hueyhoolihan

i've just laced up a coaster brake hub made by Velosteel (the old Sachs & Fichtel design. made in the Czech Republic. i had a Sturmy-Archer one on there and have a NICE 15mm wrench for it. little did i know that the Velosteel comes with nuts for a 9/16" wrench.

NUTS!!!!

Soooo....

any ideas on 15mm track nuts to fit an axle that uses a 9/16th nuts?

or more likely,

a nice 9/16 wrench for 9/16 track nuts?

Andrew R Stewart 

I doubt that the axle is actually 9/16" diameter. If you could supply the real axle threading dimensions we could give an answer. I'd look up S&F coaster specs but my Sutherland's for rear internal hubs is stashed away and out of reach. But if the axle is one of the common specs then quite likely 15mm nuts are available. Andy.

hueyhoolihan

it's the nut flats that are 9/16. idk much about the axle threads. i do know that the nuts that came with the Sturmy-Archer SS coaster hub had 15mm nuts and i bought a nice wrench to carry with me to use in case of a flat and now it's pretty much useless...

BTW, the SA 15mm nuts won't thread on the Velosteel axle.

i wasn't surprised.

i suspect the Velosteel axle is nothing more than a typical american standard coarse or fine thread that uses a 9/16th nut...

and i fixed my first post to make it clear that the axle is not 9/16ths in diameter.

fietsbob

speak about the axle used in the hub... Campag or JIS diameter. and thread-pitch?

Or what? Auto parts store will have some additional choices , drag the wheel in there and ask..

If there are no answers, there, visit the Bike Shop..

Andrew R Stewart 

Most threading standards are speced by the actual thread and not by the nut that fits. So an axle with 3/8"x26tpi, or 3/8"x24tpi, or 10mm x 1mmpt and or 10mm x 26tpi all could use a nut with a 15mm across flats dimension. But none of the nuts would fit the other axles. A quick search for threading standards will explain a lot. One item that would be explained is the difference between SAE course and fine threading (which are rarely used on bikes, BTW). Added to all this is that bikes often use threading dimensions that combine fractional (SAE) and ISO (metric) aspects on the same part. Andy.

hueyhoolihan

thanks for the help.

i've just placed a bid on an ancient very thin 9/16 open ended wrench. if i end up with it, i'll cut off one end and drill two holes in the handle so as to mount it on my downtube waterbottle mounts, just like that nice but now useless one i bought for use with that SA coaster hub.

reptilezs

i have nothing too add but just wanted to note i tore down a velosteel hub about a month back and it is a very unique hub. well built too

Andrew R Stewart 

In my shop youth i had the great pleasure to work for a partnership that also collected bikes. Their thing was prior to WW1 examples. This covered some highwheelers and the transition to "safety" bikes. Being in the rust belt we have SLOW winters (in bike shops) so by January we were looking for work. Besides the hundreds of wheels we built for next year's sales, the reorganizing and painting and other usual off season jobs in a bike shop we would service one or two of the collection.

I got to see inside out the workings of a number of bikes most on this forum haven't even seen in photos. Dual suspension, anatomical saddles, SL tubing with filleted junctions, cork grips, sew up tires, grease fittings, butted spokes and more designs that we think of as modern inventions were done back then. But instead of carbon fiber, TI or ALU they were made of wood, leather and steel.

What REALLY impressed me was the workmanship i got to touch and work on. The good stuff from 100 years ago was pretty well made. Things fit together nicely, bearings adjusted to a smooth yet tight point (that many of the bearing sets were using large diameter balls helped. This is but one reason that modern cartridge bearings wear so quickly with their small balls). We overhauled a tandem which had it's connecting chain running down the center of the frame. The frame had a triangulated centeral "truss" containing the drivetrain. Also special were the shaft drive Columbias with dual suspension. I never got to work on the Ingos but did watch my boss build a couple of off center wheels. I later used this memory to do the same for a Cleveland based clown's bike.

So when i read that some one has serviced an old component and found it well built and pretty cool i understand. Andy.

surreal

Velosteel uses 3/8"x26tpi axles. 15mm nuts for these are easily sourced.

https://www.niagaracycle.com/categori...old-in-singles

I like my Velosteel, a lot, but it's a bit of a repack diva.

Bill Kapaun

Why not just get a 14mm wrench?

surreal

9/16" is not exactly 14mm; op already got a 9/16" wrench, although new nuts would've been cheaper...

Clawed

To eliminate the need to carry a wrench on my IGH bike, I bought a pair of quick release axle "nuts". They act like a regular quick release, but because the axle is solid you can't use a skewer and have the lever on each end. I can't remember the name of the device or company, but I bought them from Amazon for about $20 or so. Somebody on this forum recommended them so maybe he will pop up and give us the info.

fietsbob

adjustable spanner?

surreal

I think a set of very nice axle nuts @$5, or even cheap ones at $2 would suit him fine....

hueyhoolihan

these would do, but are they made for a 15mm wrench?

BTW, i did a "find" for 15 on the page and came up with bupkiss, so i'm doubtful...

hueyhoolihan

the nuts on the new hub are 9/16ths, 15mm wrench is too big and will just round the nuts, 14mm wrench won't even go on the nut.

i either need a 15mm nut that will fit the velosteel axle threads (not likely) or cobble up a nice, light, 9/16ths wrench that i can easily mount on my waterbottle mounts.

noglider 

He could file down the nuts a bit and use a 14mm wrench. I've done this, and it's a lot of work to get the nut to approximate an equilateral hexagon.

surreal

Yeah, they're 15mm at the flats, but threaded 3/8 x 26tpi. I guess the idea is, you can still use an old (or old-spec) hub with old axles, but you can use your freaking metric wrench to tighten 'em down.

I'm surprised you're doubting a fellow Velosteel owner, who has had to repack the things and deal with the 2-different-lubes-in-1-hub silliness....



I tried to test-fit a 9/16" socket on it; no-go--nut is too big to fit. This is a confirmed, cheap, high-quality 3/8"x26tpi axle nut that fits a 15mm wrench. With b!tch!n captured swivel washers. Stop putzing about and buy, like, 4 of them. And keep whatever hott 15mm wrench you've got on your bottle bosses.

hth
-rob

ps- I'm not always right, but I'm never wrong.

hueyhoolihan

thanks surreal, will do.

i'm surprised that Problem Solvers doesn't mention, as far as i can tell, on their website what problem they are solving with the nuts you were so kind to mention, but, you're right (and never wrong), it does solve my problem in the best way.

now i just hope that somebody outbids me (Ebay) on the rusty 9/16 wrench i have a bid on... otherwise i'll be out all of 5 bucks.

BTW, i'd be interested to hear anything you may think would be of interest as regards the Velosteel hub. i've given up on the Sturmy-Archer (KT) one i had on there.

surreal

Velosteel. So much I could say, but so little I must say. I like mine b/c it is quiet, has low drag, and looks pimp. I also like that there's an option for thread-on cogs, so the second one I got for my never-quite-finished cycletruck project has a massive 24t threaded cog...

Now, off-road/klunker enthusiasts may possibly be stoked about a thread-on-cog (with lockring!) on a cb hub, b/c snaprings are a regular (if infrequent) point of failure on off-road cb bikes. Sadly, Coaster-Brake Challenge Organizer(https://www.atomiccycles.com/coaster.html)/ lbs owner/ frames- and parts-manufacturer Paul D
had this to say about them:
Which, as a Velosteel user who rides Shimano cb-e110 hubs on trails occasionally, I can totally believe. As far as JRA on the street use, however,I heartily recommend the Velosteel.

The best part about Velosteels is that they're fun to repack, with impressive innards. Which is a good thing, b/c they need frequent attention. The very thing that enables Velosteel hubs to have so little drag is the same thing that makes them repack divas. The rollers on the clutch and the design of the ******er spring need a veeeerrry light coating of grease. Some folks have used oil on these parts, which I tried once, but it didn't last very well. So, I tend to just load the bearings up with a lot of Phil grease, and just barely coat the rollers, with a decent amount of grease on the shoes--more than just a light coating, but not a thorough grease-loading like I'd do with a Shimano....

Guy, at Elegant Wheels, has provided this picture-heavy rebuild tutorial:
https://www.elegantwheels.net/upload/...uild%20PDF.pdf I basically follow it pretty closely. BTW, if you buy a Velosteel from Guy, he ships it with 15mm nuts already installed. Plus, he's a cool/helpful fella in general.

BITD, I used to run cb-equipped bmx bikes b/c that's what kid in NJ in the 80s rode, until they could afford a better bike with rim brakes. In those days, we ran Japanese-made early Shimanos and Suntours, plus Mexican-made Bendix 76 hubs. I didn't know or care what they were, but the conventional wisdom back then was to pack the f-word out of your cb hub with as much grease as possible. If youdo that with a Velosteel, you will gum up the rollers and, consequently, the hub won't engage. As in, you can turn the pedals a full 3/4 of a rotation before the cog "grabs" and you're actually moving the hub forward. Velosteel is weird in that it has different lubrication needs than most cb hubs.

Other thoughts on Velosteel and cb hubs in general:
-the brake strap that came with my Velosteel was primitive and huge, making the desired tight fit on the chainstay difficult. If that's what you're working with, get one of these: https://www.niagaracycle.com/categori...-with-nut-bolt Much easier to get a tight fit, with all those holes. A nice "upgrade" for most cb hubs, imo
-the oft-repeated internet legend is that Shimano cb-e110s are made by KT in Taiwan for Shimano. All of my cb-e110s, regardless of vintage, still say "Japan" on the brake arm, but who knows? I've found the Shimano cb to be a good hub, which is rebuildable and takes adjustment. Every KT HiStop I've ever worked on was a sloppy mess, with no sweet-spot between "loose as a goose" and "bindingly tight."
-I understand that KT makes "nicer", up-market cb hubs, but I have yet to see 'em,so I cannot comment.
-The Shimano and KT hubs currently in production have 3/8" x 24tpi axles. (Just in case someone looking for that info comes across this in a search.)

hueyhoolihan

thanks, surreal, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

surreal

Yvw

Curtis Odom 

The Velosteel axle thread is 3/8-26 tpi. This goes way back to its origin in the Fichtel & Sachs days.
I commonly re-tap a 9mm X 1 nut to the 3/8 thread size.
This picture has my nuts re-tapped to fit.

Curtis Odom Wheels by Curtis Odom, on Flickr

Soil_Sampler