Australia produces quality mountain bike riders, of that there is no question but, for many years, our nation hasn't done much to contribute to the world of quality mountain bike parts. There are very few companies actually manufacturing product here in Australia and with our close proximity to low-cost labour in South East Asia and relatively small riding population it’s easy to see why.

That’s not to say that there isn’t an appetite for high quality, locally produced mountain bike gear here, just that, until recently, not a lot was being done to satisfy it. Enter Illicit Industries, two guys from Melbourne who are keen to get you off your blinged-out pieces of U.S. and U.K. made metal and rolling on some no-nonsense-top-of-the-line-and-Aussie-made-to-boot ‘Precision Downhill Hardware’.

Illicit have set their sights on the end of the component market that is currently dominated by names like ‘Chris King’, ‘Hadley’ and ‘Thomson’; catering to people who want high quality, durable gear and who are willing to pay to get it. This isn’t a market you can afford to make a mistake in from the moment you release your first product

Word-of-mouth is king at this end of the market and people who buy these sorts of components will stake their lives on the brand they choose to support, throwing down cruel taunts and invitations to duel via the internet to anyone who dares to suggest that Brand X couldn’t beat Brand Y in a race around the world. They’re not going to touch your product with a barge pole if they heard from some guy who read on the internet that someone’s friend in Alaska had a bearing pop out of one of your products and stab him in the eye.

Illicit Industries may be a new name to a lot of people, so lets get introductions aside and put the word out, these guys are producing some beautifully crafted, well thought-out, super-light and tricked-out pieces of componentry that show an attention to detail that rivals any top-end manufacturer.

First off the rank is the Illicit 20mm front hub. Unpacking this baby, it’s easy to see why it comes with a $270RRP. Machined from 6061 series billet aluminium,  anodised and laser etched, it screams “QUALITY” the second you lay eyes on it. Further investigation reveals that your supposedly simple front hub comes with a double-sided A4 page of instructions including an exploded diagram of all the internals and step-by-step disassembly and reassembly instructions.

If you’re anything like me, you may find yourself needing to sit down and take a few deep breaths at this point. A bike company? Providing you with actual, useful and detailed service instructions? It seems all-too-similar to this wonderful dream I once had…

As well as the instructions, each hub also comes with a card bearing it’s serial number and hand-signed by whoever carried out the final assembly and quality control, nice touch. With deep flanges, allowing the use of shorter, stiffer spokes, the hub built up into a sturdy hoop rolling a Mavic EX721 on straight 14g spokes and this wheel is in for the long haul on a serious long-term test. Illicit claim the hub weighs 210 grams, putting it solidly in the "lightweight" ballpark and throwing one on an accurate digital scale gave me a reading of 212 grams, which is neither here nor there. (Except for the fact that it's lighter than a Hadley, for $50 less, which is actually both here and there)

Illicit equip the hubs with high-quality NTN or NSK bearings, with the former coming out of Japan and the latter from Australia.  After several months of riding the bearings have broken in nicely and the hub is spinning oh-so-smoothly as well as effectively allowing me to translate handlebar movements into direction changes, there’s not much more you could ask of a front hub, but I’ll keep you posted as the test progresses.

Next up we have the Illicit 1 1/8" sealed headset. If it’s hard to get excited about a front hub, it’s nearly impossible to get all worked up about a headset, but look what those guys at Illicit have done to me, I’m a quivering mess just typing this out! The attention to detail on this unit is staggering. Once again, it’s machined, with the cups carved from 7075 T6 alloy then anodised and laser etched, while the 7075 lower crown race is hard anodized for maximum durability.

Both the lower and top race incorporate o-ring seals that fit snugly inside the cups, providing an extra layer of protection from the elements for the guts of the headset; two massive 36 degree angular contact bearings that promise years of trouble-free operation. It’s elegant, simple, and oh-so-terribly-bling and it too is in for the long haul to see if it’s a serious contender in the high-end headset game. With a 33mm stack height it's not the lowest unit on the market, but it's far from being the tallest and those few extra millimetres are a trade-off for the massive bearings that each cup houses. Initial impressions have been extremely favourable, installation was a breeze and the headset feels buttery smooth on the bike but, like the hub, it needs at least a few months of abuse before any definitive pronouncements can be made.

Overall, I’m thoroughly impressed with both pieces of gear. The guys at Illicit have obviously done a lot of homework and put a lot of thought into their product and it shows in the final result; precision machined downhill gear that looks great, feels even better and (hopefully) lasts for years to come. Stay tuned for regular updates on this long-term-test and hopefully, for more news on Illicit Industries as their product line expands over the coming seasons.

Buying ‘Aussie’ product no-longer means buying cookie-cutter mass-produced parts that were designed here and made overseas, now you can get your hands on gear that’s all-Australian and that comes with added peace-of-mind of knowing exactly who built the particular part you’re rocking and being able to call and speak directly with them if something does go wrong. Welcome to the game Illicit, I’m thoroughly impressed with everything that’s landed on my desk so far and I hold high expectations for you guys in the future!