Wheel building

[DieselnDust]

42 minutes ago, nick_the_wheelbuilder said:

Indeed that's one of my guiding principles:

You shouldn't have to babysit your wheels. They should be fit for purpose and last years before needing any attention or repairs (spoke tensions, rim truing)

Look after your hubs with fresh bearings every few thousand km and they'll look after you.

Every few thousand Km? Noooiit . Bearing should be lasting 10’s of 1000’s of Km’s ! We accept mediocrity too easily. There are too many hubs out there costing way too much for the poor accuracy of their bearing seats.. I will always opt for a hand built wheel before buying boutique but the hub selection is core to a good wheel. Too weak flanges and hun shells can’t handle enough tension and this distorts bearing seats especially under load. 
weak axles cause the bearings inner race to distort leading to premature wear. 
 

mat the heart of every great wheel is a good strong hub , a wheel builder who knows how to get the best out of the build and a no compromise no bull crap attitude. 
 

there is a huge difference between hand laced and hand built.  Hand built all the way for me.

Edited December 16, 2022 by DieselnDust

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

2 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Very few thousand Km? Noooiit . Bearing should be lasting 10’s of 1000’s of Km’s ! We accept mediocrity too easily. There are too many hubs out there costing way too much for the poor accuracy of their bearing seats.. I will always opt for a hand built wheel before buying boutique but the hub selection is core to a good wheel. Too weak flanges and hun shells can’t handle enough tension and this distorts bearing seats especially under load. 
weak axles cause the bearings inner race to distort leading to premature wear. 
 

mat the heart of every great wheel is a good strong hub , a wheel builder who knows how to get the best out of the build and a no compromise no bull crap attitude. 
 

there is a huge difference between hand laced and hand built.  Hand built all the way for me.

I couldn't agree more.

In my personal experience I've swapped MTB hub bearings when they've become sloppy or rough at between 5 000 and 10 000 km mileage. (Hope hubs)

On good road hubs you can probably get away with many more miles than that!

Cup-and-cone bearings need maintenance more often to keep them smooth and prevent damaging the inner race which is part of the hub shell.

[DieselnDust]

25 minutes ago, nick_the_wheelbuilder said:

I couldn't agree more.

In my personal experience I've swapped MTB hub bearings when they've become sloppy or rough at between 5 000 and 10 000 km mileage. (Hope hubs)

On good road hubs you can probably get away with many more miles than that!

Cup-and-cone bearings need maintenance more often to keep them smooth and prevent damaging the inner race which is part of the hub shell.

The older Shimano M-965/975 disc brake Mtb hubs used replaceable cups. These hubs were great. I still have one 965 running rings around newer hubs. They just need to be serviced every 6months.

unfortunately bike owners only do replacement not preventative maintenance so cartridge bearing hubs have gained favour. Even so these also need maintenance. Seals for these hubs are available from BMI so a good clean out and a new seal should do the trick to keep them running for years. Instead peeps run the bearings till they’re broken then replace. These bearings are also not able to be preloaded so the original factory fitted bearings generally last long then replacements thereafter fail fairly regularly due to them not seeing the same preload again. 

[Wyatt Earp]

I’m simply just reading with great interest.

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

Anyone here familiar with Csixx hubs?

https://csixx.com/products/hub-rear

I'm curious as to who designs and manufacture these? Any comment on quality with first hand experience also welcome.

Tagging some of the people I think may know?

@nick_the_wheelbuilder and @RobertWhitehead and @David Marshall

Edited April 5, 2023 by Fred van Vlaanderen
tagged a couple

[Wyatt Earp]

1 hour ago, Fred van Vlaanderen said:

Anyone here familiar with Csixx hubs?

https://csixx.com/products/hub-rear

I'm curious as to who designs and manufacture these? Any comment on quality with first hand experience also welcome.

Tagging some of the people I think may know?

@nick_the_wheelbuilder and @RobertWhitehead and @David Marshall

All designed and manufactured in-house 

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

19 minutes ago, Wyatt Earp said:

All designed and manufactured in-house 

Wow, that is impressive.

[splat]

36 minutes ago, Wyatt Earp said:

All designed and manufactured in-house 

And, that's a good thing, right ?
I mean, so its in line with their other products ?

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

2 hours ago, Fred van Vlaanderen said:

Anyone here familiar with Csixx hubs?

https://csixx.com/products/hub-rear

I'm curious as to who designs and manufacture these? Any comment on quality with first hand experience also welcome.

Tagging some of the people I think may know?

@nick_the_wheelbuilder and @RobertWhitehead and @David Marshall

Yup, their hubs are decent, and affordably-priced.
They have nice big flanges too, which helps create a sturdy wheel.
Freehub engagement is quick enough and they're convertible between freehub standards.

I thought they were made in Taiwan, (like everyone else) but I stand to be corrected.

[Wyatt Earp]

1 hour ago, splat said:

And, that's a good thing, right ?
I mean, so its in line with their other products ?

Top quality products from them, always.

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

1 hour ago, splat said:

And, that's a good thing, right ?
I mean, so its in line with their other products ?

Yes, definitely a good thing if one considers the quality of most of their other products. 

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

1 hour ago, nick_the_wheelbuilder said:

Yup, their hubs are decent, and affordably-priced.
They have nice big flanges too, which helps create a sturdy wheel.
Freehub engagement is quick enough and they're convertible between freehub standards.

I thought they were made in Taiwan, (like everyone else) but I stand to be corrected.

Thanks Nic!

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

Just wanted to show off a wheel I just built.

It was commissioned by someone who converted their bike to a 750w e-bike that destroys rear wheels.

Stan's Flow EX3 rim laced to a Hope Pro4 hub (steel freehub) with e-bike rated DT Swiss Alpine III spokes and Pillar brass nipples.

This one should still be around by the time humans have colonized Mars

[The Ouzo]

@nick_the_wheelbuilder , whats your take on the new "shoelace" style spokes.

https://berdspokes.com/

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

17 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

@nick_the_wheelbuilder , whats your take on the new "shoelace" style spokes.

https://berdspokes.com/

I think it's a really novel concept. However....

I believe it's a (very expensive) solution to a non-existent problem.

Are they light? Sure.

Light enough to justify the price? Not in my opinion, especially in South Africa.

They're also a pain in the neck to build wheels with - you need special tools, special hub preparation, time needed overnight for the spokes to stretch and settle.

Cool concept. Terrible value for money.

I'll still build you a set of wheels with them if you ask

[The Ouzo]

6 minutes ago, nick_the_wheelbuilder said:

I think it's a really novel concept. However....

I believe it's a (very expensive) solution to a non-existent problem.

Are they light? Sure.

Light enough to justify the price? Not in my opinion, especially in South Africa.

They're also a pain in the neck to build wheels with - you need special tools, special hub preparation, time needed overnight for the spokes to stretch and settle.

Cool concept. Terrible value for money.

I'll still build you a set of wheels with them if you ask

Thanks for the reply. 

Was wondering about the structural integrity etc. of the build. 

Not that I'm interested in using them, its just that its something new and different and the concept seems interesting to me. Right now I cant afford new tyres let alone new wheels.