Bike Forums - The future of cup and cone hubs?

Bike Forums (https://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php)

- Bicycle Mechanics (https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/)

- - The future of cup and cone hubs? (https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/1002023-future-cup-cone-hubs.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by HillRider (Post 17709927)

As davidad notes it wasn't because of the smaller bearings. Campy's more recent hubs use 15 x 5/32" bearing balls in plastic retainers on each side, front and rear, and are very durable. Campy's rear hubs have the drive side bearing inboard of the freehub body but compensate for that inherent weakness by using a larger diameter axle.

Sure I understood what davidad said and that makes sense. That's not, by the way, what Sheldon Brown said but I don't take this as the final word. This is what he had to say about the problems associated with helicomatic hubs:

"Due to clearance requirements, they couldn't fit the normal 9 1/4" bearing balls, so they used 13 5/32" balls on the right side. These didn't hold up well. The cones tended to wear rapidly, and replacement cones are no longer available to fit these hubs."

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikemig (Post 17710504)

Sheldon was likely right about those hubs not holding up well but I can't believe is was solely caused by the 5/32" bearings. As noted, Campy uses the same size balls and their hubs hold up very well. Perhaps the cones or races weren't machined or heat treated properly or some other mechanical mis-match was present. Those French hubs weren't renown for their quality in any event.

I voted for a set of RS-81 C-24 with my $$$$: CF w/ AL braking surface & cup/cone bearings.
Oh, Yeah!

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=444509

-Bandera