Possible to respace rear hub?

[transam]

My wife and I are planning a long distance tour this spring using our Cannondale RT1000. There are changes that need to be made to the bike to get it ready for the trip, the biggest being a set of stronger wheels. I've been looking at Phil Wood hubs matched with Velocity Dyad rims and recently came across a set at a great price. The only problem is the rear hub has a 160 spacing and our Cannondale is 145. Is it possible to change the spacing on the 160 Phil Wood hubs to 145? Any comments, suggestions or how to help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[TandemGeek]

I don't believe so. The 160mm rear hubs flanges (Arai drum compatible) are spaced 10mm further apart than the 145mm Phil Wood Hub so there's more to it than simply removing spacers and/or using a shorter axle.

However, unless someone else wants to offer up a definitive answer, give the folks at Phil Wood a call:
Phone (408) 298- 1540 or drop them an Email with your question: service@philwood.com

Brent is the gentleman who normally fields all of the customer and product support calls / questions; great guy. Although, Peter is just as likely to answer the phone.

[transam]

I did some searching and found on the Phil Wood website that they can change the axle length on the front and rear hubs. $30 and up depending on the age of the hub. http://www.philwood.com/pservices.htm

I'm going to send an email to the service department and ask for details. I'll let you all know what I find out. Thanks TG for the response.

[transam]

In case someone was following this thread and interested if the respacing could be done I just received a reply from Brent at Phil Wood. Here's what he had to say.

"Unfortunately the 160 hubs can not be converted down to 145mm as the shell is just too wide.

Brent"

[zonatandem]

. . . and not likely that you can spread the heat-treated alu rear triangle of a C'dale either.

[zzzwillzzz]

. . . and not likely that you can spread the heat-treated alu rear triangle of a C'dale either.
and then if you could you might need a longer bottom bracket...

[transam]

Yeah, one fix leads to another, and another, and another... Best solution is to bite the bullet, call Peter White and order exactly what is needed.

[TandemGeek]

Best solution is to bite the bullet, call Peter White and order exactly what is needed.

On the bright side, Phil Woods are heirloom items that you can pass on to your grandkids... as I assume the brand will remain viable as long as vehicles of any type need hubs for spoked wheels. A new set of bearings and pawls every 25k - 30k miles is about all they'll ever need, if that. If you take time to pull them apart now and again to clean and regrease the pawl and ratchet interface, you can probably double their life... same with the bearings.

[transam]

Thanks for the look on the bright side Mark. It does make the purchase a little easier when I think about the grandkids telling their friends "these are the same hubs my Pappy used to ride on." Kinda a piece of yourself going into the next generation.

We do have a Santana also so maybe I'll still pick up the deal for use on it.