Newsgroups: rec.bicycles
Subject: Re: Freewheel road hubs
From: <JONQC@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Date: Wednesday, 22 Jul 1992 23:58:09 EDT
Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center

> From: bwildasi@whale.cs.indiana.edu (Ben Wildasin)
> I would like to solicit the net's opinion on the various brands of
> freewheel-style road hubs (Phil Wood, Bullseye, Mavic, American Classic,
> Suntour Superbe Pro).  The most important criterion is durability: will the
> axles break? will the flanges separate? do the bearings need frequent
> servicing? Weight is a secondary but important consideration. (Does anyone
> know how much Bullseyes weigh?)

I once weighed a pair of my Bullseye hubs on a triple beam balance scale
and they were 414.2 grams (including bolts).  The bolts weighed 50.0 grams
by themselves (please note that Bullseye hubs do not come with skewers).

I am a big fan of sealed bearing hubs.  My wife and I have a total of 9
road bikes; 6 of them have Bullseye hubsets. The other 3 have sealed hubs
by Avocet (no longer available), OMAS (no longer available) and American
Classic.

AMERICAN CLASSIC - The axle design of this hubset is very different from
that of Bullseye.  Although the center section of the axle is oversized
like Bullseye, the axle ends (the part that sticks out past the hub
flanges) step down to a smaller diameter and do not extend the full width
of the 126 or 130 mm spacing.  The spacing is achieved by axle end caps
that fit over the axle ends.  Different size caps are used on the cluster
side to attain the desired over locknut distance.  The spoke holes are
only slightly countersunk; probably because the hub body and flanges are
a one piece unit.  The one big advantage that these hubs have over
Bullseye is that they come with their own lightweight skewers that are
very nice.

I have only one complaint about the American Classic hubs (but it is a
big one).  It stems from the fact that the axle is actually made of 3
pieces along its length.  Unfortunately, the axle end caps do not fit on
as tightly as they should and there is a small amount of slop that
becomes a real nuisance when working with the wheels on a truing stand.
Once you think you've got the rim centered between the calipers, a slight
amount of pressure on one side of the rim will shift the position of the
caps on the axle ends and push the rim over so that it is now touching
the caliper on the other side.  The total amount of slop only comes out
to a degree or two but once you get the rim true to within the 1 mm
range, that one or two degrees translates in a 100% deviation.  It is
frustratingly difficult to determine where the center really is. Grrrrrr.

AVOCET - A very plain vanilla hubset.  It uses a standard hollow steel
axle and if it weren't for the sealed cartridge bearings on either side,
you would think it was just a regular hubset.  I pulled this hubset out
of the closet and built a new pair of wheels out it them last year.  I
haven't put very many miles on this hubset.  The bearings on these hubs
felt stiffer than most when new.

BULLSEYE - Bullseye hubs are my favorite.  They use an oversized
aluminum axle that seems virtually indestructable.  The flanges are
separate from the center section which allows each spoke hole to be
countersunk on both sides.  I've been using Bullseyes for over 10 years
now and have never had a bent axle, broken flange or broken a spoke at
a spoke hole.  In short, no problems at all.

As mentioned by another respondent, I also like to shift the axle over in
order to minimize wheel dishing.  For a 126 mm axle, I'll push the axle
over towards the left and dish for an Ultra-6 (5 speed spacing) cluster.
This is something that you can do easily with Bullseye hubs and it makes
for a stronger wheel.

MAVIC - Although I don't personally own any Mavic hubs, I have built and
helped friends build wheels with them.  From my recollection, Mavic hubs
use conventional steel axles, so I wouldn't expect the axles to fair any
better than conventional hubsets.  One curious thing I noticed about
them is the fact that the countersink pattern on the spoke holes forces
you to use asymeterical lacing whether you want to or not ("pulling"
spokes on the inside for one flange and on the outside for the opposite
flange).  Weight with skewers: 492.5 grams.

OMAS - Basically a Mavic clone except that it lacks countersinking.  The
edges of the spoke holes are only slightly rounded.  So far, this is the
only hubset where I have ever broken a spoke at the bend (the spoke
broke with a twang while I was cruising on flat ground - no potholes).
Weight with skewers: 457.4 grams.

MAINTENANCE:  The Bullseyes are the easiest to maintain.  The axle slips
out and the bearing units can be popped out or extracted with the Sun
Tour tool.  The hubs with conventional steel axles (Avocet, Mavic & OMAS)
are probably the most difficult to deal with because not only are the
bearing units tightly pressed into the hub body but the axle is also press
fit.  By using such a tight fit to the axle, the manufacturers avoid the
need for the internal spacer between the bearing units which the
Bullseyes have.  In the Bullseye design, there is an aluminum spacer,
inside the hub, surrounding the axle, extending from one bearing
cartridge to the other.  The purpose of the spacer is to maintain the
distance between the cartridges.  In the steel axle designs, the distance
is maintained by the pressure fit of the cartridges on the axle.
However, it is possible to tighten the locknuts so that the centers of
the two cartridges are pushed in towards each other.  This causes a shear
on the cartridges, resulting in unwanted friction.  Besides bowing in,
the cartridges can also be made to bow out.  Correct installation is
critical.  I had a really tough time with the OMAS hubs when I moved the
6-speed axle over for an Ultra-6 freewheel.  The same thing will happen
when I eventually have to replace the bearings.

John Leong
JON@QCVAXA.ACC.QC.EDU
JONQC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles