Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - ****ing ProMax

Jesus Christ. I just ****ing blew tons of money to finally build myself a nice rear wheel. ProMax, DT Swiss spokes, Suntour cog, Surly lockring, and a DT Swiss Trekking rim.

****ing 8 days in, making a routine skip-hop, I ****ing strip the lockring. Yes I kept it tight. Yes I threaded it properly. Goddamn it.

Money doesn't grow on trees.

sht, that sucks.
on your new hub, tighten everything twice, and then twice more.

hopefully you got the dual-sided...

Because of this thread, I'll never buy/ride promaxes.

you didn't have it tight. sorry.

man, i've ridden two diffrent wheels with two diffrent promax hubs now, and i aint ever had any problems. i beat the **** out of them and dont take proper care of them either

I don't think I've ever buy anything Suzue

I don't think I've ever buy anything Suzue


They've made many great hubs, and generally the only one I've seen or heard anything bad about is the Basic.

I don't think I've ever buy anything Suzue

you're missing out on some *awesome* ****ing hubs. just stay away from thebasic.

user error

It could be that this particular hub was faulty. I would follow up with your shop so you can get it replaced. I've never heard of anyone having any problems with the Pro Max and I know I personally have had nothing to complain about.

user error

i mean, yea, it has to be. for the record though, i'm a mechanic at a shop, and about four or five people inspected the installation as well.

its either the particular hub or lockring, or in some fluke occurance, user error. regardless, it sucks for me. i can't afford another promax. Formula/IRO hubs for me this time. anyone have any objections?

it feels to me like it was the lockring's fault. one of the inner threads does look a little sketchy now. i'm thinking of replacing the cog and lockring with both DA parts? would anyone make a case for me to keep the suntour cog?

i think, given that a bunch or people checked out your setup, you can make a valid case that the hub (or lockring) was faulty, and get the hub replaced.

i think, given that a bunch or people checked out your setup, you can make a valid case that the hub (or lockring) was faulty, and get the hub replaced.

How would I go about doing that? It came secondhand (another mech got it, but didn't want it) but unused from the shop that I work at. Do I talk to Suzue?

Talk to your distributor or direct to Suzue if you got the contacts. It's the bike industry, people understand premature failure and generally work to make things right.

Yeah, alright. Sigh, I doubt QBP will take too kindly to this.

It could be that this particular hub was faulty. I would follow up with your shop so you can get it replaced. I've never heard of anyone having any problems with the Pro Max and I know I personally have had nothing to complain about.

+1

Do you have any idea how many miles you have on yours?

A few basic rules help avoid this kind of thing:

1. When you buy a hub, always micro-inspect the threading. I have found both cog and lockring threads that weren't cut properly -- they start properly but peter out well before you get to the inside. Then when your cog or lockring goes on, there are only 2-3 threads holding it. I've seen this on Suzue, Dura Ace, Campy, Surly, pretty much everything except Phil Wood.

2. Anti-seize compound on the threads. Not many threads mention it, but dry threads strip.

3. Tighten hard -- you aren't likely to tighten it harder than you're going to kick it in a sprint. The lockring doesn't need as much tightening since you aren't putting direct pressure on it, but you want the cog down solidly so it doesn't have room to turn after the lockring is applied.

4. Don't swap cogs around excessively. It's a law of sooner-or-later.

5. Always go for double-sided hubs -- you get a second chance and they typically don't cost significantly more.

6. Avoid cheap hubs. If you don't like Suzue Basics or Juniors (and who would?) you wouldn't like Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo track hubs either, or some of the cheap BMX hubs.

7. Most important, respect the differences between ISO and BSC threading on cogs. Check the Phil Wood website for a discussion of the differences. The cog or lockring should spin on without resistance. If it doesn't, you may have a threading mismatch. They are interchangeable with a little urging, but you shave off the top of the threads every time you mount a mismatched cog. Since you had multiple inspectors on your mounting, I'd bet that you have a mismatched thread. It's the fastest way to strip a thread. I've used Suzue hubs for years, as do many people at my track, and I've never seen a stripped ProMax hub.

8. Always say a brief prayer over your bike. That, or a dash of chicken blood on the top tube, will ward off bad hardware experiences of all kinds.

Skidding/skipping on equipment meant for use on a velodrome is not premature failure. Why do you think shimano and campy now state that their track equipment is not meant for use on the street?

(by no means is this a claim of me not doing the above, it is merely a statement of fact)

Just a sub question:

Do you think the use of track bikes/components on the street will ever reach a level where a company would make components specifically for street use? Like a hub with threads much beefier than anything currently available with matching lockrings/cogs?

1. http://www.philwood.com/pproducts.htm
2. http://www.paulcomp.com/frmhubs.html

I was thinking about that the other day.
There are so many hubs/cogs/lockrings manufactured to standard track specs that work well on the street when properly maintained.
it would be tough to compete with what's out there.
level tried to do the whole bolt on cog thing... it's a great idea but i don't think they saw (or are seeing) much success.
I think it's a great idea that could have a following if it was sold at the right price, but it will never sell the same volume as the current standard track stuff.

i have a problem with my Campy hubs but i not damning the hubs. look at what you did to put them on. i am doing mine over now. Red Menane raced them with no problem then I get the cog loose. check the lock ring first ,then the cog.

S/F,
CEYA!

Just a sub question:

Do you think the use of track bikes/components on the street will ever reach a level where a company would make components specifically for street use? Like a hub with threads much beefier than anything currently available with matching lockrings/cogs?


i sure hope they do. cause thats the only place i use it

2manybikes, I really don't have any idea other than to say "thousands". I'm sure there are many out there with more street miles than me on their pro max.

As to whether or not it's street intended... All I have to say is that it says something that Suzue is now apparently distributing the Pro Max through QBP. I doubt that they're expecting to reach some new clutch of track riders that way.

boston - I saw that too. But ask them if they will warranty the hubs based on skidding and skipping. I'd be curious to hear their side. If they do - sweet!
I know that if a hub is poorly constructed and fails due to that, of course - warranty time.

side note - was EAI disty for ProMax before that? Hmmm...

i have a suzue basic, running a 52/17 with no brakes on the street, well over a year now, no problems yet (i've changed cogs once from a 16 to a 17 when i got a new frame)

I'm sorry to hear about your hub.

I just wanted to give a thumbs up to the ProMax hubs. For the money, they used to be the best hub you could by at a sensible price.

I've owned two ProMaxs in six years of riding fixed and beat on them all day long, as well as switched cogs for track racing and I've never had a problem with the threads.

This is using them with DA lock rings, not Surly. All I can think of is that I recall that didn't some of the earlier Surly lockrings have all kinds of problems? That was just my thought, especially in light of your observation that the threading on the lock ring looks iffy.

I had a Surly locking once but the thing never seemed to want to seat very well on my hub. It didn't thread on nice and smooth like a DA one and seemed kind of flimsy really.

I would finger the lockring over the hub. But who knows?

I would finger the lockring over the hub. But who knows?

That was my initial thought as well.

So we got another Promax of some model in the shop the other day. It really looks like, even the non-stripped, threads on my hub looked considerably more shallow than the new hub. I'm really considering trying to get a hold of Suzue.

']boston - I saw that too. But ask them if they will warranty the hubs based on skidding and skipping. I'd be curious to hear their side. If they do - sweet!
I know that if a hub is poorly constructed and fails due to that, of course - warranty time.

side note - was EAI disty for ProMax before that? Hmmm...

EAI still has them. QBP just started carrying them. I think the ones QBP is carrying are only fixed threaded on one side, which is unfortunate. I could be wrong and I'll check on Monday.

I know it's a little cheaper, but I can't for the life of me understand why every fixed rear hub isn't fixed/fixed.

Just a sub question:

Do you think the use of track bikes/components on the street will ever reach a level where a company would make components specifically for street use? Like a hub with threads much beefier than anything currently available with matching lockrings/cogs?
what about level? though i admit it sucks because you can only use the level cogs...

I have every intention of going Level on the next wheelset I buy for working.

Just a sub question:

Do you think the use of track bikes/components on the street will ever reach a level where a company would make components specifically for street use? Like a hub with threads much beefier than anything currently available with matching lockrings/cogs?

Kogswells are made for offroad use, so I'd say street is ok.