the star nut out to reuse.

That is brilliant.  For a long time I had a bar end that I cut a grove into and could tighten it into the race and hammer it out with a punch from the other side, but I lost it around the time I moved to Raleigh.  About the time I moved here, I got an Ezra, though, and a Clutch v1 not too much later, and a Profile after that, so most of the broken bearings I deal with now are from other people's hubs I'm just helping out.

[Hairfarmer]

I'm running a KHE Astern that I've had for maybe 9 years and I've never had to open it up ever. The worst thing that happened was the slack adjustment screw in the axle fell out one day but I fixed that with some thread tape and it's been good since.
To keep it on topic, I have a friend with a clutch v2 and he says minimum slack isn't small enough. Probably not an issue for most freecoaster riders though.