tmoneygetpaid

Hey,

I'm still planning my first wheelbuild, and more questions have been coming to mind. Namely, I'm thinking about my hub choice:

I bought a ritchey rear hub for pretty cheap at a local co-op, the same as the mysterious one here. I wonder if this is a good hub to build up with (I'm intending on building a touring wheelset with velocity dyad rims I've already bought). In that thread, a poster suggests that it weakens the wheel to have equally dished sides. I know Phil hubs use a similar design to achieve almost equal spoke length on either side, and everyone raves about phil hubs as the best you can get, so is this accurate and should I be concerned with the lateral weakening this might cause?

The same co-op has a whole whole lot of Sachs new success hubs which I wanted to use, but the rear spacing is 135 and I don't want to spread the frame. But how would one of those work as the front hub? Anyone have experience with them? They seemed great with awesomely smooth bearings.

I could also buy some new 105 hubs. Is there any difference between 105 hubs and ultegra? Any benefit of a rear 105 over the ritchey hub for my intended use?

Thank you.

dabac

Well, sort of, but not really. In terms of lateral stability the sides act quite independently, a good bracing angle at one side doesn't really do much for the other side.
An "ordinary" dished wheel will be laterally stiffer for a load coming from the drive side than for one coming from the NDS, but not overall stiffer.
If you repeat the DS spoke angle on the NDS you get a wheel with equal lateral stiffness from both sides. Unless you're riding assymmetrically it shouldn't really influence overall strength, as ordinary riding won't give you the opportunity to choose from which side the loads will be coming from.

A higher NDS spoke tension is likely to improve durability though.

The main reason to strive for equal spoke lengths is to cut inventory, and for the tourer it makes it easier to carry spares. As far as pure strength/durability and rigidity goes, spoke length influences are marginal to insignificant.

Shimano spares are likely to be more accessible than Ritchey spares, if needed.(unless Ritchey hubs can use Shimano parts..)

miamijim

TMGP,

Your better off using Shimano hubs becasue, as dabac mentioned, parts are much more accesable. When I need parts for mine I find NOS hubs on ebay and gut them for parts. You cant do that with Sachs or Ritchey.

Dont get to in depth into wheel building dynamics. Buy rims, buy spokes, buy hubs.....build the wheels.

blamp28

By the Way, THe Velocity Dyads are a nice choice for the hoops. I built up a rear wheel for my tandem using one and they are nice and strong. Good Touring choice. I will second , or third the Shimano Hub choice for the same reasons. I like the Richey Hubs for the zero dish design but if you plan on being on a tour, it is best to use components that are easily serviced anywhere and at even a poorly equipped bike shop.