Sure, there aren’t a lot of BMX bikes running disc brakes at the moment. But just like we’ve all seen on mountain then cross, gravel & road bikes… once disc brakes start to creep in, they tend to take over.
Éclat’s standard Exile BMX hub has been around for a while for good old rim brake and brakeless bike setups, already with uniquely quick cassette-style engagement. But when they were developing the chromoly WTP Chaos Machine freestyle bike with Tyson Jones-Peni, it was clear they would need a tough but lightweight BMX disc brake hub, too. And one with super-fast engagement!
Enter the Éclat Exile Disc BMX cassette hub, at just 403g with a 9T cog, 4130 chromoly axle & bolts.
Why a BMX-specific disc brake hub? Tech details
From a mountain biker’s perspective, you might just think, “why not use an existing MTB hub?” But the trick is, 20″ BMX uses narrower 110mm hub spacing, 10mm or 14mm bolt-on axles, generally a lot more spokes, and just 1 gear for the most part. Plus, BMX is always a struggle between building something small and bulletproof, that’s also light whenever possible. So, finding an existing compatible hub was pretty much a dead end.
Starting with the existing Éclat Exile hub, this new disc brake version shares the same 6061-T6 alloy hub shell construction and its original cassette-style driver with 6 x 3-tooth pawls for super-fast 120 points of engagement. That’s just 3° of freewheeling play before you put your power down. Those cassette pawls are attached directly to the one-piece machined 7075-T6 aluminum driver that incorporates the 9t single-speed cog. A separate 10t driver cog can also be swapped in, both compatible with standard 1/8″ singlespeed chains.
The new Éclat Exile disc brake BMX cassette hub features ISO 6-bolt rotor mounts, and spins on 2 high-quality sealed bearing inside the hub shell and another 3 bearings packed in-a-row into the driver itself.
Éclat Exile Disc hub – Pricing, availability & options
The Éclat Exile Disc hub is available now in 36-hole drilling only, and in black or bronze for 190€, or in super shiny polished silver for 197€. For now the WTP Chaos Machine is the only production BMX bike being built up with the new Éclat Exile Disc hub. But word on the street is that there are plenty of custom disc brake BMX bikes out there that this will fit. And rumor also has it that a few more companies are working on similar disc brake BMX bikes at the moment, which are expected to be released very soon.
As for whether there’s going to be a matching front hub…
For now, Éclat are pairing the Exile Disc rear hub with their regular rim/no-brake Exile front hub. They see this mostly for the trail & dirt jumping scene where there’s little need for a front brake, but… Éclat did already make a matching 15mm thru-axle Exile Disc front hub for their Swamp Master project bike, so don’t rule that out in the future, either.
Until then, hit some dirt jumps…
