Modify the Shadow Raptor Freecoaster?

[eightyfivegt]

Curious if anyone has modified a Shadow Raptor Freecoaster...specifically, a swap to a KHE hollow axle to shave off a bit of weight.  I bought the hub at a good price and I won't be able afford a new one for some time.  Shadow advertised this hub as having KHE internals. I'm sure it's a little "overbuilt" for street and park use.  Safe to assume some KHE replacement parts will work? TIA

[DaddyCool]

Hi,
the Shadow axle is hollow, isn't it? Anyway, I would assume you can use a KHE axle here. So you could think about the female steel version which is hardly any lighter with regular steel bolts, so maybe titanium bolts would be an option. But this is expensive...
Or maybe the aluminium axle?
To be sure I would ask Shadow directly if this is possible.

[eightyfivegt]

Thanks DaddyCool.  My Raptor hub has a solid axle... which is probably for durability in street/park use.  I did speak with a rep at Shadow directly and they have no known tricks to shave a bit of weight other than swapping to aluminum or Ti hex nuts.  I have already done that and it helped.

[DaddyCool]

Hi eightyfivegt,
that is interesting. All the pictures I found in a quick google search showed a hollow axle...
Anyway I can tell you that the hollow CrMo male axle of my Reverse ACB hub weighs 154 g. A hollow 14 mm axle is roughly 35 g lighter than a solid one, assuming a 6 mm diameter bore. For a 8 mm diameter bore it is around 65 g. I think the bore in the KHE axle is 6 mm. So it is not so much. But small contributions sum up...
Do you have a steel cone nut on the non drive side? Some KHE clone hubs (Colony for example) came with aluminium ones, but I could not manage to find some of these as a spare part. It would be a good option to save more weight.

[out~riding]

Im thinking that it might be possible to do that swap, it's just a matter of trying it out.

[eightyfivegt]

I think what looks like a hollow axle in the pictures is just the same as what I have...those are Allen wrench fittings. You cannot look through the axle.  But, I suppose I'm making an assumption that is indeed solid. I'll look into the aluminum vs. steel cone nut.  Thanks guys!

[out~riding]

The Raptor does have a solid 14mm cromoly axle.

http://www.global-flat.com/parts/part/1736

They also mention that the cones are cromoly as well. You can benefit in finding an alloy cone that fits.

What I can tell you is that when I swapped the cromoly axle from a KHE Reverse for a EAS axle with cromoly studs you save 100g or 150g (I can't remember exactly)

If you use the greyhound alloy axle with TI bolts and an alloy cone you can drop that much at least.

[out~riding]

by the way, I just checked the lastest version that came out a couple of months ago.

It's now called the Optimized Freecoaster.

The differences are a smaller non-drive flange to fit a hubguard and a bushing bearing.

[DaddyCool]

That is interesting, indeed a solid axle! I haven't seen new hubs with solid axles for years. 14 mm hollow axles are the standard for rear hubs for years. Whatever, in this case it is even easier to save weight here!
Please tell us if you find aluminium cone nuts anywhere.

[eightyfivegt]

Great suggestions and worthy of additional research...thanks guys!