New Elitewheels Drive SL Hubs: As good as State-of-the-Art TACTICs?

Why the New Hub Matters

A hub influences wheel performance in ways that are easy to overlook.

The most obvious is engagement. When a rider resumes pedalling after coasting, the freehub rotates through a small angle before its teeth engage. A hub with fewer engagement points creates more delay. Increasing the number of teeth reduces that dead space.

Engagement angle is calculated by dividing 360 degrees by the number of engagement points. A 60-tooth mechanism therefore engages every six degrees.

On a road bike travelling at stable speed, this is not a dramatic performance advantage. The rider normally maintains steady chain tension, so the hub remains engaged. It becomes more noticeable when accelerating out of tight corners, changing cadence on a steep climb or repeatedly alternating between freewheeling and pedalling.

A hub must balance that responsiveness against tooth strength, spring pressure, contamination protection and freewheeling resistance. More teeth alone do not automatically create a superior mechanism. Tooth geometry, material hardness, contact area and manufacturing tolerances are just as important.

The Elitewheels Drive SL Hub

The Drive SL uses a 60-tooth star-ratchet-style mechanism with six-degree engagement. Its defining feature is the one-piece titanium freehub, which integrates the cassette body and engagement structure into a single component rather than assembling them from multiple pieces. Elitewheels positions this design as lighter, stronger and more durable than a conventional aluminium freehub arrangement.

Titanium is well suited to this application because it offers high strength, good fatigue resistance and excellent corrosion resistance at a lower density than steel. It also resists the cassette-spline notching that can affect softer aluminium freehub bodies.

Cassette bite occurs when individual sprockets press into the freehub splines under pedalling torque. Minor marking is common on lightweight aluminium bodies, but severe notching can make a cassette difficult to remove. A titanium body should be more resistant to this damage, particularly for heavier or powerful riders.

The one-piece design may also reduce the number of interfaces capable of moving under load. In principle, fewer separate connections can improve alignment and reduce opportunities for loosening or creaking. Elitewheels describes the system as providing direct engagement and long-term durability. These remain manufacturer claims until the hub develops a substantial independent service history.

The Drive SL hub uses TPI steel cartridge bearings rather than ceramic bearings. This may initially appear less prestigious than the hybrid ceramic units used by TACTIC, but ceramic bearings are not automatically the better choice for every rider.

Quality steel bearings can offer excellent sealing, wear resistance and value. They are also easier and less expensive to replace. On roads affected by rain, contamination or poor surfaces, bearing protection and correct preload may matter more than the small laboratory friction advantage available from premium ceramic bearings.

Power Transfer and Wheel Stiffness

Elitewheels links the new hub to a broader wheel-system objective. The carbon-spoke Drive SL models use 21 front and 24 rear spokes, with a 2:1 arrangement intended to improve tension balance across the wheel. Elitewheels states that the spoke-tension difference between the two sides is controlled to within 7 kgf.

Improved tension balance can benefit durability because the lower-tension spokes remain less likely to unload during hard cornering or out-of-saddle efforts. It can also help the wheel maintain alignment and resist lateral movement when sprinting.

The hub does not create these characteristics independently. Flange spacing, flange diameter, spoke bracing angle, spoke count, rim stiffness and build accuracy all determine the wheel’s lateral response. The Drive SL therefore needs to be evaluated as a complete structure rather than as a high-engagement freehub fitted inside an otherwise conventional wheel.

The carbon-spoke Drive SL reportedly achieved excellent scores for trueness, dishing and spoke-tension consistency in independent examination. The 58 mm version was measured at 1,354 grams by one reviewer, close to Elitewheels’ stated 1,330 grams with a permitted tolerance of plus or minus 30 grams. The same review praised the wheel’s responsiveness and crosswind stability, although it found tubeless tyre installation tight and noted that carbon spokes transmit more road vibration than steel alternatives. 

It is important not to exaggerate claims about power transfer. A stiff wheel can feel more immediate under acceleration, but the amount of usable energy lost through a properly constructed modern wheel is already small. Elitewheels’ statement that increased lateral stiffness sends “much more watt” to the road is not supported by a published independent measurement. The precise power-saving benefit is therefore Information not available.

Performance Testing and Validation

Elitewheels states that the Drive SL has been subjected to more than 20 laboratory tests and that its aerodynamic development has been validated in a wind tunnel. The company also identifies precision spoke-tension control, stiffness testing and aerodynamic optimisation as major parts of the development program.

The wheels are UCI approved, indicating that they meet the applicable dimensional and safety requirements for sanctioned competition. Both the 48D and 58D carbon-spoke models are listed as UCI-approved wheelsets.

This distinction matters. The statement that a wheel has completed more than 20 tests demonstrates a structured validation program, but it does not allow direct comparison with another manufacturer unless the loads, duration and pass criteria are published.

Independent Drive SL testing provides useful evidence of initial production quality. Recorded trueness, spoke-tension consistency and wheel dishing were all strong, while ride testing found the wheels stable and responsive. Long-term, multi-season evidence concerning the new titanium ratchet remains open because the Drive SL range was introduced in June 2026. 

How the TACTIC TR01V2 Differs

TACTIC takes a more exotic approach with the TR01V2. The hubset has a claimed weight of only 207 grams and uses 70-series aluminium for the hub shells, freehub bodies and ratchets. These parts are machined from billet in Germany, with final assembly carried out in Europe and the United States. 

Its 60-tooth Helical Drive System does more than increase engagement count. As the ratchet moves axially, its helical splines make it rotate into engagement with the mating teeth. TACTIC says this movement improves engagement timing compared with the straight-spline arrangement used by its first-generation hub. 

TACTIC has also moved its X-ring seal from the freehub body to the hub shell. The new layout is designed to block moisture and debris without creating continuous seal contact and associated drag. A revised spring and freehub spacer are intended to improve durability.

Another distinguishing feature is adjustable bearing preload. A collar with a titanium locking screw allows preload to be set independently of thru-axle torque. Correct preload is important because excessive compression increases bearing drag and wear, while insufficient preload can create movement and reduce lateral accuracy.

TR01V2 hubs use hybrid ABEC 7 ceramic bearings. These should provide very low friction when clean, correctly aligned and properly adjusted. Their practical speed advantage over good steel bearings is likely to be small, especially once tyre rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag and drivetrain losses are considered.

TACTIC says its V2 hubs were raced during every Grand Tour in 2025. That provides valuable real-world validation under professional conditions, although professional racing does not necessarily reproduce years of wet-weather recreational use. Teams also inspect and replace components more frequently than most consumers.

One-Piece Titanium vs Helical Aluminium

The clearest difference between the two systems is material strategy.

Elitewheels uses titanium for the one-piece freehub and ratchet component. The main potential advantages are wear resistance, high load capacity and reduced susceptibility to corrosion or cassette-spline damage.

TACTIC uses precision-machined 70-series aluminium for the freehub and engagement components. This helps it achieve an exceptionally low 207-gram hubset weight. TACTIC compensates for aluminium’s lower wear resistance through geometry, hard finishing, carefully controlled engagement and a broad mating interface.

Elitewheels appears to prioritise durability and value over achieving the lowest possible isolated hub weight. TACTIC pursues minimum mass, bearing refinement and mechanical sophistication with much less concern for price.

Both systems provide six-degree engagement through 60 teeth. However, similar tooth count does not mean identical operation. The TACTIC mechanism uses helical movement, adjustable preload and a non-contact seal. The Drive SL uses a more conventional star-ratchet concept combined with a particularly durable titanium component.