[Closed] Novatec customer service less than desirable.

Cheeky gits.  Probably a faulty hub.

They should be fine, but one thing to note, many new wheels don't come well greased.   I've used Formula hubs on my daily fixed gear, and it's an easy job to replace bearings. My current FS has formula hubs (same as Novatech) and I've recently stripped the freehub off and popped off all the bearing shields to re-grease it - but that's after 2 years use.

They should just replace.

Why not post the entire email text?

A rock has subsequently bust out my rim sadly so looks like I'm going to be forking out for a new wheel anyway but nice to know, thanks.

The full email text is 18 emails back and forth. I asked about their warranty. They said there wasn't any warranty on bearings. I said that's disappointing after only 3 - 4 months of riding and said I'd be avoiding their poor quality products in future (which I believe I'm within my rights to say based on MY experience). The 'senior sales manager' or so his email signature states obviously wasn't happy about a negative comment to his company but handled it completely unprofessionally.

Seems like direct response to some comments, so can we see the email you sent them?

Ah I see why not now.

But feel free to post them I like both sides of a story .

My experiences with Novatec have actually been very good! I also think the bearings in the hub that I've been using for the past three years have been exemplary, although I must admit their freehub bodies are made of cheese and that's even with their anti bite guard. Still, nothing that a good one piece cassette can't overcome.

I guess I'm just a bit miffed after forking out £6k on a bike and the wheel breaks so easily and quickly. Here's further emails from the thread if you wanted to see them for context  granted I aired my grievances about their products but was shocked a company of their size would reply in such a way

My response:

They're final reply:

Brand new Santa Cruz - your contract is with the bike shop for 12 months in the UK.

Kick up trouble. A £6k bike.   Not had any issues like this on road and MTB for over 30 years where after a few months they deny warranty...

I know the issue lies with the shop as stated in my first original post. I was just highlighting the way I was responded to after only enquiring about their warranty out of curiosity. I was shocked to receive emails back like that.

Novatec far and few between in the UK.

Err. You might want to think about that one. There are many hubs around made by Novatec and simply re-branded,

If I were you I'd be angry at santa cruz putting "value" hubs on a 6 grand bike

... then I'd buy - or rather get the shop to sort - some new bearings (posher ones if you like), packing them with grease and then enjoying my superbike

FWIW I've got/had a few novatec hubs (only on road wheels until very recently though) and not had any problems with them

-Is this warranty?

-Sorry,bearings are not covered under warranty.Your bikeshop may be able to help you though.

-They said no.Your wheels are s@#t and not as good as others costing a lot more.I hate your company

-Okey dokey.

Santa Cruz speccing cheap oem wheels on a 6k bike says a lot.I see this as a failure of the shops customer service tbh.

Novatec far and few between in the UK.

Superstar,Hunt,JRA to name a few.

Yeh I'm surprised a bike costing that much would have a cheap wheel build, not that novatec are terrible, but they are a pretty generic choice.

I'd expect DT/CK/Hope...

A lot of these big manufacturers stick in crap components into expensive bikes. Always seems to be the things they reckon they can get away with, namely bearings. It's why, after previous experience, I shall never buy big brand again, unless it's heavily discounted so that I can upgrade the bearings myself.

I still don't understand why are you emailing novatec when the vendor is the one to take it up with...

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Was it simply that you were spoiling for an email based argument? </span>

On top of that a £6k build and you get novatec hubs? They're alright hubs (IME) but for that sort of money you'd be expecting something a bit posher...

Oh hang on

... Santa Cruz...

Makes sense now.

Novatec hubs on a 6 grand bike... jeez.

Anyawy - Basically you've have some bearings fail, which could have been for a multitude of reasons, and which aren't covered under warranty, and then immediately slag off their hubs saying they're shite.

Imagine walking into a pub, ordering a pint of beer and finding the pint glass has a crack in the bottom. Then proceeding to tell the pub that their service is crap, their beer and food is crap and it's no wonder people don't drink there any more.

They probably realised part way into the email chain that you were a lost hope and they wouldn't be able to please you/fix your issue, hence the last reply from them.

Speaking from vast amounts of customer service experience, being a dick is not the best way to get something fixed. FYI 🙂

On a 1k bike maybe, but a 6k bike, that's just a piss take.

Might be worth contacting santa cruz for the proper spec..

Is it possible the bike shop fitted some cheaper wheels and re sold the better ones?

Might be worth contacting santa cruz for the proper spec..

Or look at the spec online :o/
F: Novatec D641 - 15x110mm
R: Novatec D642 - 12x148mm (XD)
Rim E13 TRS 30mm - 27.5
Spokes: DT Competition

They are the same £80 (retail) rear hub that's specced on the base spec model for £2k less.You don't get Hopes till you spend another £800!!

You'll find them on £1200 hardtails.

Your expectation that they should be DT Swiss,Chris King quality is not totally unfounded given the £5.6k price tag but that's an issue to take up with Santa Cruz.

To be fair if they did come on a £1200 hardtail you'd still be a bit miffed but maybe somewhat more realistic.

Still the responsibility to look after you lies with the bikeshop you bought it from.Them saying 'we've done all we can' is bollox.

Might be worth contacting santa cruz for the proper spec..

Is it possible the bike shop fitted some cheaper wheels and re sold the better ones?

If you look on Jungle's website loads of Santa Cruz bikes are specced with Novatech hubs.

Shame as they often used to come with Hope hubs

The D641/642 seem to be on the higher level bikes with the D711/D462 on the 'cheaper' bikes. Then above £6k you get Hope pro 4's.

When I say 'cheaper' I mean the £4000 build. The same hubs are on my £1850 RRP trail bike. Which is currently available for £1480.

I guess everyone would be happy with being spoken to like that by a company then by the responses here.

I emailed them out of curiosity as the wheel had already been in to the shop 3 times previous to the emails. I wanted to see if it would be something that could be rectified as the shop was being unhelpful (I know its the shop my contract is with but there's no harm in enquiring form the horses mouth so I could go back to my LBS with the facts).

Santa Cruz now ship with DT Swiss but when I purchased it they were using Novatec. Bit disappointing that they switched supplier on their builds after I purchased.

ta11pau1 - your analogy is completely off the mark. My experience with Novatec has been shocking to say the least, only reinforced by their non existent customer service. It's not only the bearings, my freehub has broken too.

Have had the shop strip and re-grease everything but after the following ride had the same issue again

Sounds like you need a new shop. Step 1 should have been to replace the bearings, not fob the customer off by servicing a part that isn’t meant to be serviced.

i quite like Novatecs response tbh, you throw the toys out the prom, they call you an idiot - fair.

Not a pressure washer user by any chance?

I guess everyone would be happy with being spoken to like that by a company then by the responses here

Have you tried insulting the bikeshop?

Bike shop will not want to warranty the bearings, because the distributor will not warranty them for the bike shop.

They’ve spent more money stripping them 3 times than paying for replacements would’ve cost

I'm amazed Novatec have customer service.

I'd consider getting a reply a bonus.

On a £5.6k sale.......you have a bit of margin to play with to cover customer service issues.

You told them you would be staying clear of their products. What further response did you want?

Anyway… you spent your hard earned money at the shop. Get them to sort it. New bearings or hubs if need be… and your claim that the hubs/bearings supplied didn't live up to their billing and intended purpose is reasonable, which from your story it might be.

My oldest running rear hub is a rebranded Novatech… with original bearings. Buy Hope though… not because the bearings last longer… but because replacements are everywhere. Hope hubs on a stock build is always a good thing in my opinion, for serviceability, not bling, reasons.

No the response I was expecting from any self respecting company who cares about loyalty and customer satisfaction would have been "I'm sorry to hear you feel this way, This doesn't sound good we hope we can put this right, speak with the shop etc etc". Not to insult me or brush me off and to say go elsewhere.

Looking at their Facebook page their wall is inundated with people just like me so maybe not here but at least I know I'm not on my own. All with bearing and freehub issues too which says everything I need to know.

No I'm not a pressure washer user, because I'm really that stupid I'd really pressure wash a brand new Nomad

Op, don't worry about the more judgemental comments.

I would be a little miffed too, in your situation.

I would see if the lbs can be persuaded to help further but I suspect you are looking at some new wheels in reality.....

Lesson learned and all that but I can see how it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Hope you get it resolved one way or another and get back on the trails in time for the good weather! 👍

No I’m not a pressure washer user, because I’m really that stupid I’d really pressure wash a brand new Nomad

Ah,ok.Now I understand.

You speak to everybody like that.

Good luck with that.

Not to insult me or brush me off and to say go elsewhere.

Er… even from the bits of your conversation you have posted, you made it clear that you were staying clear of their products. They were just repeating what you said.

Anyway. Buy Hope. From a shop that'll look after you.

Quite admire their response tbh, they held their line respectfully and reasonably in the face of a temper tantrum, when they don't have any obligation to you or relationship with you at all.

TBH considering the attitude I wondered about this:

"Have had the shop strip and re-grease everything but after the following ride had the same issue again. The problem seemed to go away on the next ride but now the bearings have completely gone to pieces."

The shop just haven't fixed the problem, that's obvious. But you say "have had the shop do this"- is that what you demanded or was it their response? I can easily see you storming in and demanding that they strip and regrease it, then being upset when they do exactly what you ask and it doesn't work because you've insisted on the wrong thing... Your relationship is with the shop. Their relationship is with santa cruz, as is the relationship with Novatec and the buying decisions. But you are the common denominator...

Actually, it's the shop, then Jungle, then Santa Cruz. Novatec aren't involved at all, unless they want to be.

I'd take a good guess that the person replying doesn't speak English as a first language so there is probably quite a bit lost in translation at both ends. But why would anyone think that an OEM Joytech / Novatech product would work anywhere near as well as Chris King?! If one buys a bike on a budget that happens to have a 'high end' frame, and then cheap-ass components on it to hit the price point, one can't really expect trouble free riding. Other brands are available that would have provided a decent frame and components.

Swap it for a Shimano Deore cup-and-cone. It will last forever if you treat it properly, and cost about £25 (plus another £20 for some new spokes).

(Although it won't make a cool clicking noise when you coast).

stripping and regreasing failed cartridge bearings is a waste of time - you might free up a seized bearing but the bearing will still be shot.  Bearings should have been replaced with decent quality ones when they first failed.  Unfortunatly now you have broken a rim there is nothing you can do

They've done nothing wrong here.

You were rude to them and quite justifiably, they pushed back. You get what you give. If you'd been polite, asked for help "I know it's probably not a warranty thing but wondered if you could help me out at all?" you'd have done better.

"Good customer service" is not the same as "tolerating rude customers and acquiescing to their demands".

In my old job, I trained our CS team to give excellent, beyond expectation service to polite people, and legal minimum (complete with smilies in emails to make the rude customer look bad if the continued being rude and comms got shared anywhere) to rude, offensive or otherwise unpleasant ones.

Hopefully just like Sick, Novatec have identified that not all customers are good customers, and it's worth sacking off the rude, troublesome ones.

Lessons learned.

Not to insult me

U ok hun?

Looking at their Facebook page their wall is inundated with people just like me so maybe not here but at least I know I’m not on my own. All with bearing and freehub issues too which says everything I need to know.

Novatec sell an absolutely massive amount of kit, of course they’re going to have some unhappy customers.

I can’t think of an expression that sums up just how much I agree with Andyrm

I agree. It why I asked for the complete email chain in the 3rd post.

usually you only get this sort of response if you provoke.

i can understand why the op is annoyed but I’ve had the same with Chris king so not just “ cheap “ novatec.

My missus works in customer service, and the golden rule of complaining (according to her) is to know what you want, and give them the opportunity to offer it?

From the emails you've shared it doesn't look like you contacted novatec with any sort of resolution in mind, you were out for an argument/whinge...

Any customer service person worth their salt will try and dump you as there's no way to resolve the problems of a belligerent person who won't listen?

... The shop have done all they can...

No they bloody haven't, they've packed an already failing hub with extra grease, this is a "sawdust in the gearbox" kind of solution, I can't believe you will accept that, but get arsey when some fella, two continents away, who has no direct commitment to you and your dandyhorse gives you a relatively polite brush off...

I bet they've not contacted santa cruz have they.

Go back to the SHOP point out that SC have since changed the standard spec of hubs, point out the performance is well below what people would typically expect and mention SOGA and if necessary ombudsmen (as a final resort)...

But don't be belligerent and arsey, simply state you want it sorted and that you know the bike is within it's warranty period, ask them to contact SC and seek a proper resolution, and be clear in your own mind what sort of resolution you would accept...

A new hub, built in to a wheel with no expense to you would seem fair, or at least a full replacement set of bearings/FH. You might be pushing it if you expect a shiny DT/Hope replacement but you never know...

But if you want to focus your attention anywhere, it is on the shop...

As said above it's really your lbs problem, then distributor, then santa Cruz then novatec.

Stripping & regressing bearings pretty poor, lbs should've replaced them straight away with something better.

This is a well known problem with santa cruz

http://forums.mtbr.com/santa-cruz/novatec-hubs-specced-sc-bikes-1059901.html

Novatec have a big range & that santa Cruz chose to spec a budget hub, considering how much the bikes cost, is pretty poor!

https://issuu.com/mtb-vco.com/docs/catalogo_novatec_2017

Fwiw my novatecs (superstar) have been very reliable,

Thing is i didn't make any demands? I just stated my issues. I didn't go straight in with a negative comment.  Any decent company would be looking to offer advice and guidance not insult me and my technical knowledge. For the final time I know the shop is where my contract lies with  I just had sore time to email the wheel manufacture to enquire he options before going back to the shop with the facts.

I don't believe I was excessively rude. Not to the point those responses were justified. If you had a complaint with your bank and they said oh I'm sorry sir if NatWest isn't your cup of tea there's plenty of other banks out there I'm sure all your responses would be completely different.

As for me asking the shop to strip and re-grease I didn't. I purely mentioned my issue and this is what they done to resolve it. Which obv didn't work.

Did you tell the bank that they were sub-par quality?

I once worked in customer services at a bank.  We'd get the occasional nut job that was just out for an argument on the phone.  They'd quickly go quiet if I acknowledged that "We're clearly not able to meet your expectations as a bank so I'd suggest you bank elsewehre".  They never did though.....

They're a business at the end of the day.

 I don’t believe I was excessively rude. Not to the point those responses were justified.

And that's where I, Novatec and the majority of posters on here would respectfully disagree with you. Your comments were rude, and as many of us have said, there is NEVER an excuse to be rude - and if you choose to go down the path of being rude in the hope of forcing someone to help you, you'll be sorely disappointed.

Mate a new freehub bearing is 10 quid [almost certainly be just the outer one that has gone]. Your bike cost six grand. It's an error of scale to get upset about this. Personally I'd have just fixed it, stopped fretting, started shredding.

Either way just look at it as an opportunity to rectify an incompetent bike spec - I like novatec just fine but it's a joke to buy a bike at that price point and ride around on those hubs. It's not like they've snuck a heavy seatpost or stem in there, it's the wheels FFS!

As an aside, how much does one have to spend these days to get a mountain bike where you can genuinely say these wheels are awesome? OP is an extreme example but generally wheels seem to lag miles behind overall build quality.

https://www.bird.bike/product/aeris-145-x01-eagle-12-speed/#configuration

If this link works, £3700 gets you a 145mm Enduro bike with Lyriks, DT Swiss xm1501 wheels, Maxxis tyres, dropper, Eagle XX1, Sram Code RSC etc.

Im sure there must be loads of brands with better wheels for a £6k bike or less. Depends if you want Santa Cruz written on the downtube or not I guess!

The SC Nomad for £3600 has Yari RC’s / 1x11 NX / Novatec’d hubs, basic Sram Guide R’s etc. Crazy spec difference.

Canton Spectral - similar price to Bird but fits in a carbon frame / Sram x01 / Mavic wheelset (no idea how good this is).

Im sure there must be loads of brands with better wheels for a £6k bike or less.

Hope HB160 is £5,500. Guess what hubs that comes with....

Rebranded Novatecs?

Yeah £3500 or thereabouts gets you bikes specced with DT XM1501/Newmen evolution SL A.30 (look them up!) - both £600-700 wheelsets weighing 1600g or so.

I was looking at a Tallboy in a shop yesterday. I was surprised to see DT 370 hubs on it. I thought that was stingy. The wheels on a Norco that cost half the price were better.

Id rather buy the frame and get the bits on line and put a bike together myself than buy a complete bike at the price of a Santa Cruz (or similarly priced bike). That way I can be sure the money has gone where I think it's best used.

None of that has any relevance to the op, Who doesn't have any relationship with novatech. Santa Cruz bought the hubs from them and sold them to Jungle, etc...

anyways, OP take the wheel back to the shop and ask them to replace the hub or the wheel. My guess is that you'll get a new wheel. If you are given a hub take the opportunity to replace the rim et while you're at it.

hope you get it sorted out.

My old man always called the difficult customers in his shop custards,

i clicked the one day, it meant a cross between Customer and Bast... 🙂

Pretty reasonable response from Novatec and I'm amazed you got one at all really, though it probably involved a lot of google translate. I've got a pair of novatec hubs must be eight years old now and still going as good as the day I got them with just bearing changes. Novatec hubs are pretty much everywhere under various rebranded guises. Your lbs needs to up their game a bit though

Can we see the original email you sent? Just to complete the set

Hmm this thread has possibly put me off Hunt wheels - I’ve had shyte hubs before (Surly) and don’t want a repete performance.

We’ve had 4 pairs of Novatec hubs here (possibly five but not sure), I wouldn’t be at all put off buying another set. I’m also sure that Hunt would look after you.......unless you start saying all their products are shit of course

No the response I was expecting from any self respecting company who cares about loyalty and customer satisfaction...

"Great! It comes with Novatec hubs!" said no-one, ever. My understanding is they are up there with Joytech – they supply huge amounts of hubs to the OEM market. I doubt consumer customer loyalty is really a major consideration, unless hosting someone else's brand sticker.

With that in mind, what did you really expect? Your issue is with the shop.

Novatec hubs on my road bike and changed bearings once in four years and thousands of km .

I d be annoyed to have them on a 6k bike though . my wheels were less than £300 .

Just for balance - we have 3 racers with Novatech CXD cross wheels in the family. Best wheels we could find £ per lack of kg, recommended by friends who run a local shop with a top notch workshop and reputation. Came with graphs of spoke tension and vertical / lateral run out.

The last two cross seasons have been dire and the filth / wash / stand for a week / repeat duty cycle has killed a lot of gear (jockey wheels, bbs etc) but the hubs have been fine and all wheels are still tight and straight.

Warranty excluding bearings etc is irrelevant on an almost new £6k bike - CRA states something has to be fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality.

Not sure quite what remedy you expected from a tier 1 supplier on the opposite side of the planet. I'm surprised Novatech even entered written dialogue - even Hope never discuss reasons if something fails, they just fix / send new stuff foc (provided you aren't a dick).

I'd be pissed at the shop for not replacing a £10 bearing on the £6K bike you bought form them personally. I'd take my business elsewhere. And it's santa cruz UK (distribution, Jungle in other words), not santa cruz (manufacturers) themselves which spec these shit wheels so far as I am aware.

Just had a look at this year's SC range on Stif's website and it's astonishing to see how much money you need to spent before you get rid of the Novatec hubs. I mean, they're not bad budget options, but to see them on a £5k bike took me back a little. My own Tallboy 2 came with Hope Pro 2 Evo hubs, custom branded for SC and while I do see the newer version on some of more expensive models, I thought these were pretty universal across their whole range.

I've noticed that SC bikes have really jumped in price since I got mine and I can only assume that downspeccing the hubs is a reaction to increased cost at import to attempt to keep the prices sane. I don't think it's working, looking at the eye watering prices!

FWIW, I'm surprised that the LBS didn't just sort the problem out. Seems a quick thing to fix, tbh. I've had a few things go adrift on my own bike and most of the time I just sort it myself in the garage as it often would cost more to take it back to Stif than to just fix it myself. Oh, and don't forget the lifetime frame bearings warranty! I chomp through a set of upper bearings every 12 months, although the lower ones (which have grease ports) appear pretty much indestructible. I've just replaced them at 2 years, but in truth there was nothing wrong with them, but I now had two spare sets as they come with the uppers, so I thought I might as well swap them anyway.

“Great! It comes with Novatec hubs!” said no-one, ever. My understanding is they are up there with Joytech – they supply huge amounts of hubs to the OEM market.

Which really goes back to the email they sent the OP ...

Novatec are a fully owned subsidiary of Joytech ... making the "premium" products.

Premium might not be Chris King or Hope but they don't mae crap because they have their parent to do that .. and even then I'd say Joytech are not crap... there are far more flaky manufacturers.

I’d be pissed at the shop for not replacing a £10 bearing on the £6K bike you bought form them

This here too.  Not really sure what you expected from Novatec but also agree whatever it is you didn't go about it terribly well.  They don't owe you anything, but they may have made an effort if you'd gone in saying "realise you don't owe me anything, but anything you could do to help me get the shop to sort it out would be really appreciated".

The shop on the other hand really have missed an opportunity to do things right, regardless.  The bearing would have cost a trivial amount.  If you said that you'd lost confidence in the hubs they could even have suggested that they do you a good deal on some replacement hubs/spokes and they'd build the rims onto the new hubs for free.  Or something.  But not nothing on a £6k bike.

The shop on the other hand really have missed an opportunity to do things right, regardless. 

Agreed. Most Novatec hubs use a combination of 6903 or 6904 2RS bearings. Even top spec ones like INA are less than £2 a pop at a bearing supplier, so they could have easily said "bearings are a non-warranty part, but you've bought a £5k bike off us, they **do** seem to have gone a bit quick, so we'll pop in better ones FoC and give the bike a quick general check over too".

But again, even that hinges on an element of goodwill - and goodwill is something that's entirely dependent on the way it's requested........

60+ posts about a failed bearing

“Great! It comes with Novatec hubs!” said no-one, ever. My understanding is they are up there with Joytech – they supply huge amounts of hubs to the OEM market.

PMJ, I'll be controversial here and say I have KT and Novatec models that I prefer to my Pro IIs for a couple of reasons, having had a few of each for long enough to go through bearings and service them.

I paid trade for the KTs under another name that are on my long-distance bike rather than ask for a sample set, worth the £ at RRP tbh. A set of Novatecs in the office are arguably better still. They make quality stuff as well as mid-range stuff. Novatec are the TW arm of Joytech, they make a lot of hubs and they range from JT steel stuff for Cycle King bikes to NT stuff that's as good as all but Hadley or DT240 level kit, imo.

To the original point - bearings aren't warranty items. They're consumables and they vary in quality, many aren't really up to UK conditions though, for that you need the top spec stuff. Just fit some good ones once the originals die and all's OK. A really good set of bearings can be close to the OE cost of a mid-range hub.

even tho bearings are consumables they still have an expected life.  If they fail in the first mile clearly a fault.  If they fail after 10 years then thats just wear and tear.  trouble is th OP is in the gray area in the middle and having trashed the rim he now has no comeback IMO

I'd say the response received was due to the way you spoke to them in the first place.

Straight on the attack.

Did the bearings fail due to machining tolerances on the hub?

Did the bearings fail due to enthusiastic jet washing?

Did the bearings fail due to side loading? Are you a lazy whip master?

The grievance of novatec being specced is down to you, you knew what the spec was when you bought it, same as if you bought a ferrari with linglongs all round.

I would put your feelings aside and look at it pragmatically.

Do you want to send the wheels to Novatec for inspection?

I’ve noticed that SC bikes have really jumped in price since I got mine and I can only assume that down speccing the hubs is a reaction to increased cost at import to attempt to keep the prices sane.

It was always going to happen as soon as Pons Holdings bought them.They've got to recoup a LOT of money they paid to buy them.Prices up,value down.
Same happened with Cervelo.They immediately started down speccing complete bikes (for the same money) and the build quality of the frames went though the floor.

60+ posts about a failed bearing

i thought it was 60+ posts about how to ensure you don’t get good service

PMJ, I’ll be controversial here...

I like it when you're contraversial JamesO. 😉

I think my post has been misinterpreted. I'm not doubting Novatec or Joytech as hub makers; if they weren't that great they wouldn't have sold OEM for the last few decades. I'm pointing out that Novatec are a predominantly B2B company and as such an email from a gentleman in a different country, several points along the supply chain, is unlikely to get a huge response. They have no real consumer brand to speak of that excites riders or that needs protecting, and from that point of view spending a lot of time and money sorting out a single problem in a different country isn't really a sound business decision.

On the flipside, if Jungle emailed Novatec and said 'we've had failures on 400 sets of hubs' I imagine it would be taken a little more seriously.

As said: the issue is with the shop, and then with Jungle. And to echo JamesO's point, bearings are consumables, so the OP may just need to be nice.

I accept with anything novatec/formula/superstar etc I may have to change bearings reallly quick or I'm lucky and they last ages !! Cheap to replace with better quality ones 🙂

PMJ, ha.. was just expecting the Hope comment not to go down too well : ) Actually Novatec do talk about brand-building hence my interest in the post but it's up to them how they respond and you're right, they're not really a consumer-facing brand anyway. OEs might pick up on brand rep though.

Daern wrote,

"Just had a look at this year’s SC range on Stif’s website and it’s astonishing to see how much money you need to spent before you get rid of the Novatec hubs. I mean, they’re not bad budget options, but to see them on a £5k bike took me back a little. My own Tallboy 2 came with Hope Pro 2 Evo hubs, custom branded for SC and while I do see the newer version on some of more expensive models, I thought these were pretty universal across their whole range."

I'd not be that pleased to see Hope on a £5000 bike tbh, again not bad budget items but that should be DT territory.

As long as it's not the dt370, explodey hubs SC pec on their SE builds, which are possibly rebadged budget novatecs?

Edit apparently rebadged Onyx hubs

should have used the <b>Consumer Rights Act </b>and get the bearings sorted for free by the shop.