Fear&Trembling

After a bit of dithering, I have just got hold of a second-hand Pantour suspension hub (laced to a Rolf Prima Accel wheel). As reviews are somewhat mixed - are there any users with experience of the hub?

brakemeister

i like mine
thor

LittlePixel

The shortest review in the world!
Heh.

BruceMetras

I have a Pantour hub on three of my bikes.. including fitting one to my Swift.. they are a neat piece of engineering and are most effective when running narrow high pressure tires where they effectively smooth out the handlebars and give more control at speed on rougher pavement... I wouldn't personally use it off road, nor for day to day wet commutes ... I've heard of some owners having setup problems or warranty issues usually centering around noise or slop/play after a few hundred miles... the hubs can be 'tuned' to rider weight with a change in elastomers.. any Pantour specific part will most likely have to come from Pantour (California). If you want to run comfortably on 406's with 120psi tires while maintaining the lightest weight, there are not many options..I see the Pantour hub as a very 'narrow niche' bit.. by comparison, my Swift (with Pantour hub) is more comfortable over rough pavement than my Airnimal with carbon fork and 520mm wheels.. my Pantour equipped JetXp running on 20x1.75 Avocets is almost decadent.. haha

Bruce

Fear&Trembling

Thank you Bruce for your reply (and Thor for your concision).

I am going to run a 120 psi Stelvio with the Pantour. I will be interested to see how it compares to the Birdy front suspension fork.

As it is going on my fixed-folder, I am a little concerned about front wheel braking, but I doubt (hope) it will not be a problem.

Will have to get some new elastomers though, as the hub is currently set-up for a sub-200lb rider and I am hovering around the 215lb mark.

pm124

To Fear and Trembling, I ride a Mu SL with the Pantour and have test-ridden a lot of Birdys. There is no comparison. The Birdy rides like a high end mountain bike and the Mu rides like a road bike. If you are planning on hitting a pothole and don't want to go over your bars, you need a Birdy. It is the smoothest riding bike around, and better than most full size bikes. If you are looking for a hard but fast riding road bike (ok, harder than a road bike), get a Stelvio equipped bike with a Pantour hub.

Fear&Trembling

@pm124 - Thanks for you comments. I already have a Birdy and have used both the red and black front springs. The ride is reasonably cushioned, but I still try to avoid pot-holes!I am hoping that the Pantour will be a little less pliant than the front end of the Birdy.

dalmore

I'm surprised what a difference the pantour hub makes. It's not going to save you from the effects of a pot hole but it does smooth out little cracks quite nicely it seems. I Think my mu sl feels better over rippled and cracked pavement than my big appled Speed TR. Once The cracks get to be sindewalk joint sized - the big apples are smoother.

bokes

This thread is interesting to me because i want to add more suspension to my Bike Friday Llama, and i'm trying to decide on 1) a Pantour Hub + Softride stem or 2) a front suspension fork. Unfortunately the only fork available for this bike does not have a lockout feature, so the energy absorbing travel would be a minor disadvantage when riding on smooth asphalt, especially out of the saddle.
I'm about to try the Hub+stem route first and take it on some bumpy dirt roads, and if it's still not smooth enough, i'll get the fork.

brakemeister

dalmore got it best I think

if you expect inches of travel than its not an option.... but the hub will smoothen out a fast ride i call it high frequency bumps...

thor

bokes

thanks, but I should have said i'm looking for more vibration and shock absorbtion, for small bumps, gravel and washboard. I won't be looking for hard core bumps or technical stuff.

Fear&Trembling

I have fitted the front wheel with its 74mm OLN Pantour hub and it looks like I have a 2004 model. The braking surface on the Rolf Accel is 10mm, and the stated minimum requirement according to Dahon is 12mm. Unperturbed, I ignored Dahon's recommendation (they advise hole 1 for the trajectory screw) and went for hole 4 after reading various helpful posts on the Dahon forum. However, after giving the bike I quick spin, and with the brake blocks at the top of the rim, they are still eating into the aero portion of the rim by a couple of mm or so under load. Damn!

I have just ordered narrower brake blocks and am looking into getting stiffer elastomers. As it is, I think I will have to go with hole 1 or 2 (which provides less vertical movement) as I cannot afford front brake failure on a fixed.