Going to give this wheel building lark a go,

First up is the road bike, reasoning that it’s going to get less abuse so should be the better one to make mistakes with.

So what hubs for the road bike as I’ve no spare ones knocking about. I can find 105-5700’s for £70/pair unless anyone knows of anything significantly cheeper or lighter?

Must be 32h, but thats just for simplicity, I’d considder less on the front if open-pro’s are available in the same drillig..

Ask cynic-al. He told me about a wheel build he did that sounded light and cheap,.

I did 105 open pro and sapin spokes hubs were 59 quid

Tiagra are good, not sure you’d notice much differnce between them and 105 if you’re planning to a cheap tester set consider open sport rims they make a reasonably good wheel (Shimano say tiagra are 9 speed hubs but they take a 10 speed cassette)

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/18561/Shimano-Tiagra-4600-Front-Hub.html

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/18560/Shimano-Tiagra-4600-Freehub.html

don’t know about prices but the Campag hubs I have are the smoothest I’ve ever ridden. Just spin and spin and spin. Lovely 🙂

Ambrosio Zenith may be lighter, 114g front, 268g rear, £69 pair from SPA cycles

I’d be going 105 or ultegra if I could afford it. Shimano hubs are so nice, are so easy to service.

I’d be going 105 or ultegra if I could afford it. Shimano hubs are so nice, are so easy to service.

Agreed, although the rest of the bike is older DA (first, or maybe 2nd gen 10speed, can’t recall). So if I can avoid Shimano it won’t look like such a miss match! Bit vain, but hey, its my bike!

Ohhhh, those Ambrosio Zenith’s look good, any idea what reliability’s like and how easy it is to get spares?

You’d rather mix brands then models?

*Shakes head in disgust*

Maybe pick up some cheap 2nd hand DA hubs then? 😀

I think the Zenith’s are supposed to be fair decent. Theres some hope pro3’s for sale on bikeradar for £130 aswell.

There’s a fairly generic front hub for about £30 on ebay that’s <100gm. Nothing to go wrong. RELiability and spares for rear hubs can of course vary. I got a woodman mtb hub and got the spacer turned down to 130 but the dishing is extreme.

Stans alpha rims lose 85gm for £85 odd.

sdeals for well priced spokes.

If you CBA with tubs…PX tub rims lose another 90gm for around the same price…I wish I had…sell you my alphas?

You’d rather mix brands then models?

I’ve an FSA carbon chainset, SElle Italia saddle, ritchey stem and bontranger bars on a cannondale frame, too!

The “not mixing of brands” serves the brainless well.

Harry Rowland recommends Zenith hubs, I’ve had some for a few years with no probs, have built wheels on them as well

Al (or others) are those ebay hubs rebuildable?

Or is it a case that once the freehubs gone they’re scrap?

Ohh, and what rims do people recomend, before I just go for the boring/predictable open pro’s?

ACI spokes from here: http://www.sdeals.com/oscommerce/index.php/cPath/35_54

The miche racing box hubs I have have been faultless and are sealed bearing rather than cup/cone (Shimano) which is a plus IMO.

£64 a pair: http://www.shinybikes.com/miche-racing-box-hubs.html

Get on eBay and search “six pawl hubs”, take your pick. Light and cheap.

Yes but are they any good? Is the freehub a sealed unit or are they more like hope freehubs with replaceable bearings and a serviceable ratchet?

It’s for a training/second set so while saving 100g for no extra cost is a good thing, if they only last a few winter months then it’s a ballache.

Clubber, will see about these ebay hubs, but if not It’s between those mich eones and the novatech/ambrosio ones.

I have a feeling that the miche ones are the same as some other ones other than colour/branding – possibly the ambrosio ones.

Apologies for slight hi-jack but

Cynic-Al,

I was thinking of going tubeless for CX this year so I might be interested in your Stans Alphas – what’s the spoke count?

Johnny

I’ve not had mine apart but I can’t see how a front hub wouldn’t be repair-able.

If I didn’t say above, I’d go shimano rear and lightweight front. The old Miche stuff I’ve seen was never great quality.

Can’t recomend Ambrosio hubs enough. Super smooth. Did 1500m in shite conditions under full load everyday in three weeks during July. (Novatec are the same but branded differently) Built into Rigida rims which are a good starting rim and half the price of the Mavics. They also have the double eyelets which is good at spreading the stress. Have kept them in for the local chain gang and others are thinking of this combo for winter as they are bomb proof over the potholes that seem to abound here.

Got some from SPA but also Byer Cycles. Now there is an old fashioned (as in touring and nothing else) bike shop, who are spot on in terms of customer service.