lancer1558

Are there any advantages of High Flange Hubs for Track Bikes for wheel strength and weight?
I think high flange hubs look better but IRO has a "blowout sale" on low flange hubs.
Thanks,
Gary

operator

"High-flange" or "large-flange" hubs have a larger flange, usually drilled out for lightness. They transmit torsional forces with less stress to the spokes than small-flange hubs do, but this is not a problem in practice with modern equipment. High-flange hubs can make a wheel with slightly greater lateral strength than equivalent small-flange hubs, because the spokes create a wider bracing angle to the rim. This makes them popular with track sprinters, who create greater-than-normal side loads on their wheels.

They are also heavier, hub wise.

99% of the time, high flange hubs are chosen for aesthetics on a tarck bike.

rat fink

What about the other way around? Is there any reason people don't run HF on road bikes?

operator

Because

1) They're not available in high flange and low flange (current trend is low flange)
2) They're not generally used for track sprinting
3) They're heavier

So for 99% of the people riding road bikes, high flange hubs have nothing but disadvantages. HF hubs only came back into fashion because of the hipster 'fixie' crowd.

Jeff Wills

If I put high-flange hubs on my recumbent, does that make me a geeky hipster or a hipster geek?

Oops, too late: https://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/lightning/index.htm

I like high-flange hubs because they're prettier. There's no real reason beyond aesthetics nowadays. They're making a comeback in road bikes, too: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Electra-Ticino

operator

I'll believe that when campy/shimano start offering HF options to their road line of hubs.

lancer1558

Thanks everyone.
Gary