48 Spoke Rear Wheel Questions
05-02-21, 12:13 PM
#1
Full Member
Thread Starter
48 Spoke Rear Wheel Questions
I was in the market for a beater bike, & found this 1984 Fuji Touring Series III for $10. Plenty of surface rust on the frame, but looks like it will clean up enough for my purposes. One thing I didn't notice until I got it home was the 48 spoke rear Ukai Rim & Specialized Hub. Front wheel is another Ukai with a Sunshine Hub. The rear axle clearly extends beyond the dropouts (don't know how I missed that when I was first looking it over) & appears to be from a tandem bike.
My two questions are: can I easily swap another axle onto the rear wheel? And who actually made Specialized Hubs?
My two questions are: can I easily swap another axle onto the rear wheel? And who actually made Specialized Hubs?
05-02-21, 12:26 PM
#2
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Buy it for $10 as fast as you can. Deal with the issues later.
05-02-21, 12:36 PM
#3
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I'd be surprised if the hub wasn't made by Sansin.
05-02-21, 01:39 PM
#4
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The threads on the NDS is for a drum brake. Definitely a tandem wheel. I have one.
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05-02-21, 02:55 PM
#5
framebuilder
I could be wrong but I vaguely remember that Specialized hubs had sealed bearings. That would make exchanging the axle more difficult (and not for the amateur). Maybe they used those hubs because the back end spacing was greater than 126mm? Measure the spacing between the inside of the dropouts and get back to us. An axle sticking out isn't a real problem. For $10 you got the score of the month. That is the kind of transportation bike people hope to find. More tire clearance with more spacing in the rear than 120 or 126. Of course they could have just jammed that tandem rear wheel in the dropouts.
05-02-21, 03:20 PM
#6
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I could be wrong but I vaguely remember that Specialized hubs had sealed bearings. That would make exchanging the axle more difficult (and not for the amateur). Maybe they used those hubs because the back end spacing was greater than 126mm? Measure the spacing between the inside of the dropouts and get back to us. An axle sticking out isn't a real problem. For $10 you got the score of the month. That is the kind of transportation bike people hope to find. More tire clearance with more spacing in the rear than 120 or 126. Of course they could have just jammed that tandem rear wheel in the dropouts.
The important thing with these Sansin-made hubs is that the axle is standard 10x1mm with no "step" features, and threads into bearing seats ( shouldered nuts, much like cones), and which uses ordinary locknuts and washers to get all set up. The chromed shields are sandwiched against the face of the bearing by the stepped "cones".
I liked the look of the solid high flanges, and they built up nicely into a pair of 40h Module4 rims that I had been sitting on for some time (this being a late 1990's wheel build).
20 years on, and I finally found a use for the very long threaded 10mm axle from the rear hub. I used it to beef up a freewheel-hub/wheelset that came from a Kmart Mongoose "mid-fat" bike, to be used on my then-new 2016 Huffy from Walmart! I found suitable 10mm-threaded cones and nuts and replaced the entire 3/8" rear axle assembly for use with the 7s freewheel and 135mm spacing. It has been trouble-free for several years now (I carry a modified 4" adjustable wrench to be able to remove either wheel if I flat).
Still running the original bars, crankset, shifter/brake levers, FD and headset, but everything else on this sale-priced box-store bike has by now been replaced.
Last edited by dddd; 05-02-21 at 03:34 PM.
05-02-21, 03:48 PM
#7
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Thread Starter
I bought those same solid high flange hubs new in the box at a bike swap meet. Mine were 40h and I was able to easily change the solid 10mm threaded axle out for a QR axle and also narrowed the spacing from 140mm for use with 7s, 126mm spacing on my Trek 720 touring bike.
The important thing with these Sansin-made hubs is that the axle is standard 10x1mm with no "step" features, and threads into bearing seats ( shouldered nuts, much like cones), and which uses ordinary locknuts and washers to get all set up. The chromed shields are sandwiched against the face of the bearing by the stepped "cones".
I liked the look of the solid high flanges, and they built up nicely into a pair of 40h Module4 rims that I had been sitting on for some time (this being a late 1990's wheel build).
20 years on, and I finally found a use for the very long threaded 10mm axle from the rear hub. I used it to beef up a freewheel-hub/wheelset that came from a Kmart Mongoose "mid-fat" bike, to be used on my then-new 2016 Huffy from Walmart! I found suitable 10mm-threaded cones and nuts and replaced the entire 3/8" rear axle assembly for use with the 7s freewheel and 135mm spacing. It has been trouble-free for several years now (I carry a modified 4" adjustable wrench to be able to remove either wheel if I flat).
Still running the original bars, crankset, shifter/brake levers, FD and headset, but everything else on this sale-priced box-store bike has by now been replaced.
The important thing with these Sansin-made hubs is that the axle is standard 10x1mm with no "step" features, and threads into bearing seats ( shouldered nuts, much like cones), and which uses ordinary locknuts and washers to get all set up. The chromed shields are sandwiched against the face of the bearing by the stepped "cones".
I liked the look of the solid high flanges, and they built up nicely into a pair of 40h Module4 rims that I had been sitting on for some time (this being a late 1990's wheel build).
20 years on, and I finally found a use for the very long threaded 10mm axle from the rear hub. I used it to beef up a freewheel-hub/wheelset that came from a Kmart Mongoose "mid-fat" bike, to be used on my then-new 2016 Huffy from Walmart! I found suitable 10mm-threaded cones and nuts and replaced the entire 3/8" rear axle assembly for use with the 7s freewheel and 135mm spacing. It has been trouble-free for several years now (I carry a modified 4" adjustable wrench to be able to remove either wheel if I flat).
Still running the original bars, crankset, shifter/brake levers, FD and headset, but everything else on this sale-priced box-store bike has by now been replaced.
Last edited by OutnBack; 05-02-21 at 08:10 PM.
