There is a seemingly-endless array of high end and boutique hubs available to riders right now. That makes standing out from the brightly-anodized crowd a tall order for even the most established brands. But that’s exactly what Canadian-made Project 321 is doing.
Through a combination of impeccable production quality, distinctive design and Ontario-based production, the small brand is going toe-to-toe with some of cycling’s most storied outfits. An array of fancy colours doesn’t hurt, either.
After spending more than a year on the new G3 hub, we’re suitably impressed by the made-in-Canada hub. It rolls fast, it rolls relatively quietly, and it looks good doing so.
3, 2, 1, Go… north
While P321 hubs are now manufactured in Ontario, the brand’s origins are in Bend, Oregon and, before that, California. Jake Liles started making the hubs in his garage. When his innovative magnetic pawl design caught on, and orders kept increasing, scaling up from garage to a proper operation proved challenging. With extensive experience in precision manufacturing already, and a keen interest in cycling, North Arc Capital stepped in to join the party. Join because, while North Arc Capital now owns P321 and production moved to Mississauga, Canada, Liles is still very much involved in the brand he created.
That’s allowed Project 321 to continue build in Ontario on the groundwork laid in Oregon, adding North Arc’s extensive expertise and equipment for high-end manufacturing to Liles’ design. That allows Project 321 to manufacture high quality parts in house, from hub shells to drive rings and pawls.
The latest is the G3 hub, the third generation of Project 321’s hub design.
Driven by magnetic forces
The key technology at the heart of G3 hubs is the M-Pulse drive mechanism. Instead of a series of springs, often tiny, driving pawls into the drive ring, like on most hubs, P321 employs magnets. This reduces drag while coasting, reduces maintenance and, as a fringe (or not-so-fringe) benefit, makes the G3 hubs run quieter than most hubs with comparably-quick engagement.
And the G3’s do have very quick engagement. Those magnetic pawls drive a 72-tooth drive ring, giving the G3 hubs 288 points of engagement for a 1.25-degree engagement angle. That’s not quite the fastest out there, but it’s certainly on the faster side.
6-Lock keeps standards open
The other innovation on the G3 hub is the 6-lock disc rotor mount. This allows for easy switches between…
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