There are things we do the rest of the world may never understand. My most recent dilemma came about as I was deciding on the right wheelset for my Fuji The Finest. I know many of you have lamented over similar situations. The saga…

The Finest came with a set of 36h Ukai tubulars. Said to be a fine set of rims but I’m a clincher guy. I really wanted to keep the high-flange Sanshin hubs with the bike so I disassembled the wheelset and sold the rims to a fellow BF member.

It was then that I discovered the only other silver, 36h rims I had were a pair of semi-aero Arayas. Not at all appropriate for an early 70s Fuji. I completely forgot I unloaded my 36h Mavic Module E rims to another BF member.

Then I realized my ‘86 Super Sport I use on my trainer has a 36h wheelset with Araya box rims. Not purist-correct for early 70s but looked the part. Now I had to come to terms with not wanting to separate the 600 hubs from the Super Sport and really wanting to use the original high-flange Sanshins on the Fuji. Clearly the perfectly good wheelset on my trainer was going to have to come apart.

Now I am not a quick wheel builder. I had a lot of measuring and spoke acquisition to do so I had to have an interim wheelset for use on my trainer. I built up a 32h wheelset with Rigida rims and Campy hubs which I will use to plan a subsequent build.

With the Super Sport now donning the Rigida wheelset, it could still fulfill its training duties. I disassembled the Araya wheelset from it, rebuilt the 600 hubs and laced them to the semi-aero Araya rims. This new wheelset then went on the Super Sport for permanent training duty. The semi-aero profile looks right at home on an ‘86 Super Sport. The Rigida wheelset is now on the hanger awaiting its next build.

Finally I could come back to the Fuji which is what caused the musical chairs in the first place. It now sports the original Sanshin hubs laced to the box-profile Arayas from the Super Sport. Although a decade separates the bike and the rims, I think the aesthetics work well.

So is our plight. I could not simply buy a new wheelset from Velomine because I just had to use those Sanshin hubs. I could not buy a pair of Sun CR18 rims because dammit, this is why I have a parts bin! At the end of it all, the finished product didn’t turn out half bad.

I've just moved some Campy Nuovo Tipo large flange hubs from Super Champion Arc en Ciel to Mavic Monthlery Route for very similar reasons
Luckily I made both sets so I know I can reuse the spokes.

It just has to be done.

I play musical drive chains including hubs. I don't typically go and sell what I don't use. I really, really need to.
At this point what I want is usually one part short of a complete happy meal.
I want, without good reason, to convert the Litespeed to 10 speed from 9. What is holding me up is a better hub and 10 speed Ergos.

I did an 8 speed DA to 9 speed Campagnolo and learned a great deal because of ignorance on spindle lengths between 2 and 3 rings, not having experience with cartridge BB and really knowing the difference between double and triple FD's. Also learned how to convert FD's from clamp to braze-on. In the process I now have a few extra parts for future builds.

Also learned how to rebuild Ergo's and difference between them.

For me any future C&V wheel rebuilds ideally would allow the most modern of tire choices, preferably be 700c rims with as wide of internal width as possible and also be tubeless ready. Whether you are "classic and vintage" or not I would think you could spec some complementary, modern box section but tubeless ready rims to mate up with you Suzue hubs. I have a second Puch Marco Polo frameset that I need to build up with C&V components. It really wants 27" rims for proper brake pad tolerances but I may do a mock up with 700c rims and then test fit some nutted Tektro long reach calipers when fitted with 700c wheels. If the long reach calipers are able to brake decently and handle wider tubeless tires in the 32mm (or wider) sizes, I think many forgotten older road frames could be repurposed as retro mod gravel rigs.

If those rims are Rigida 13-19s I seem to remember some tire retention issue with those rims

Like the sidewall hooks would not retain the bead, something like that

/markp

Take that rear tire to the barber shop!

You are not alone.

I got frustrated with hassle of replacing worn individual cogs on freewheels, so 30 years ago I switched over to cassettes on all my bikes with no regrets. But I only have one bike from the mid 1970s and I somehow never appreciated high flange hubs.

Also struggling to remember, but it might have been that the 13-19 Rigida rims had smooth sides and the 13-20 version had retention hooks.

I'm always reminded of something really simple- like you want to use *these* brakes, and *these* levers, but they don't work well together- so you have to decide on either different brakes or different levers.. then you find out the brakes you've chosen don't have the reach you need- so then the decision is different brakes or a different wheel set... Then there's all the silly shifting things like 6 speed sis works with this, but not this, unless you do that and route the cable like this but still isn't compatible with 7 speed and then throw Dura Ace or Accushift into the equation...

And then trying to explain that to a n00b that just wants to put different handlebars on his bike and use on the bar shifting from DT shifting...