Just in: SRAM Torpedo hub

5 comments
By Simon Withers, Technical Editor Cycling Plus | Monday, Dec 22, 2008 1.00pm

SRAM were showing off their Torpedo hub at this year’s Interbike expo, but we haven't been able to examine it closely – until now.

So, what’s unique about the reborn Torpedo?

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Well, with just seven turns of a screw at the hub's end you can change the Torpedo from freewheel to fixed. It’s as simple as that – no instructions necessary.

It weighs in at a chunky 480g, heavier than a fixed or flip-flop hub, but this is at the centre of the wheel where extra mass is less of an issue. It's a trade off, but we expect to find the extra convenience more than makes up for any weight penalty. 

The Torpedo is made for 32-spoke wheels and has an Over Locknut Dimension (OLD) of 130mm. It also comes with 16, 17 or 18mm straight sprockets or 19, 20 or 21mm offset sprockets.

We haven’t built it into a wheel yet and put it through its paces yet, but we’ll be doing that early in the new year to see whether the Torpedo really will consign the flip-flop hub to the history books. Prices remain unconfirmed for now.

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User Comments

There are 5 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 5 of 5 comments

  • What is the point ?

  • you haven't mentoined the fact that sram and all its counterparts ie rockshox, etc etc havejust risen their prices by 30%. for example the tora u-turn which yesterday had an rrp £180. not retails £225. rather big news in my book

  • Pricing is moot as all manufacturers raised their prices in repsonse to the fuel costs over the summer and material cost increases that all manufacturers got hit with prior to the bubble blowing up. Nor is it relevent to the scope of the article.

    That said, this hub is a classic case showing that just because you can do something ddoesn't mean you should. In addition to needless complexity and weight, the thing is just plain ugly. What problem does it actually solve? In any case, I'll be interested to see what a long term floggin does to this thing, specifically what happens when a 200lb rider starts skidding on it.

  • i can't really see any benefit that would have

  • Come on guys, its a fashion product basically, get with the programme! It looks nice and will go hand-in-hand with the recent wave of fixies and single-speeders that have flooded onto our market. The product has its own uses and its own niche... just like hybrid bikes - I wouldnt be seen dead on one, but they have a market.

    With regards to Russ' comment about the +30%......

    Take a look at the history of the pound VS dollar and pound VS euro over the last 6 months. When the pricing was released for the Toras, the Pound was worth nearly two US Dollars. Fast-forward to December and its now worth 1dollar 46.9cents (it was 1.42 a couple of days ago) Okay, fine, thats 'only' about 25% but youve also got to remember that the pricing for many of the long-running models like Toras have barely gone up for the last 2 or 3 years. If they had put prices up in line with the global markets, you'd have seen 3 or 4 price rises of 10% each time, and trust me, they'd have been slated MORE for putting their prices up a bit at a time, 3 or 4 times, than putting their prices up ONCE at 30%. Sure it's a big-a"ss price jump but there not a lot bike companies can do about the dollar rate! Also remember that the Pound VS Euro is now almost 1:1 where as it was 1:1.45 not so long ago, so things made in Europe will also go up. Unfortunately its naff-all to do with bikes and all to do with politics and loose purse-strings...... otherwise I could probably have fixed it myself! lol

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