Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Hubs, materials, me being destructive...

Ok, I'm not a weight wieny. I carry all kinds of food, I love old (read: heavy) bikes, have at least one military surplus bag filled with tools I won't need, and prefer steel. That said, I want to discuss hubs. My LBS yells at me for hopping curbs with my road bike. Well, when I had one, anyway. (moving along...)

I seem to always tear the holes in my hubs, especially rear. On every alloy hub I've had. Perhaps I need to make sure my hubs are forged as opposed to CNC'd? What I really want is a steel fixed hub, plain and simple. I'd look for vintage stuff, if I ever build up a roadie, but I want 135 spacing for a tentative fixed mountain bike.

I'm not really building anything up right now, but just ranting, I guess.

What material do you guys prefer? Do any of you run a steel fixed hub? I would think they'd be indestructable, right? (well lubed) It would be nice to have a hub that I could reuse in different rims...

blah blah blah

EDITED: Why can't I think of how to spell weiny? weeny? weenie? I think that's it.

I've had no problems with that and don't think anyone outside of the third world even makes a steel hub these days - not one you'd want to ride anyway. I know Paul, Phil, etc cost a ton and I'm not suggesting you need to go that high-end, but I do believe a reasonably priced but good quality hub should last. I'm happy with the Surly "new" ones I have but not enough miles/abuse to recommend them for sure.

Also, DT, among others, offer spoke/hub washers that fit on the spokes at the spoke heads and fill the minute gaps where head meets hub drilling. They are soft brass so they conform to the gap/hole and supposedly prevent spoke from moving in hub drilling which would elongate hole and lead to flange breakage. Or so the theory goes. This used to be quite common in high-end wheels in days of yore, but has fallen out of favor/fashion...like tying & soldering spokes I suppose. My own little rant!

I always had the problem of breaking spokes on my coaster brake road setups.

bmx hubs?

they've got to be built to take a pounding...

fsnl
sparky

I seem to always tear the holes in my hubs, especially rear. On every alloy hub I've had. Seems pretty unusual.

What hubs has this happened to?
Are you radial lacing?
And finally, who's building your wheels?

Hey, schwinn, who is your LBS up there in Toledo? Down here in bowling green, Beartooth Mountaineering is a really good, singlespeed/fixed gear friendly shop...you should check them out sometime!

i have an old steel BSA fixed gear hub. its chrome and has an oil spout on the hub body. its purty.

Yeah, I've been wondering about the Surly "New" hubs. My problem is I want a real good wheelset, but can't decide on what kind of frame to put them on. (Road or Mountain, i.e. 120 or 135) I guess I need to decide that first, huh? LOL

I've never heard of them washers before, Hmmm, it kind of makes sense and sounds bogus all at the same time!

I have (only) one wheel (so far) that's been built by my LBS, the coaster brake hub (steel) mated with Sun Big Mammoth or Fat Mammoth or something. I haven't had any problems with that wheel, and I generally am not too nice to it when riding, either. This wheel was built after all the others didn't work out, so I know I'll stick with having them handbuilt there. Riderx- they've all been machine built, no radial lacing. Lots of vintage road stuff, some low end mountain stuff, Joytech (yuk! I know), Shimano...
I guess it makes me afraid to drop any coin on alloy stuff now, such as Surly or whatever. I really have thought about BMX, but the spacing issues, and no fixed gear stuff, although could so with that and BB lockring. I could build up a roadie with BMX.

Legalize it, I've seen one on eBay before. It's nice to hear some testimonial. It sounds awesome, I always tend to like the vintage stuff better anyway. hmmmmm

Trekkie 820-Reggie's on Secor, if you're familiar with them. I've never heard of Beartooth Mountaineering, unless they are on Main street and carry Specialized? I know of that place, and Cycle Werks, who I've bought from before. Thanks for the lead!

I don't have a "real" fixie yet, just my Varsity if anyone's seen it. I would like to build something up around a nice wheelset with a real track/fixed hub. I guess road or mountain fixie depends on the hubs I find. I want to start on this project but am really torn here....

Thanks guys!

Jessica

Riderx- they've all been machine built, no radial lacing. Lots of vintage road stuff, some low end mountain stuff, Joytech (yuk! I know), Shimano...
I guess it makes me afraid to drop any coin on alloy stuff now, such as Surly or whatever. I really have thought about BMX, but the spacing issues, and no fixed gear stuff, although could so with that and BB lockring. I could build up a roadie with BMX.I think your problem is wheel build/age/cheap stuff. A poorly built wheel can have lots of failures, spoke tension too low can lead to some nasty things. Old stuff will show both fatigue and probably has loose spokes/low tension. Cheap stuff (low end) just doesn't hold up to hard use.

I am, how shall we say...abusive with my equipment. I ride it hard and punish it. The Surly hubs hold up, period. I have two rear ones. The one on my mountain bike has around 5K off-road miles on it and shows no sign of letting up. But, I build all of my own wheels. Whether it's Surly or something else, get a decent hub and have a pro build the wheel with strong spokes and then sleep easy knowing your wheel will hold up.

Riderx, Thanks for all your help. I definitely consider them now. Now, to decide, road or mountain frame, road or mountain frame...

there again I would have to say go to Reggies. In the past they used to have some very good wheel people. It may not be the case now but I would trust the bmx people to build me a good strong wheel.