As 148mm Boost hub spacing is now pretty much the norm for a lot of bikes, you may find yourself with a set of wheels that you can't use if you upgrade your frame. Luckily Wolf Tooth has come up with a simple set of mods to allow you to run your old 142mm hubs in a 148mm Boost spacing frame with this Boostinator hub conversion kit.
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With a set for the front with just an end cap plug, then the rear set comes with end cap and disc spacer, and longer bolts.
The Boostinator set simply make your hubs wider, so you can run your old 142mm spaced wheels with the current 148mm 'Boost" standard. Of course, the advantages of the wider Boost wheels' spoke spacing is negated, but the point is that you can run your expensive/favourite wheels for their lifetime, rather than them becoming obsolete. I didnt feel any issue with the wheels, which felt as they usually would.
The parts are excellently machined and fitted perfectly, with a professional finish. Super easy to fit, just unplug the end adaptors and put the new ones in. Zero hassle, and no need to rebuild hubs etc. Whilst it doesn't offer the advantages of 'real' Boost wheels, it is a good bridge until you want to upgrade, or even run your old wheels as backups for your new frame.
With sets for DT Swiss, Hope and Industry 9, it covers a small part of the market, but with Hope hubs, its handy to just pop in the new parts, and use the rear disc spacer with the supplied long bolts and you can run your wheels - you may need to dish them around 5mm to make sure they are centred, so for the price of the kit and wheel builders time, your wheels will be Boost compatible.
For a way to run old hubs, and save some money, the Boostinators are a great solution. My only gripe is they aren't a little cheaper, for front and rear its around £70, but way cheaper than new wheels at least.
