BIG FLATS, N.Y. – Nov 12, 2008 - On September 15, 2008, NoTubes.com® filed a lawsuit against Specialized Bicycle Components Inc. (“Specialized”) alleging that certain rims and wheels of Specialized infringe U.S. Patent No. 7,334,846 (the “‘846 patent”). This lawsuit, styled K.G. Motors, Inc. v. Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

As set forth in NoTubes’s complaint, Specialized is alleged to infringe the ‘846 patent by making, using, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing into the United States certain tubeless wheels and rims, including without limitation Specialized’s Roval brand wheels. The technology disclosed and claimed in the ‘846 patent was invented by NoTubes’s founder and owner, Stan Koziatek, while pursuing a better solution for tubeless bicycle wheels and rims.

http://www.notubes.com/

source: Stan Koziatek

Reviewed by Brian Mullin aka Gram and MTBR.com Pastajet

http://www.gramslightbikes.com/

I am in the process of doing a 20mm fork shootout between the new Magura Thor and the Manitou Minute Elite Absolute 140mm forks for these illustrious MTBR.com ProReview pages.

God of thunder and rock and roll
The spell you’re under
Will slowly rob you of your virgin soul

My American Classic and Stan’s Notubes ZTR 355 QR front wheel was not going to work with a 20mm axle so I started to look over the currently available 20mm front hubs on the market. I am a bit of a weight weenie so I started from that viewpoint, scouring the internet for light 20mm front hubs. American Classic makes some of the lightest hubs on the market and they are one of my favorites but unfortunately they do not make a 20mm hub currently. Eurobike 2008 did just report that American Classic has “a big pile of new hubs including 15mm and 20mm bolt thru front hubs”.. I found quite a few obscure brands during my searching, some I hadn’t heard of before and others such as Tune are expensive and hard to come by. “Three thousand miles just to get laid - I really respect that.”

Hope Hub

Lo and behold I came upon the Hope Pro II hubs. I had read good things about them in the internet world but what really caught my attention besides the decent weight was that you could convert them to either a 20mm or 15mm or QR (9mm) axles. Wow, that is a great feature since you could use one front wheel for various bikes and/or forks, especially useful considering the new Fox and Shimano 15mm Betamax standard. This conversion feature makes it a stellar concept that allows the consumer to do all sorts of things with one hub.

The Hope Pro II hubs are machined from billet 2014 T6 aluminum and feature high-quality sealed cartridge bearings and a 6-bolt ISO disc rotor mount. They come in a whole slew of colors, Silver, Black, Red, Blue, Gold, Gunmetal and Green in either 28, 32 or 36 hole drilling’s. Retail price for the 20mm front hub is around $80-90 and any of the additional converters are $20-30. Thanks to Phil at Hope for assisting in the test.

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