BITEX BX 106 FRONT CENTERLOCK DISC HUB

Design and construction

Bitex machines the BX 106 shell to a low-flange road profile with conventional J-bend spoke holes, keeping the weight down without narrowing the flange spacing that a stiff disc wheel needs. Rotors mount by centerlock, and end caps convert the BX 106 between 12mm thru-axle and quick-release standards.

A front hub is a bearing carrier with flanges, and that is the whole job of the front BX 106: two sealed bearings on a stiff axle, end caps for your fork's standard, and flanges spaced to give the spokes a good bracing angle on the rotor side. There is nothing to engage and nothing to swap. Everything written about freehubs and engagement applies to the rear hub only; what you get up front is the same shell quality and the same seals without any of the moving parts.

How it rides

The BX 106 is light enough that a wheel on an alloy rim such as the DT Swiss R 470 or Velocity Aileron comes in well under most stock disc wheels, and the money saved on the hub tends to end up in a better rim or spokes.

The BX 106 is a road and gravel hub, not a trail hub. For mountain biking look at the Bitex BX 211 or BX 212.

On the road or the trail the front hub's job is to disappear: spin freely, keep water out, and hold the flanges still so the wheel tracks where you point it. The front BX 106 does that with the same bearings and seals as the rear and none of the rear's complexity, and because a front wheel carries less load and no torque it stays true longer than the rear on the same rim. When the rear finally needs a look, the front usually does not.

Specifications

This version

This version is the centerlock hub in QR 5x100mm, Thru Axle 12x100mm, Thru Axle 15x100mm, drilled for 24h, 28h, 32h, about 140g, in black, orange, silver. Those are the only things that differ between the versions of the BX 106; the shell, bearings and seals are the same.

This is the centerlock BX 106: the rotor sits on a spline and a lockring holds it, which saves weight over six bolts and makes swapping rotors a one-tool job. If your rotors are 6-bolt, a centerlock adapter fits them, or choose the 6-bolt version of the same hub.

Sizes, fit and compatibility

The BX 106 takes J-bend spokes only; Sapim Race, Laser or CX-Ray and Competition or Aerolite are the spokes we use most on a BX 106.

Rim pairings for the Bitex BX 106: DT Swiss R 470 and RR 421, HED Belgium, Velocity Aileron and Quill, Boyd Altamont, and the carbon road rims in the catalog. The configurator recommends a spoke count from your bike type and weight and only shows rims that match the BX 106 drilling you choose.

Build it with us

We build this hub to order. Open the Custom Wheel Program with the Bitex Bx 106 Front Centerlock Disc Hub already selected and pick the parts around it; it is offered for gravel and road disc, track and road single-speed, touring, tandem and e-bike, mountain bike and MTB single-speed builds, and the configurator will not let you assemble a combination we would not build.

Building it at ProWheelBuilder

Bitex manufactures the BX 106 in Taiwan; ProWheelBuilder is an independent wheel builder in Georgia and not the manufacturer. We build the Bitex BX 106 into wheels to your spec, cutting spokes from the measured ERD of the rim, tensioning in stages and truing to a tight tolerance before shipping.

The configurator filters to what fits, crosses out what is not made, and prices the build as you go.