1st day with my new freewheel! bicymple hub
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Just posted on YouTube – Mad4One prototype freewheel test… 
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So, how is it @turtle? (That’s Markus, right?)
Is the freewheel/fixed shift easy to do? Does this look sturdy? Is it heavy? Any idea of the final price? 
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We were able to test the hub very well in technical terrain. I rode it myself too. It is extremely robust, of course heavier then a standard hub and technically a masterpiece. It is quite similar to a Schlumpfnabe. Shifting needs practice (but I also wonder if it’s important to shift while riding). The costs will be adjusted to the complex production. mad4one will publish all the exact informations such as price, weight, etc. in a couple days.
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@MAD4ONE just sent out an announcement if you are on the the mailing list. I will share the basics here. There are different prices when ordered as part of a wheel or a complete Uni.
STANDARD PRICE will be: EUR 1’184,00 + your country’s VAT.
The Mad4One Flick Flock Standard ISIS Hub consists of:
- outer shell made of two pieces of aluminum ERGAL AL-7075-T6, in black anodized
- axle and all internal mechanisms (consisting of 15 components) made of hardened steel
- bearing diameter 42 mm
- bearing spacing 100 mm
- bearing width 12 mm
- with standard 6 bolt mounting holes for disk brake
- Freewheel made of 6 pawls and 30 clicks
- Fully removable hub internals for cleaning and maintenance without having to take off the spokes.
Weight: approx. 1,200 kg. (we will give the exact weight as soon as we receive the final version).
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100 € per 100 g you are kidding.
We opened a presale campaign with interesting options.
Here are all the details.
For any question, do not hesitate to write to me.
marco.vitale@mad4one.com
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Thus the announced regular price is about 1400€ for this fixable freewheel hub (incl. 20% VAT). 
Nice. One can build multiple wheels for that price or up to a dozen other freewheel hubs. 
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Correct, but the possibility to switch between fixed and freewheel gives you to choose the right mode depending on the path.
I think this will give to unicycle a wider range of action.
Unfortunately, high quality and complexity are expensive.
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How difficult will this be to maintain for someone that isn’t too technically minded?
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Some questions I still have:
- what is the deadline for pre-ordering?
- what will be the color of the hub?
The presale campaign will be divided into two steps. The first one will end when we will have the second prototype (around the beginning of March). The second step will end two weeks before we start to deliver the hub. (Around Beginning of April)
We will also engrave the serial number. This will make the anodize and engraving process a bit more difficult to manage. For this reason we will accept all our 13 colours for the presale orders, then the standard colour will be black.
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Does this mean prices will be different between both steps?
Yes, a little variation.
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this also applies to the Schlumpf hub. You make a unicycle with light, expensive components and then add a 2kg block for 1500 euros. I cannot understand this logic. But it doesn’t matter, let people buy what they want. There are also people who absolutely must have the 1000 Euro Iphone without critically questioning it. I continue to ride standard unicycles and have fun. I’m not interested in these strange developments in unicycling (strange saddles, strange hubs, prices like bicycles). For such a price I can buy a bike and ride on the rear wheel, then I have Freewheel AND gears.
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You make a lightweight rotational mass and add a 2kg hub at the center… Which has really little effect over the global behavior of the wheel - except that you can ride way faster and follow your friends with bikes.
The question is then: why would you ride a unicycle when you can ride a bike? Well… Why do you @Neuling ride a unicycle? 
There are some important differences between an iPhone at 1000+€ when you have other similar models at 200~300€ and a new type of hubs which unlock new possibilities. I agree it’s a lot for a single piece but I think it’s worth it for people who really like (freewheel) unicycling.
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Well, as much as I love that the shiftable one will exists, I guess I’ll build a second wheelset with a “standard” freewheel hub, if I want to get more into freewheeling… (Maybe the Qu-ax, whenever that is available)
I absolutely understand why it is so expensive, but since I still see freewheeling as an extra “toy” to play around with when normal Muni feels boring, at that price it’s not worth it for my limited budget. Maybe that will change and Freewheeling will become more of a tool than a toy as the sport progesses, but currently I don’t see it as that. (Unlike having a second gear on a schlumpf hub, which I think is a massively useful tool if you are into distance riding).
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A few thoughts from me on the comments above. I know both Florian (Schlumpf) and Marco (from mad4one) personally. Both invest a lot of passion and money in an innovation that will never really bring money and is still a great enrichment for the unicycling scene. Having a unicycle that I can ride fixed on technical terrain and freewheel on flowy passages is just fantastic. Also the Schlumpfhub: you never get that fast as on a 36" in second gear… It is true that both hubs cost a lot, but anyone who deals with the technology of the hubs can understand it. There aren’t many innovations left in the unicycling scene, it’s just stupid to badmouth the few that exist, sometimes you can just be quiet or write nothing (no one is forced to buy one of this hubs)
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If the iPhone has features that no other phone offers but one is sure that he/she is going to use them then this is the right choice even if it comes at that price. If you’re going to buy any of these “feature hubs” just because everyone does but you never plan to freewheel or use the second gear then this is just as stupid as buying an iPhone only for its name.
So while I’m happy with what I have I like watching these developments (and enjoy my 14 speed hub at my bike which probably falls into the same category…).
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Well people can spend their money on what they decide they want to – it makes the world go round. I for one would really like one of these. Thank you to Mad4One for investing time and money into this and pushing the sport forward.
I don’t think people sometime appreciate just how cheaply they get mature mass market products these days. When you compare the cost of this hub against a high-end bike rear hub like a Chris King or Industry-Nine, you’ll see that it isn’t really all that bad given the volumes of those will be so much higher.
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