The Thin Man 

I purchased what looks to be a NOS, Wheelsmith tubular, anodized, wheelset attached to some NOS Mavic hubs. The wheels apparently came from a early/mid 80's Battaglin.

The wheels have no markings on them except for some white, vinyl stickers indicating "Wheelsmith" and a Wheelsmith sticker with ID number. The rear wheel is spaced at 126mm and weigh 732g (rear wheel) and 690g (front wheel) respectively, (without skewers).
The Mavic hubs are both 24 holes and have no other markings except for "8808D" on bearing cover of the front hub.
The spokes are bladed, Wheelsmith spokes with alloy nipples, anodized, non-machined, early/mid Bataglian wheelset. The front is radially laced while the rear is radial and 2x.

The hubs, from what I can tell, are Les Moyeux, model 500 RD or 550 RD but I'm having a hard time nailing it down without any markings.

Can anyone tell me anything about these wheels or hubs? Any experience riding them?

Bianchigirll 

the hubs are 501 I think the rims look like Open 4CD. I think you can contact Wheelsmith and give them serial number.

The Thin Man 

Thanks, Bianchigirll. I contacted Wheelsmith and am saddened by their response:
Unfortunately we do not have old Wheelsmith records from then. They wrote everything down in notebooks. Lot of that stuff never made it here after we bought them.

Shanan Barth | Technical Service & Warranty Manager | suntech@hayesbicycle.com

PDXaero

Hubs are definitely 500 series, not 501, and mavic made very few wheels in 24h drillings, I will look it up when I get home.
Off the top of my head I think they resemble Mach2 Cd2.

Bianchigirll 

that is terrible. I had a confusing run in with them a year or so ago asking about the old wheelsmith spoke caculator system.

I reread your post again but I can't find this. are they clincher or tubular?

The Thin Man 

PDXaero - Thanks for checking! I look forward to hearing what you find out.
Bianchigirll - I asked if the Wheelsmith rep had any other avenues for me to check, but haven't heard anything back. So, I'd say that's a fairly dead end but a great suggestion by you as I hadn't thought to go back to the manufacturer. As for the wheels themselves, they are tubular.

Chombi

24 spokes, radial laced front, with semi-aero profile rims? Looks to be a nice period TT wheelset.
It's good you have those stoutly built Mavic hubs as the minimal spokage and radial lacing will need it.
Little concerned aobut the rear though...The lacing makes them sound quite delicate for a 24 spoker, but maybe the WS rims and Mavic hubs are strong enough to compensate. Last year I built up a 28 spoke wheelset with 2 cross lacing back and front with Stronglight Delta hubs and Wolber Profil 20 aero rims. I was thinking of going with similar lacing as yours but chickened out at the last minute. The 28 spoke/2 cross formula turned out to be very strong and stiff. Maybe I shouldn't have been too nerbvous about it and tried out something more exciting.....
Good luck with them and tell us how they ride!

Chombi

PDXaero

Also, do you see any marking on the spoke head?
I can find the weight of the rim which will help me confirm if i can just Be sure about the spokes, they dont look like wheelsmiths bladed spokes nor Sapim. Probably DT?

SJX426 

I have those hubs and really like them. Was looking for extras in 32 until I discovered the typical used price, a bit more than Campagnolo High Flange Records.

The Thin Man 

I'm 95% certain that they are bladed, Wheelsmith spokes. I'll double check tonight, but, I'm fairly certain.

PDXaero

My calculations *push up glasses on my nose* confirm it as a Mach 2 CD 2
470g for the rim, if you measure it as 19mm wide. If it is 20 it is likely to be an araya or rigida.
And for those that are worried about these wheels, I have mavic 24h hubs with GL330 rear and Cx18 front.
similar to this wheelsmith set but almost 100g lighter for the set (with skewers).

The Thin Man 

Nice work, PDX and good supporting info as well.

That's one out of two. Now if I could figure out what model these hubs are.

PDXaero

500 series model 506 (but no one really can tell the difference between the 500 series)
501 are centered offset, 550 would have anodized caps. You also have quite the find with 24H hubs slotted for bladed spokes.

Bianchigirll 

I don't think the profile looks right for Mach2s, theses are more rounded than the Mach2s look. also don't Mach2s normally have eyelets?

The Thin Man 

I'm impressed, PDX. I have no idea how, even with the small bits of evidence, you are nailing the model numbers on these hubs. Almost every Mavic hub in the 500 to 550 series looks practically the same to me on paper.
I like the look of the wheelset as it has a sleek, sexy look to it with fantastic vintage (NOS!) parts. The only problem is, I don't have an extra machine to put them on, so I'm seriously considering selling them. We'll see though. Isn't it always a matter of time before another frame comes into our C&V lives? I'm certain it's the law of attraction.

mazdaspeed

What do you mean by anodized caps?

PDXaero

Disregard that, I was preempted by SSC hubs.
Now that I'm home I can show the difeerence.

500 havea dust cover behind the FW, this is more weatherproof but moves the outer bearing about 1/4" inwards compared to the 550 with an exposed bearing behind the FW

SJX426 

Yes and try bending those axles! The axle nuts are likely Campagnolo. All of mine are.

SJX426 

Found this which you may have found also:

The Thin Man 

SJX, I did find that ad (it's linked in my original post) but I'm still not sure that the 500 or 550's you link are the model of hubs I have.

SJX426 

Based on picture number 4 you have 550. Look at the right exploded view, DS bearing and compare it to the right side exploded view, DS. The left view shows a "Cap" that covers the bearing on the 500. The right shows the bearing at the location of the "Cap", which is effectively further out from the center of the hub. This is the difference between the 500 and 550 RD's.

I envy your wheel set, BTW! Mine came well used and with SACH skewers ILO Mavic original ones. There were two levers materials, steel and aluminum. Which do you have?