Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Bombproof Wheels

I had my second hub failure the other day. The first was a sovos hub-wasn't my fault. The second was a surly hub-partially my fault. Both had to do with the threads on the hubs. I have made the decision to build completely new wheels. My front now is some sun hub and rim, works fine but nothing special. My rear is still a surly with the cog jb-welded on and some crappy no name rim.
I want to buy the level components hub for the rear, but im not sure what to get for the front. I also need to know which rims are the strongest and if i should go 32 or 36. Im 6'1" and weigh 225. How strong are the spin-spinergy-carbon mag whatever wheels for the front? I have a tendency to be tough on my gear. What would be the ideal wheelset?

little help? I know nothing of road bike rims.

I'm running the Mavic MA3/Surly combo and I've had no problems and I weigh between 200-215. A lot of people seem to like the Phil Wood hubs although I have no persona; experience with them. I don't know anything about the spinergys other than they look real cool. I have a feeling people are going rto say Mavic Open Pro/Phil Wood is going to be a reliable yet expensive and strong wheel.

What cog are you running on your prior setups? So much of the thread failures have to do with the cog/hub combos. And, it seems, as if the cog has more to do with it than the hub itself. Go with a Dura-Ace cog or the Suntour stuff. Lots of deep threads, and no play even on the cheap Suzue stuff. Get the cog super tight on the hub first and foremost. Then the tightness of the cog/lockring is the other critical factor. If you are running brakeless, you have just got to get the above down.

The other factor, and I'll toss on the nomex right now, is that these hubs (and that is for all of the threaded types) were never meant to have the abuse/fun of skidding. The stress on the hub/cog/lockring threading sees an enormous spike when the wheel goes from motion to none in a instant. This is not a preach session, it is just the fact of life. Can you do it and never have a problem? Of course, but you will need to look at all the little things and get them lined out even more.

Good luck and let us know how it shakes out.

Dave

phil wood/mavic cxp33. 32 spoke should do you well. 36 spoke will be damn near indestructible. expensive, but well worth it. i have phils/open pros, and old dura ace high flange/cxp33/21...both wheels have lasted me a good long time...QBP cog on one, surly cog on the other. zero problems in four years on the D/A wheels. i've only had the phils for a year and a half, but so far, so good...and i know a ton of folks who have been using them for years and years and years without problems.

paul's components make a decent looking fixed hub, but i haven't heard any feedback about it. i have no reason to believe that it's utter crap (based on the company's reputation for high-quality goods), but there's always that chance. i'm almost tempted to pick up a set for myself just to test them out, but i don't really have any need to at the moment...i'm also tempted to check out the suzue promax CF hubs for ****s and giggles, but only because i can get them at a good deal through my shop...i probably won't though...even though they'd be super hot with black spokes and black cxp33s....mmmm.....

If you go for the cxp33 (or any aero rim) laced to any high flange hub the wheels will be stronger due to the shorter spoke length. Although I doubt you would be able to put knock a decently built 32 spoked wheel out of true even at your weight. I don't really see the utility of riding on carbon fiber wheels though, the weight saved isn't enough for any of us to notice a big difference (imho). Anyway, you will probably drop 15# in the first couple of months of serious riding anyway, I know I did...

Phil

P.S. Yeahs phils to open pros rock!!

If you go for the cxp33 (or any aero rim) laced to any high flange hub the wheels will be stronger due to the shorter spoke length. Although I doubt you would be able to put knock a decently built 32 spoked wheel out of true even at your weight. I don't really see the utility of riding on carbon fiber wheels though, the weight saved isn't enough for any of us to notice a big difference (imho). Anyway, you will probably drop 15# in the first couple of months of serious riding anyway, I know I did...

Phil

P.S. Yeahs phils to open pros rock!!

heh...word. the CF hubs are nifty looking, but i probably won't end up getting some, but it'd still be cool.

Thanks guys. Im either gonna get the cxp33's or some velocity deep-v's. Im either gonna get level components, paul, or phil hubs. Front and rear.

Aha!! Well its almost a year later and im finally building the wheels i was talking about. Since then i've had numerous other wheels and bikes, and even took a brake from fixed to do some ss mtb-ing. But this weekend i will be building up phil's to cxp33's. black on black!

Congrats man, sounds sexy. I'm thinking about building my first set at the end of the summer. I'm liking on Deep-Vs (mainly because I haven't heard any arguments against them) but I'm still in the air about hubs. I'd like to keep it under $350 if possible. Any suggestions?

From an engineer's perspective, LeVeL hubs can't be beat. If you look a the way normal (threaded) fixed hubs work, they are designed to strip. Level's just make a lot more sense. The only downside is that it is untested in comparison to Phils or DA's, and the cogs are proprietary. But how many cogs do you need?

If I had to buy new hubs, I would make sure that at least the rear is a level. Just my $.02