Miles of smiles
 

Hi C&V forum members, I would like to share a happy combination of wheel components that have pleased me more than any other. I thought of titling this post "Do I have the best wheels in the world?" but that might seem a little over the top. Here goes . . .

The ingredients

• Hubs: Sunshine 5345. NOS from Barcelona through eBay. Pine tar removed, polished with brown polishing wax and a buffing wheel and then Mothers, new balls from PGN (Penguin) bearings, Park grease (of course).
• Rims: H Plus Son TB14 700c rims. Welded, eyeleted, machined, with an invisible joint. Wretchedly obstinate maker's label around the valve stem removed that allows fitting Schrader tubes.
• Tires: Vittoria Corsa "Control". Modern size, classic sidewall.

Lessons learned

• My LBS here in Phoenix is "Curbside Cyclery", a husband and wife team who know and ride old bikes, care, and cost less than anyone else I know in the area. They did a great job lacing the wheels.
• The tires are really tight to fit and even the thickness of the rim tape affects this.
• There is a surprisingly large difference in feel and comfort between the 25s and 28s - far more than, say, with Paselas.
• The 700c rims opened up a whole new world of tire choices

This combination is the best I have ever known, the setup feels sure-footed and secure. BTW if your calipers don't have enough reach, consider the Dia Compe DC-750 62mm - 78mm reach (I was lucky with the Fuji and was able to reach with the original DCs). And Dura 2 TripleLite pads, because, well, Kool-Stop. Hope this is of use!

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Love Sunshine stuff. Nice build!

Good job! I thought of doing that, back when I had a set of those sweet Sunshine hubs (forget which model now), but the cost is somewhat prohibitive. 😟 Maybe I need to learn wheel building? 🤔😁

It 's not hard. What helped me was having a known good wheel to use as a reference.

I forgot to mention that I looked up directions from the Sheldon Brown site.

That bike looks great.

I found the Musson book (available online here) to be invaluable when I decided to learn how to build wheels last winter. And the DIY truing stand is both functional and attractive in its own right.

I have a set of low flange Sunshine hube, awaiting a build. They were harvested from a 1980 Trek 414 with 27" rims.

I'm curious why you'd want to use Schrader valves?

Good question. Those H+Son rims use the plate over the valve hole as a counterweight to the rim weld which harkens back to the old days of the Ambrosio Nemesis, etc. A nice classic touch. Why would anyone want to use Schrader valves on bicycle tires?

With regard to the corsa controls, yes, very nice tires. You'll find that they stretch a bit over time, so they may have been a bear to initially mount, but once you get some miles on them, they'll come off and on easier.

I have a bike with the Vittoria Corsa Control tires, another bike with the TB14 rims, and a third bike with Sanshin-made Specialized hubs (probably furthest from equivalent to the OP's magic ingredients). I can see how together they would make for an exemplary ride. My suspicion is that the tires are the most significant contributor. I've got them on a PX-10 with Mavic Module E rims and Normandy Sport hubs, and the bike positively floats. The TB14s are probably the best looking modern rim for vintage builds. I think they're slightly stiffer feeling than some of my other rims, but with the right tire that won't matter.

A point of clarification, @Albion, are you saying that the black plate on the TB14s comes off to reveal a Schrader-sized hole, or did you have it drilled?

In reply . . .
 

First of all, many thanks for the thoughtful comments received. A few thoughts in reply . . .

• Sunshine 5345s seem to be pretty ubiquitous and not too costly on eBay. Every 10/12 speed I see has them, other than my awful old Ross which had low-end Maillard hubs. Near me is an outfit called Bike Saviors which helps folks repair and build bikes. Their prices are good on individual components - maybe there's one like them near you?
• Why did I use Schraders? I confirm the aesthetic appeal of Presta and the purity but it's a pain unscrewing the little top nut on the core and fitting the adapter so I can use a compressor or standard car tire pump - and then not losing the adapter. A related point, I have yet to find a truly easy or effective inflator chuck fitted to a "stirrup" pump. Always a struggle, with more pressure lost putting it on than seems right. BTW, the Maillard wheels came with Schrader piercings . . .
• The H+Son rims include a maker's plate held in place at the valve piercing. A part of the decision to remove it was that I had never seen such a plate on my '70s and '80s machines and as it's only held in the center it could trap grit. My old wheels usually had a decal artfully covering a rubbish pinned joint, even on quite good rims (yes, Mavic). If you go this route, thread some green "Frog" (low-residue) tape under the free ends of the oval plate and on top so that when it begins to loosen and inclined to rotate the tape prevents scratching the polished finish on the saddle of the rim. Removing it reveals a correctly-sized Schrader piercing.
• Regarding the counterbalance, another very good point. To check, I put the Fuji up on a stand, and looked for balance issues - did the wheel stop spinning with the valve at the lowest point? It didn't, and was pleasingly random with a slight tendency on one wheel to stop with the valve at a horizontal position.
• Encouraging observations from AngryScientist and Andy K about the tires, and I am sure you are right about the ride and hope they loosen up a bit as mentioned. For comparison, I have another set with Sunshine Sheriff Star hubs - much liked by the great Sheldon Brown - and TB14 rims, on which I mounted Veloflex Corsa Evo 25s, the wheelset intended for an '86 Team Fuji frame I was graciously given by another C&V member. The wheelset gives a bone-shaker ride on urban blacktop, just plain unpleasant. What a costly experiment!

It's dialogs like this that make my $20 for two years well worth it.

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