On the way home from the Cino ride I stopped by my parents to spend the night. My dad conveniently pulls out three wheels for me. The first is a set of Velocity clincher rims with a Campagnolo front hub and unknown rear hub. See the photo below. One question, though. The freewheel is currently a Sachs Aris 13-24 8 spd. I've heard the horrors of bent axles with the 8 spd freewheels and haven't ever run one. I have a fair amount of power in the legs (years of riding and heavy squats/leg presses) but only weigh around 170 pounds. What are the odds of bending the axle if I go with that freewheel for now.



The unknown rear hub - it's really smooth:



The other rim is a NOS Wolber GTX 2 clincher rim with a Matrix sealed hub. I've never heard of the Matrix hub. The rim is nice so I'll need to find a matching (at least in color) front rim.

I suspect those are Phil Wood style axles with a dropout adapter sleeve covering an oversized steel axle. The oversize axle is substantially more resistent to bending. Bent alxles are more a case of the wheels taking heavy impacts (i.e. rail lines, potholes, etc.) than rider power. At 170 lbs you're not light and this will be a factor in the impacts, unless you're off the saddle and try to unweight the wheels and/or absorb the impact with the knees and elbows.

Matrix was Trek's house brand of components.

Sweet dad!

If you need to regear the Sachs Aris, I can help out with cogs. The Aris is a very nice freewheel!

Nice spares. Good luck with that rear hub.... I think there was 20+ companies offering aftermarket sealed (cartridge) bearing hubs in the late '80s early '90s. Nuke Proof, Bullseye, Hershey, White (although like Phil I think they engraved their name) etc.

The Matrix is liely a rebranded Sueze or Sansin hub.

As T-Mar points out bending axles is more a surface and riding style issue. If your a smooth rider and don't ride over everything in your path you should be fine.

I remember the matrix hubs came on some models of Treks in the 80's. The unbranded one might be the same time period "Hi-E" hub (Cartridge bearing). Very similar to the early American Classic hubs.

Thanks. I'm running a couple of other Aris freewheels and really like them. I traded a 2-3 8 spd Aris freewheels my dad had given me in the past but I may try this one. As long as I don't take it on the Cino ride next year I should have any problems with bending the axle - most of my riding is paved country roads.

That looks like a Hi-E hub to me; they were high quality hubs. Lot of complaints about breaking axles with a 130mm rear as more of the axle was unsupported. Here's a discussion: https://sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html.

I've never had an issue with the longer axle required for 130 mm rear and a freewheel. I use a 7 speed freewheel (not an 8) and add spacers to the non freewheel side so that the length of unsupported axle is no greater on my 130 mm rear wheels than on my 126 mm wheels (and I redish the wheels for a stronger wheel). I have 2 bikes currently set up that way (including my daily commuter) and have never had an issue. By the way, I'm a big fan of sachs arise freewheels (and derailleurs too for that matter).