Cassette body compatibility

I need a new cassette body for my hub, but not sure which one I should order. Could you explain cassette body compatibility system for Novatec hubs?

There are several types of cassette bodies so you cannot take any random cassette body and use it with your Novatec hub. The easiest way on how to obtain correct info about which cassette body is compatible with your hub is by checking out the Novatec hubs catalogue(s). Each rear hub shown in there has clearly specified its compatibility type, like B2, A2, S5, X4 or D2 etc. Picture below shows an example from catalogue:  hub F482SB-SL with B2 type of compatibility.

F482SB.png

I can explain in more detail those short abbreviations A2, B2, X4 etc. so that you can better understand it.

Let’s start with A2, B2 and D2 first as these are most common for Novatec hubs with 4 sealed bearings (we can call them new compatibilities as they replaced the old ones):

new_compatibilities.png

From image above you can see that letter A is related to 12mm axle, letters B and D are for 15mm axle.

Number 2 on B2 (or for instance number 1 in B1) indicates the type of oil seal used with these bodies. The difference between B1 and B2 type of Shim cassette body is only in dimensions of oil seal, but the cassette body is the same for both compatibility types. This illustration makes it clear:

shim_seals.png

By oil seal I mean the rubber seal placed on the top side of cassette body. There is one more seal called water seal and this goes between hub and cassette body (on the bottom side of cassette body).

Side caps and axles must fit the mentioned size of oil seals, in order to assure maximum sealing efficiency:

side_caps.png

There are also some old compatibility types of cassette bodies, which are illustrated below:

old_compatibilities.png

You’ll find them on some older hub models like for example D712SB. Please note that A type and A2 type is the same so you’ll often find it called A/A2 type.

Compatibility D type is kind of special and is used on Novatec wheels only. To be more specific, it is used on Road non-disc alloy Novatec wheels and these days it is D2 type only (like Sprint, Impulse, Jetfly). You might still find some old wheels with D1, but that’s quite rare.

C type cassette body is just history now, this type of compatibility was used only on cassette bodies with needle bearing in the past.

 

Now that compatibilities A, B, C and D are clear, let’s move on to other know compatibilities, which are still very often used on recent Novatec hubs.

- S1, S3, S4 and S5 compatibility: for hubs with 2 bearings (one bearing in hub shell and one bearing in cassette body), for example: D142SBT, D522SB, F362TSBT or D142SB-X12 etc.

- G1, G3 compatibility: for GCC hubs, also with 2 bearings, for example: F422GCC or F192GCC etc. See below image of S and G types for better idea of what they look like:

S and G type CB.png

- XS compatibility: for hubs with Synergy Cantilever system like model D542SB or DH42SB.

- X4 compatibility:  for hubs used on Novatec MTB wheels, concretely for hub XD642SB and XDH42SB.

X4 and XS type CB.png

- X6 compatibility: for hubs used on hi-end wheels Factor. 

- F compatibility: for newest hubs built on system 533, which means there are 5 sealed bearings, 5pawls on cassette body and ratchet ring with 33teeth, like hub D462SB and D162SB.

 

Some more info/recap here:

cass_bodies_catalog.png

Please note that Novatec Track, Dirt Jump and BMX hubs have no compatibility type defined as there are sprockets or drivers, not standard cassette bodies.

Link at the bottom of this page will take you to the latest 2017 hub catalogue so if you list through it you’ll see most of above mentioned cassette body compatibilities.
There's more info there so go check it out.

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