RobbieTunes

Now that I've seen the pics, one of those end caps from the lower R Ziploc. I'll be in touch, for sure.

pastorbobnlnh 

Robbie, is the guy in Nashville? My daughter lives there and I or my wife manage to get there several times a year. Maybe I can help out. It might be a slow turn around, but better than a 10 hour drive.

@hazetguy how did you end up with that incredible stash of HiE hubs, etc.?

RobbieTunes

Not my stash, and not in Nashville, but in central NC. The guy who has them is the son of the man who bought the stash from the Hi-E founder. At present, he is not interested in the time and effort needed to sort and categorize all that stuff.
Jon (@hazeteguy) has bought parts from him and made another trip. He may have picked up what I need, not sure. We are working on it.

pastorbobnlnh 

Robbie, thanks for the clarification. I did hear from hazeteguy and have returned his PM.

The stash of Hi-E stuff that First Flight had did seem overwhelming. I spoke to them once about respacing my 120mm rear to accept a 6 speed Ultra spaced freewheel. They said it could be done, but figuring out which spacers without the wheel in hand could prove challenging.

thumpism 

I briefly had a pair of the Hi-E sewup rims, 28 hole and extremely lightweight. I took them to the guy in a shop who wanted them and introduced them with the provenance that had been given to me:

"North Carolina Road Championship of 1972!"

He looked at me and his jaw dropped, so I quickly added, "Not ME, somebody else who owned these rims."

RobbieTunes

Laced up by @speedevil. Pending a DS rear cap, another set will be built, and used.

Front



Rear

pastorbobnlnh 

Those are the Hi-E QR skewers I'd like to find for my set of wheels. I knew there were two versions.

crank_addict

The story of Hi-E and creations of Harlan Meyer is quite remarkable. Some of it is waaaay out there! The linked article below is well worth the read. The riveted Cosmopolitan frames..... oh my. And the ultra light rims that he formed pretty much remind me of aluminum rain gutters.

Larry Black shared a most comical story about one time visiting Meyer on a detour - during crew RAAM event. His description of the concrete floor directly above in a portion of the shop... Maybe he'll pipe in and describe in his own words, as otherwise beyond ones imagination hilarious.

See and read >>
https://www.gravelcyclist.com/bicycl...-cosmopolitan/

RobbieTunes

That reminds me, I forgot to polish them.

hazetguy 

I don't know if this was a Hi-E sponsored team, or the Hi-E team itself, but this is a t-shirt with a Hi-E logo.

unterhausen

The owner of my lbs and I talked about buying what was left of Hi-E back when it was for sale. Too bad about the person who bought it. I wonder if his son is interested in selling. LBS owner tried to give me some Hi-E stuff, but I'm paring down my collection

fietsbob

And Tubular rims started out as a round aluminum tube..

Chombi1 

Maybe it's for the Hi-E office softball or touch football team??

RobbieTunes

East Tennessee. It's how you can tell your kids apart.

hazetguy 

First: let me preface this by saying I am in NO WAY a Hi-E expert. Actually, I'm not very knowledgeable about Hi-E at all, other than what I have gleaned from forums, or reading pages of tech info and reviews found online.

Secondly: and this might make some people's heads explode: The following pics are of Hi-E items that I (and another guy I met) basically (cover your eyes if you are weak hearted), saved from being scrapped, but please don't think that this stuff was free to me.

Thirdly: here's what I know about the parts I have. These are all from Hi-E production runs years ago, and from what I have been told by Jeff Archer's son, is that when First Flight bought everything from Hi-E, they went through everything and assembled what they could from the parts they had. There apparently was some discussion about FF manufacturing the parts necessary to make more complete assemblies, but that never happened. So, apparently, a lot of what I have is just parts, not complete assemblies. However, just from my little bit of knowledge, I feel like a few more things can be put together.

Fourth: Now that this stuff is in my possession, it is not going to scrap. I have a lot going on in my life these days, and all of this Hi-E stuff is pretty low priority for me to do anything with right now. That being said, I don't mind getting parts to people, so if you see soemthing that you could use, send me a PM. I'm not interested in selling huge lots right now, as at some point in the future (perhaps this fall) I'd like to go through it all and see what exactly is there.

So, here are some pics................

Skewer wing nuts


Skewer axles

Hub end cap spacers of differing lengths

173 pounds of skewer axles

Pedal axles

Misc pedal parts

Pedal bearings

Pedal spacers and spring washers

Rear hub parts

hazetguy 

more pics

hazetguy 

more pics

hazetguy 

more pics

The Golden Boy 

Whoa.

curbtender

You has it now...I didn't know that Jeff was gone. Sorry to hear that. I had exchanged emails with him a few times. They close the museum?

unterhausen

My understanding was that they were going to sell off the contents of the museum. Not sure if that happened or if it was just a rumor.

sbarner 

Resurrecting this thread yet again. I have a Hi-E Hi-Lo hub with 14 holes on the non-drive side and 28 holes on the other. The most logical way to build it up is on a 28-hole rim, skipping every other hole on the drive side, but it seems to me I heard about Harlan making some special rims to go along with weird hub drillings. Can anyone shed light on that subject?

repechage

Maxi-Car beat them both by decades

halb 

Just stumbled on this old thread.
I bought a pair of Hi/E wheels in the early 70's, incl. his rims and radially spoked front wheel.
In the CT state road championship someone fell in front of me. I hit his bike, still attached to him (cleats, tight straps).
My front wheel collapsed, tearing out about 6 inches of rim. My PX10, went down onto the fork ends and bent top and down tubes.
I went to Peter Weigle, who had won the race, and he said it could be fixed, but wasn't worth doing.
I traded the HiE hubs toward replacement wheels, and they sat in the display cabinet of LBS for years.

hazetguy 

I'll update my portion of this thread.
Super long story, condensed: the Hi-E stuff I pictured came from First Flight/Mombat. They did not have an auction, Jeff's son was basically selling off what remained in an effort to essentially be done with it all. He sold some items on eBay and facebook, but a lot of it was sold in person. I happen to live a couple hours from where Mombat was, so it was relatively easy for me to make multiple trips to buy stuff (in quantity). A few other people bought stuff, but I feel like I wound up with a good portion of parts from there. Eventually, Jeff's son got rid of "everything" and moved out of NC.

Some of the Hi-E items pictured above were sold on eBay and here.
A good portion of the skewer rods and other misc skewer pieces are in Colorado, being put to use or being used for small run reproduction for mtb application.
About 99% of the remaining items I pictured above were sold and are in Massachussetts, again, being used or small run reproduction of things, with possible remaking of items in the future.
The "Hi-E unknown" chainrings are for Dan / Ed cranks, a fairly "rare" and "uncommon" lightweight manufacturer from eastern Pennsylvania, long out of business. I still have a large pile of them, but they are basically dead stock and I can't give them away.
I know that all the parts went to good homes, where they will at least have a chance of being used, rather than languishing in my basement (and it's really nice to have all that room again).
I did keep a few small bits and pieces as a reminder of the parts stash, and for "historical" purposes.