Narhay

I've got both of these laced to CR18 aluminum rims, a 1972 hub with 40 spoke holes and a 1977 hub with 36 spoke holes. I can't find much difference other than the hub shell. Both function fine.

Sometimes newer means cheaper and the old stuff was built to last. But sometimes newer means an improvement. Is there a difference and which would you keep?

mparker326

I would keep the 36 hole one because if something happened to your rim, a 36 hole rim is easier to find. The quality of the latter hubs is supposed to be worse than the earlier ones. But since both of these hubs are from the 70's, I doubt there is much difference.

rhm

+1. These hubs went through a series of minor improvements between 1936 and the late 50's. After that, changes from one year to the next were intended more to reduce the cost of manufacture than to improve the hub in any way. But between the years cited, the only difference I know is the number of spokes, and 36 is definitely easier to deal with since 40h rims are comparatively hard to find.

wahoonc

I have a pile of both. In the unlikely case one of my hubs were to fail internally all I would do would be to take the innards out and swap in another set. I do agree that 36 hole rims are easier to source in a wider variety of sizes and finishes.

Aaron