Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - icebike: cheap crud or decent wheel

last winter i just used my track bike for winter commuting but stayed off the road in the thicker snow and slush. this year, ive got a decent beater and i plan on trudging through, no matter what the weather. just purchased a set of cheap nashbar studded tires yesterday, making my winter preparations. id like to have a separate wheelset for the salted slush and studded tires instead of using my better wheels (im pretty lazy when it comes to swapping tires). am i better off going for a cheap wheelset for the winter? i was searching around and i found these: http://nycbikes.com/item.php?item_id=442
i know that nycbikes has a pretty bad rep around here but these wheels are damn cheap. id hate to ruin a decent set of wheels in the winter crud. anyone have experience with these wheels? are they just too cheap and a winter of slush and salt will kill them?

Lots of people have reported stripping that wheel. It's a cheap Jalco hub ("Jalco, Quando quality without paying for the name") and a single walled rim--from the look of it, I can't see for sure. The cog is stamped and that doesn't help any.

What part of the country will you be riding in? The cup and cone will take a thrashing from salt water and will need you to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get dry.

At $65 with shipping (unless you live in NYC), it's not so far off from building or buying a better quality wheel. I could put together the same thing (including cog and lock ring) with quality components, including a sealed cartridge bearing hub, for $125. If you like it, you've got a wheel that should last as long as you as you want and if you don't, you can almost certainly clean it up and get a good chunk of your money back.

bostontrevor, or anyone who has heard of the stripping with that wheel.

is it (the stripping) because of the cheap hub or the cheapo cog they send with it? or both.

Cheap hub, but the cog probably doesn't help. I say just buy a cheap wheelset from IRO. You're going to be only using it in bad weather, so cartridge bearings are 'def the way to go IMO.

thanks for the advice. i thought i could get away with a cheap wheel cuz id be running such a low gear, something like 43x20+ or so. it would be hard to strip that, wouldnt it? all the advice ive been given for slush riding has been 'run cheap stuff'. id run a locktite ghetto wheel but i value my life too much and im not that broke.

Lower ratios will actually allow you to generate more torque. Ask the offroader who constantly complain about stripping threaded hubs.

i didnt know that-- i guess assumed people stripped their hubs from backpedaling/skidding. thanks

Last winter we were out on a Sat night ride and one of the LBS wrenches that comes out on it told my brother that he shouldn't be worried at all about riding his Phils in the winter. He was actually of the opinion that they were one of the best choices for winter riding, because they were set up so bombproof and wouldn't corrode...

So you want Phils for your winter beater ;)

There are better options that phils for slushy winter riding. Phils position the bearing right at the edge of the hub shell and provide no extra sealing. Cartridge bearing seals will not keep out water on their own.
A hub that moves the bearing into the hub shell and provides some extra protection for the bearing will be better.

For the front hub you can't really beat shimano mtb hubs. Cheap and very well sealed.

Last winter we were out on a Sat night ride and one of the LBS wrenches that comes out on it told my brother that he shouldn't be worried at all about riding his Phils in the winter. He was actually of the opinion that they were one of the best choices for winter riding, because they were set up so bombproof and wouldn't corrode...

So you want Phils for your winter beater ;)


Well, one of the messengers around here (arnhem) showed me the Phils he had been riding for one year (including salty winter weather) and when I felt the rear wheel for play, I could move it laterally both ways about 5mm!!! The bearings were totally shot! Good thing you can replace them...

do not buy that wheel. its a total piece of crap. it came with a crappy 1/8 stamped cog that was 14t (not 16t like they said it would be). the steel lockring that it came with was total crap and i stripped it with my lockring spanner. when i got the hub cones werent adjusted correctly and it didnt spin freely. also it came with some crappy nuts that werent tracknuts. also, the stupid thing is drilled for a schrader valve... wtf
im saving up so i can get a new wheelset all together. do yourself a favor dont do it.

also, the stupid thing is drilled for a schrader valve... wtf
Dude, you can run presta valves in schrader rims, but not the other way 'round.

For a beater wheel, I vote bumbike. I've been put probably over a thousand miles on my bumbike wheel, in bad weather and not, skids/skips/backpressure, not a single problem.

i stripped the fixed side and everything iandops said is exactly correct
no track nuts, cones never sat right, no good
big waste of 60 dollars

get a decent freewheel hub/wheel and red loctite a cog on. the entire wheel should dissolve at about the same time, so you can just throw it away somewhere near the end of the winter and have only invested $50. that being said, the wheels that i rode through the last minnesota winter are in great shape and were rarely cleaned.

dD, how's the winter riding in London? Worth looking into gnarlier tires than rubinos?

while searching for the perfect icebike project, i found this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Mountain-Bike-Frame-Steel-horizontal-dropouts-NEW_W0QQitemZ7175122327QQcategoryZ98083QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem not my size but it might help someone else.

anyone have any opinions or experience with cignal frames? not having too much luck finding the right mtb/hybrid frame with horizontal drops (i wouldnt want to run an eno hub on an icebike).

while searching for the perfect icebike project, i found this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Mountain-Bike-Frame-Steel-horizontal-dropouts-NEW_W0QQitemZ7175122327QQcategoryZ98083QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem not my size but it might help someone else.

anyone have any opinions or experience with cignal frames? not having too much luck finding the right mtb/hybrid frame with horizontal drops (i wouldnt want to run an eno hub on an icebike).

wish there was a better shot of those dropouts looks to me like they might be stamped.

dD, how's the winter riding in London? Worth looking into gnarlier tires than rubinos?

Last winter the temperature was around freezing for a total of about two weeks over the winter. There is usually a bit of snow and ice but it tends to melt very quickly (ie a day or two). Most of the crap weather is of the cold and rainy type. The rain also turns to black, gritty water after it hits the streets (same as summer really!).

I use 25mm Gatorskins all year round and they were fine for winter - just have to a bit slow for a day when it snows/freezes.

You coming to London for the winter?