Help building 120mm, 40h single speed wheel
I recently lucked into a set of rims, and I'm really excited to build a wheelset with them for my polo bike (2010's trek T1). Problem is, they're drilled for 40h, which I was initially happy with for the extra strength. I've been having a bear of a time finding any 120mm, 40h rear freewheel hubs from known manufacturers.
Short of coordinating a custom drilling, it seems like my options are a set of no-name hubs with sealed bearings that I could replace with some higher quality set, or vintage track hubs (Campagnolo, Airlite, etc) off of ebay/new-old-stock sites that I could work with. Unless there are any modern 40h track hubs that I might've just missed out on?
Can you offer any advice here? How does the quality of older hubs compare to modern alternatives (Paul components is popular among polo players)? Am I signing up for way more than I bargained for by potentially rebuilding a vintage hub? I enjoy tinkering as long as it's achievable, so taking one of these apart seems like it could be fun. Will my freewheel fit on older hubs?
I see sealed bearings recommended often for polo, is this just due to the ease of maintenance? Do loose or sealed bearings differ in durability at all? Would these older hubs hold up to the occasional crash and a lot of bike hopping any worse to the alternative?
If it'd work without any major concerns, I think it'd be cool to do this with the old hubs. But if they're far more likely to fail, I'll just go with the cheaper ones, or maybe spend on a 36h rim and build two front wheels with the 40h's.
Bike/build details:
Frame: Trek T1
Rims: Velocity Aileron 40h
Freewheel: White Industries Trials SS
Last edited by drspilker; 04-01-24 at 07:46 PM.
Reason: components clarification