Hi there!

I mostly hang out in the SS&FG subforum but now I have a semi-MTB question.

Does anyone have extensive info/personal experience on the HBM-555 flangeless disc front hub? Weight, durability, any special issues about the funky spoke anchoring system? Also, when did Shimano make these? Also, can anyone confirm that this and other Shimano front hubs use a 9*1 mm axle?
Edit: I read somewhere that it can only be laced in one pattern, and the hub body says "directional design", whatever that means. I imagine it's meant for three cross, which is fine by me... There shouldn't be any problem with lacing it to a 700C rim, right?

I'm thinking about bolting a cog to the disc mount and making it a fixed gear rear hub. It would get quite a bit of drive torque in both directions, obviously, but I foresee no problems with that. I'm just 124 pounds and I can't stress it with my flimsy thighs quite like a 203mm disc brake can, anyway. I might have trouble finding adequately looong spokes, but that's another story.


Here's a pic of wht it looks like:



This may belong to the machanics forum, but I'm hoping that a couple of people with personal experience chime in here. Durability of spokes is my main concern.

If I remember right, those came out in 2002, maybe 2003. Yeah, I think it was 2003. The wierd design is so you could easily replace spokes. Trying to remember back to that Shimano tech presentation. I think 3 cross was the recommended pattern due to the spoke being pulled into the socket.

I can't speak of the durability issue. We never saw them on anything other than the demo wheel at the Shimano presentation.

Maybe others will have more info.

lofarkas,
are you sure that turning a cog bolted to where a front disc goes will turn the wheel with the same efficiency/reliability that a regular hub can? what's wrong with good, ol' fashioned cheep track hubs? it's likely that the thing will work, but i dont see how it'd be preferable to some cheep surly/iro/whatever hub.

I can't make sense of that. Care to rephrase? Efficiency? It'll be about 100.00%, I expect. The interface is designed for a LOT more stress than it will receive. You just can't pull/push as hard at it as a disc brake can. I mean, can you accelerate from 0 to 20 mph as fast as you can stop from 30 to 0? Not even 300HP cars can. so the hub won't twist or some such. Disc brakes are brutal mo-fo's. If it stands up to one, I'm golden.

As to reliability, if I drill the cog right and tighten down the bolts properly, it will be bombproof. Trust me, it will be around with the cockroaches after WW4. The spaced-out axle is the only weak point, but it's not too bad at all. The side-to-side stiffness and spoke life of the wheel will be superior to derailer wheels by a long way, cuz it will have close to zero dish.

The problem with regular track hubs is that they suck. The threaded interface with the lockring is just crap. If you don't take care of it, it strips. If any of the 3 threaded parts is not good quality, it will still strip even if you yourself don't mess up. Also, they aren't cheap, and they are not available here. Only Miche is (maybe), They are also heavy with those silly high flanges. Plus the chainline on track hubs and the spacing are not exactly flexible. I have a 130 frame but may go to a 120. The Miche can handle this, but it still has a 42 chainline, which won't change unless you respace and redish. With the bolt-on system, I just slap on a wide-foot SS cassette cog if I need a wider chainline. Also, I prefer the look and the whole home-made vibe. A good couple of people have done this, all with success. Plus, on a track hub you need special tools to swap cogs. With bolt-on, your multitool is easily enough.
The Miche hub costs $56 here, three times the price of this Shimano (Local prices, both new from a shop.) That means that I get a stronger, lighter, more flexible and more unique hub setup and money left over for butted spokes instead of straight, plus money for the rim. Who wants a track hub???

Please keep the info coming if you have it. The design was discontinued, but I don't know why. If there was a flaw in it, eg. spokes kept breaking, then I don't want one, much as I like the looks. I'd like to know how much it weighs, too. I expect it has just the same guts (axle, bearings, cones) as other Shimano hubs from 2000-2006, but confirmation of that would be great.

Thanks, a2psyklnut.

i run a standard track hub, fixed/fixed, and it's never been a problem for me. as for the front hub you've mentioned, i just tend to worry b/c it isnt intended to be a drive hub, and i wouldnt want to run quick releases or the allen-bolt q/r conversions on my track bike. i like to bolt things down properly. still, if you intend to do this, i'd like to hear about how it works. we have one of those hubs sitting around the shop i work at, and it's been there for a while. i've never heard anything, negative or positive, about those hubs, but heavy, conventional things like flanges and such make a luddite like me feel a wee bit more comfortable.
-rob

Those hubs work great. I have a set of them laced to Sun CR18 rims (36h, 700c) that I use as a bang-up wheelset on my 29er.

The hubs are tanks, but they are strong, and I have had no spoke issues at all. On other hubs of this design (mavic crossmax/ksyrium) I have had issues of spokes popping out of their slot under extreme side loads, but not with these.

You are right, the axle is a 9x1mm which might cause an issue with the dropouts of your bike being made for 10mm. I think you could conceivably find a set of newer XT cones and run a 10mm axle like XT front hubs use, and the cone set from one, to be compatible with the smaller bearings Shimano front hubs use, and it would make a fine track hub.

Plus, your use of 6-bolt ISO mounting is FAR superior to track threads, you are right!

Thanks, velotimbe! BF is such a resource... Don't you happen to know what sort of "flange" dimensions it has with regards to spoke length? It'll obviously need pretty long spokes, and that seems like the biggest problem right now. Plus I'm a weight weenie and this thing is pretty heavy... but I still don't know quite how heavy.

I don't want to do a conversion to 10 mm at all. The plan is to find a 9*1 axle that's long enough for my 130 dropouts, put on 30mm worth of spacers and bolt it on. I'm pretty light (124) and ride with good technique so I don't smash into things. Even spaced out, a 9mm axle should be fine. No quick release though, of course. (The 9 axle is even helpful, cuz my frame has semi-vertical dropouts so it gives me a bit more leeway for chain tensioning. Yeah, this is a hack build of sorts, but who cares. It rides perfect.)

Surreal: of course, you can do this with any Shimano disc front hub easily. (Shimano is preferable because it seems to be the only available affordable disc hub that has a standard threaded axle that you can get in the desired length) I just like the look of this flangeless thing, and I can maybe get one cheap. Ironically, mine is going to be about the only rear wheel that doesn't benefit from the design... I can pop the cog off any time with an allen wrench if I need to change a spoke anyway.

I didn't come here to debate the practicality of a build like this. I'm super confident that it is bompproof to the point of being indestructible, unless I f**k up the axle swap or the cog drilling. I came here for flangeless hub testimonials.

Again, much as it would flatter me, this is not my revolutionary idea. It has worked for a couple of people already. Dennis-Bean Larson at fixedgfeargallery.com is one. Boone even make super-sexy high dollar Titanium cogs specifically for bolting onto ISO disc hubs. If you start out with a SS disc hub, you get a flipflop with a coaster/fixed option.