Tandem Cycling - Question on Topolinos for single bike

My apologies for asking this questions here. But this is the only bike forum that I visit and I have a pretty good idea as to whose opinion to trust.

I have a set of topolinos revelation C-19 on my single bike. A few days ago a noticed a hair line crack on the drive side of the rear hub. I know chichi reported on this problem about a year ago. How expensive would it be to change the hub? Should I trust my LBS with this job or send the wheel back to Topolino?

Thanks in advance

Should I trust my LBS with this job or send the wheel back to Topolino?

If your LBS has a good reputation as a Topolino dealer, i.e., they've sold them for a while and have likely handled warranty or repair issues before, by all means contact them and see what they say... before taking the wheels in that is.

At the same time I would also contact Topolino (http://www.topolinotech.com/company/contact.php)both by Email and follow-up with a phone call if you don't hear back in a day or so. Recommend you also send a photo of the cracked hub in your Email.

Topolino will be a better position to address potential warranty coverage and/or offer goodwill service that your shop may or may not be privy too. They may also be able to confirm if your LBS can handle the work. Compare notes from what your LBS and Topolino say and go with the one who seems to be most in your court with respect to the least costly and best fix.

Send the wheels back to Topolino they will repair them at a reasonable cost.

Hate to say it but in my opinion the jury is back on Topolino's and they are not durable enough to warrant the their cost. I personally broke 3 hubs of the C.19 variety on my single and was in the LBS yesterday when a set of 3.0's came in with the standard problem of cracked hub. I was looking forward to putting these on the tandem as next years big upgrade as they have a great ride but I am going to have to scratch that plan. Hmmm...... belt drive keeps loking more and more affordable. Anybody have feedback on the durability of Rolfs?

Called Topolino and they told me that they do not have replacement hubs for my C19 and no plans to produce them anymore. They best they could do was to give me a brake on the rear wheel upgrade to carbon core for about $500. I really like the wheels but if this is an indication of future problems I may just cut my losses and move on to something else.

Hate to say it but in my opinion the jury is back on Topolino's and they are not durable enough to warrant the their cost.

As noted in our journal, we've already had a couple issues with our Carbon Core AX3.0-tandem during the first few hundred miles of use.

1. Our front Topolino wheel was replaced under warranty last fall due to an incessant creaking noise that was most likely coming from the front bearings. It would only show up when we were standing and climbing noting that I'm a bike thrower who puts a lot of side loading into our wheels. Heck, we even had a Phil Wood hub that would creak under the same conditions that had to be fixed under warranty. The new front wheel was finally given it's maiden voyage last weekend after riding on our conventional wheels with rear disc over the winter and it also has exhibited the same creaking when used with Topolino's Ti skewers. Given this was the first outing, we'll use our steel ones next time out to see if that will cure the malady. If not, I'm guessing we're SOL as our 1 year warranty expired last month.

2. The rear cassette carrier was chewed up by our 10 speed Ultegra cassette. Just too much torque for the hard ano carrier body... guess that's why all of the other tandem-specific hubs use steel or titanium instead of aluminum. I got the equivalent of a shoulder shrug when I reported that condition and, oh by the way, replacements are $100. I've resigned myself to using 9 speed cassettes and could only get those on after filing off the carrier material that was displaced by the individual 10 speed cogs.


I really like the wheels but if this is an indication of future problems I may just cut my losses and move on to something else.

I've decided that we're going to ride the Topolino's exclusively for the rest of this year just to see how durable they really are. I figure the $1,350 is all sunk cost at this point and we'll save our Rolf's for special events. Perhaps we'll be surprised... or not. In the event of a problem know that we'll always have a set of spare wheels close at hand.


Anybody have feedback on the durability of Rolfs?

So far so good with our '07's which are now sporting about 500 miles of non-disc use. The '08's also logged a few hundred miles before we sold them. No durability issues or degradation.... just some weird issues with stability that we haven't experienced with the '07 models.

Anybody have feedback on the durability of Rolfs?

Our Rolfs were purchased with our CoMo Speedster in 2004. I had a couple rear bearings in the hub fail about a year into riding it and it resulted in the rear hub getting loose - side to side play. I sent the wheel back to Rolf and they replaced the bearings and the axle pieces. Stayed tight for about another year when it got loose again - and I replaced two bearings and it resolved the issue. Then this year - I had to replace a single bearing in the rear. IIRC it's always the inside bearing on the hub next to the cassette hub that has failed.

For the front - the front rim braking surface was not machined correctly - causing a "stutter" when the brakes were applied. I also had a couple spokes come completely loose. So I sent the front wheel back and they replaced the bearings and rim and it's been fine ever since.

Over the same period that we've had the Rolf's - the Campy Eurus wheels that my wife and I have on our singles haven't had one issue other than getting dirty. The tandem does see more miles per year though.

I'm happy with them overall - and I think the next time I crack the rear hub i'll put in some high grade ceramics to see if they last longer.