Removing and reinstalling a bike's rear wheel is a hassle at the best of times, but particularly when you're in a hurry. The Dual system is designed to change that, as it moves the cassette from the wheel onto the frame.
On a traditional road or gravel bike with a rear thru axle – which is what the Dual system is made for – removal of the rear wheel involves shifting the chain to the smallest cog on the cassette, yanking out the axle, pulling the derailleur back out of the way, then pounding down on the wheel until it falls out. Putting the wheel back in involves doing all of that stuff in reverse, including manually placing the chain back onto the smallest cog.
What would make things a lot easier would be if the cassette and freehub stayed on the bike when the wheel came off, allowing the chain to stay wherever you left it, and letting the wheel simply drop straight down from between the chain stays. Well, that's where the Dual system comes in.
Made by French company Legend Wheels, the setup works exclusively with wheels equipped with the firm's Legend R27 hub. A 12 x 142-mm thru axle and road or gravel disc brakes are also required.
Initial installation of the Dual system is claimed to take less than a minute, and doesn't involve any alterations to the bike's frame. All the necessary tools are included in the kit.
And yes, having the system on your bike certainly would make it plain ol' easier to take your wheel off and put it back on again. One of its touted selling features, however, is the idea that vehicle-supported competitive riders would be able to do wheel-swaps in just a few seconds when transitioning between different types of terrain.
Should you be thinking that the whole thing looks kind of familiar … that could be because Dual is built upon the Fasten system, unveiled by French startup Lagar Concept in 2021. It moved not only the cassette but also the brake rotor onto the frame.
Fasten was in turn preceded by the unsuccessfully crowdfunded HubDock system, and even by the Cinelli Bivalent hub from the early 1960s.
The Dual system kit is available now via the Legend Wheels website for €349 (about US$405), with the R27 hub going for €169.90 ($197). Legend does also offer a variety of prebuilt R27-equipped wheels, which are compatible with 9, 10, 11, and 12-speed Shimano and SRAM cassettes.
Source: Legend Wheels
