ti or not ti
 

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=308431http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=308432http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=308433http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=308434I picked up a rear wheel because it looked nice and clean and was campy. When I took off the cassette and inspected it more closely, I'm thinking this has never seen the road. It's an 8sp record hub with I think an alloy body. I used a magnet as a test and it sticks lightly on the splines but sticks more in the valleys. Is it attracted to the pawls inside? And the same thing with the axle. It barely sticks on the end but as it slides toward the locknut it sticks very strongly on the locknut. Could it be a ti axle? Then the body has equal splines, so pre-exa drive?

The cassette has a campy lockring, steel. But the cogs have no markings whatsoever. And they are splined as though they could go on multiple-shaped bodies. The whole thing, cogs, spacers and lockring weighs 170g, so ti cogs? Who made an aftermarket ti cassette?

And I love the spokes. They're aluminum and aero from an old German company called "Union".

So I'm thinking this was somebody's very good vintage weight weenie rear wheel. I'm also thinking this is waaaay to nice for anything I own.

If anyone has any pertinent knowledge on this thing, I'd be much obliged. --Greg

I think your spokes are ti also. Aluminum spokes are quite large.

If the axle is Ti, be careful on the skewer force. Those axles can flex inside under too much pressure, bind a bit.

How much does the wheel weigh?

An 8 speed freehub with these features should be a 1996. Campagnolo went of a massive weight reduction campaign with Record that year and then went 9 speed the following year. According to company literature they reduced the freehub weight by a staggering 238 grams! The outer, cassette carrier of the freewheel mechanism was machined in aluminum while the inner body was made of titanium. They also went to titanium cogs that year, so that is probably an OEM Ti cassette. They stated there were additonal Ti "bits" in the hub but don't detail them.

Thanks for all the help. I never thought that the spokes could be ti too. And I did not know of the potential dangers of ti axles. The only scale I have only goes to 1k so I'll bring it to the lbs this weekend. I've been tempted to take off the locknuts to find a stamped spacer or something but I really don't want to mess with it. I'll keep researching and post what I've found. And please keep the info coming!

Update. The wheel w/o skewer is 935g. The regular record skewer is almost 100g by itself. The tube is some sort of pink butyl thing. Very light and flexible. The tire is an old michelin 20c, very cool but cracking on the sides.

As far as I can tell, and the lbs confirmed, it does have an alloy body, ti axle and ti bladed spokes. Someone spent $$$ building this.

The cassette is probably Action Tec or SRP. It's got an unusual spline pattern and I wonder if it would fit on 8 and 9s hubs.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with it!

Find it's brother?

The cassette is probably specific to those campy freehubs. The tube is probably latex not butyl, but I could be wrong. Sweet wheel.

Bladed spokes would not likely be Ti, in my experience (very limited).
And actually, once rolling, it doesn't matter what the spokes are, if they work.
Ti spokes are somewhat more prone to breakageonly from what I've been told.
I bought a wheel with them; the seller told me it was "when," not "if" they would break. None did.

Shimano played a little with Ti parts around the 9-sp era, too.