SRAM Torpedo Review

The Sram Torpedo hub is a two-in-one system that allows you to switch from freewheel to fixed-gear without taking the rear wheel off as you would with a traditional flip-flop hub. In theory, it's a great little device: go fixie for doing track-stands in the park and switch to freewheel to coast down the hill back home; in practice, the Torpedo is pretty much good for nothing.

First impressions: When I got the box for my Torpedo I thought, "Wow, did they pack a brick in here?" No, the Torpedo is just that heavy. It feels like they carved it out of a solid chunk of iron. It does look cool though, very robust design.
I spun the axle bit and the bearings felt awful. I opened it up and saw that there wasn't enough grease in there. I filled it with some Phil Wood and that helped a bit, but it seems like sloppy manufacturing to me. On closer inspection I noticed some other issues too: the metal seal that protects the bearings is not a perfect fit, you can see the bearings inside the hub. A nicer system would have a rubber shim around the seal or do a better job with machining. The main problem here is that water and dirt get kicked into the bearings and mess everything up. The Phil Wood grease helps by filling in the gap between the seal and the hub, but if you ride hard in all conditions it won't hold up forever, as I found out two months into an Oregon winter.

Fixie/Freewheel switching action: To switch the hub from fixie to freewheel and back you have to dismount and stick a flat-head screwdriver (not included) into a little hole in the axle nut. When the screw inside the axle is all the way in you're in fixed mode. To get out of fixed mode you turn the screw exactly 5 full rotations counter-clockwise. If you go more than about 8 rotations you run the risk of pulling the screw out of the hub. Again, sloppy.

How it rides: In freewheel mode it rides just fine: when you pedal the bike moves, when you stop pedaling the bike coasts -no issue there. The problem is with the fixie mode. There is a lot of back and forth play, it feels like a super loose chain and it completely takes you out of the fixie experience. Track-stands are challenging because you get a good 1/16th rotation of the cranks before it catches. Just riding along is a pain: when you ease up on the pedaling you get a sudden yank as the hub engages. All that play makes it impossible to have that man-to-machine connected feeling that a fixed gear creates.
As for skidding, I haven't done much of that because riding in fixed mode is so annoying. Considering how heavy the Torpedo is I'm sure it can take abuse, and Sram offers a really good warranty so I'd feel comfortable thrashing.

I'm not normally a Sram hater. I have Rival and Force on my road bikes and will defend them to Shimano jerks and Campy snobs all day. I honestly think Sram just dropped the ball with the Torpedo. Considering it costs something like $160 (tack on another $250 for a decent built wheel) you'd expect a lot more than you get.


If you're looking for a Torpedo maintenance guide, or if you just want to see how it works, check this out: http://www.parktool.com/blog/calvins-corner/torpedo