Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - new wheels question: cartridge or cup & cone?

my ride got stripped about 2 months ago while it was locked up in front of my girlfriend's house, so with nothing left but the frame i have to start over from scratch. luckily, feeling bad for me, moms decided that for xmas she would buy me a new wheelset. holy crap. i don't think she knows what she got herself into by making that offer, but i'm gonna collect.

so while researching hubs i had decided on either black phil (natch) or paul hubs. but then i saw these:

http://www.businesscycles.com/thub-suz.htm
http://www.on-one.co.uk/suzue/

anyone familiar with them? i'm mostly unsure of pros/cons of nonsealed bearings. i've always understood cup & cone were better suited for the track - sealed cartridge bearings were better for street riding and resisting weather. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

(on top of that, any recommendations between phil and paul hubs would be welcome too. i seem to have problems making up my mind.)

personally, i don't mess with cup/cone anymore. i currently race bmx on a set of bullseye hubs i bought new in 1980. i replaced the bearings in about 1992 because i thought that was a good idea since i had been riding them almost daily all that time. i pretty much wasted my money on bearings. i pulled the seals off of the old bearings and the grease was still there, looking clean. the old bearings were rolling just fine, i just figured since it had been 12 years or so i should just replace them. i was wrong. as long as the hubs have good quality sealed cartridge japanese bearings, they should last and last. some of the chinese bearings are ok, but as far as i can tell, they're not quite up to par with the japanese versions. you can always upgrade cartridge bearings if you can locate a industrial bearing supply store. just take in the bearing, and tell them you want a better quality bearing of the same size.

you could look at it this way...if you want zero maintenance (at least 12 years in my case), go with sealed cartridge, if you want a _possibly_ ever so slightly quicker accelerating hub but you're willing to do *regular* maintenance, go with cup/cone.

Yeah, like he said.

And the consensus on the Pro Max CF is that there is no consensus. It's a new product that hasn't been out long. It's a lot of money for some flash but I guess that's what you're looking for, so...

don't even question the phils or pauls.

simply because you've decided you can get them, i'm already envious.

Yeah, like he said.

And the consensus on the Pro Max CF is that there is no consensus. It's a new product that hasn't been out long. It's a lot of money for some flash but I guess that's what you're looking for, so...

i've basically been given an open ended offer to build a new set of wheels, i don't know if i would quite say i'm "looking for flash". if the situation were different i would probably just have gotten a set of surly hubs and been done with it, but i got a little caught up in the excitement of expanding my price range (and being able to build up an all black promax wheelset). my question about them was mostly in reference to cartridge bearings vs cup and cone because what i'd most like is a well built, durable hub that's up for daily use (and black). in any case, thanks for the non-advice. i already had an idea the pro max wasn't what i was looking for soon after i made the post.


habitus: i wish i had the luxury of just deciding to get them... this will basically become my xmas+bday from my parents. otherwise i would be on the other side of the glass drooling along with you. paul phil phil paul...

I don't like carbon fiber.

I do like dietary fiber.