Rock solid Hobie drive arm upgrade group buy ... UPDATED WITH ORDER INFO!!

But if you wanna go all out .. Use Titanium . Almost as light as aluminum and almost as strong as stainless steel .. And also has exceptional resistance to sea water ..

How about solid carbon fiber arms like really expensive bike cranks. Light, never rust, no fatigue. Maybe $500.00 a pair but what the hell. Cheap mental insurance. As to aluminum v SS. Ask yourself if you would feel safer in a commercial jet if the craft were build of SS rather than aluminum alloys. Countless hours, millions of miles do those flexing wings stay attached.

Molds for carbon fiber arms would cost thousands of dollars to make and the machinery to process it would cost much more.  Then , of course, there is the cost of the carbon fiber which isn't necessarily that expensive.

A bit of tongue in cheek on my part concerning carbon drive arms. There is good reason aluminum was used for Hobie drives and the company had the right design that used solid drive shafts the first time around. All problems of breakage I've heard of are from hollow tube shafts.

Not sure if this was brought up here yet.  The following was posted on a similar thread at NWKA.

FYI, response from one of the guys at Hobie about this issue:

We have experienced some issues with this item - we have the arms extruded for us by an outside vendor. They've had some hardness issue - we now do 100% hardness test in-house before the cranks get assembled - and the issue hopefully is behind us. We are also making an upcoming change to this part and increasing the size of the section - so in the future (likely new model year) the crank arms are going to get a slight change - which we make a change to the adjuster handle as well.

-Allen

Not sure if this was brought up here yet.  The following was posted on a similar thread at NWKA.

FYI, response from one of the guys at Hobie about this issue:

We have experienced some issues with this item - we have the arms extruded for us by an outside vendor. They've had some hardness issue - we now do 100% hardness test in-house before the cranks get assembled - and the issue hopefully is behind us. We are also making an upcoming change to this part and increasing the size of the section - so in the future (likely new model year) the crank arms are going to get a slight change - which we make a change to the adjuster handle as well.

-Allen


I read that awhile back. Hobie is well aware of the issue and does not want bad press. Guys in Florida who do the Everglades Challenge with A1's have complained about arm breakage to Hobie. In that Hobie likes to use the Challenge as advertisement for the versatility boats they have responded to those complaints.

Think I might just give this a try and fab up my own set just for kicks. As far as tooling a CF drive arm=$$$ plus most race bikes usually replace those CF cranks after a few seasons. Ti would be $$ too.  Does Hobie still sell the V1 drive arms ?

I read on the hobie site that they do sell the 1st version. There is a thread there that is about this problem,

OK guys! I finally have a final design a shop and pricing!
These are going to kick ass! The arms are going to be made of solid aircraft grade aluminum hard anodized to military spec. Each arm will be taped for bicycle pedals. Each set will come with a set of arms and a set of custom set of stainless shafts that fit into the arms and will allow the use of the factory Hobie pedals.

The pre buy price is going to be $85 and full retail will be $124.99

The PayPal account will be live next week. I have a list of everyone who said they were interested. Let me know if you are in or out.
SUPER EXCITED!!!

Count me in for 1, let me know when PayPal is set up.  Thanks for doing this
John

Im in for 2 sets.

I'm in for 1 set.  Let me know when and where to send PayPal. 

Thanks for your efforts to make this happen.

UPDATE .....
Shipping will be $6 flat rate regardless of how many arms you get.
The PayPal account should be set up by Wednesday. I'll be pm'ing everyone who expressed interest to try to get a solid count. Thanks for your support through this guys. If you know guys outside of NWKA or NCKA who might like a pair feel free to let them know about the pre buy.

Is there a video or instructions about to change this part?

Is there a video or instructions about to change this part?

Not yet .... But that is a good idea. I'll work on getting one made up. It is a super simple part to change out.
Just unbolt the old arm and pedal, remove the 'click and go' adjustment and reattach parts to the new arm and bolt it on. Takes about 5 mins for both arms.

What aluminum alloy did you use?

What aluminum alloy did you use?

7075 T-6