BostonFixed

Chuck- another thing about the shipping.
Priority mail shipping costs are based on weight and distance. The nyc bikes wheel set shipping cost from NYC to boston was about $14.
I plugged in a CA zip code(90210), and the shipping costs went up to $24. The shipping costs DEFINITLEY depends on where you are in the country.

BlastRadius

Machine built at a big giant factory in the Far East I'd imagine.

Rev.Chuck

That is true, we(my wife does all the grunt work) just figure the max cost and list it becuase it is easier and most of the stuff we ship is small and goes flat rate anyway. We are going to have to change that I see.

"Are wheel building machines expensive? I don't see how it would be economical for bensbike to use one, unless they were really cheap...."
The machine is pretty exspensive, but there are several places that have their wheels machine laced and rough tensioned, by another vendor, which is about all most wheel machines do and then they are finished by hand. The quality is lower and some thing a wheel machine won't do. I have seen quite a few wheels done this way that were not even brought up to full tension. I presume this is because the wheel was pretty straight and these guys often do no stress relieving or radial truing. This is based on comparison to the many thousands of machine built wheels I have had to clean up coming from our bike dealers and wholesalers. Man, nobody wants my $700 Campy wheels :0

BostonFixed

Nope, bensbike wheel's are "professionally handbuilt"
here is the text of one of their ebay listings:

"A great set of wheels for your fixed-gear or track bike.**Professionally Hand-Built!* 32-hole*High-Flange Hubs are*laced 3-cross to*Alex DV15*700c clincher rims.**Formula hubs have real smoooth sealed-cartridge bearings, large flanges with cut-outs, and real track nuts to keep them secure.* Rear hub is flip/flop and is threaded Fix/Free - meaning you can put a fixed cog (and lockring)* on one side and a Freewheel on the other. Rims are*Black*with machined sidewalls*and are made from 6061-T6 alloy.* Rear is spaced at 120mm / front is 100mm. "

EDIT: Even their lowest cost wheels (suzue basic/velocity aerohead) are handbuilt. $150 BIN, $25 shipping.

Rev.Chuck

This is not to say that some of those that claim handbuilt are fibbing some*, but often wheels touted as handbuilt are handfinished. Quality, I believe, does their wheels this way. Machine roughed, hand finished. But production line work is not the same as hand work.

* Heck, that is my claim, I need an inset shot of me in my shop slaving away

icithecat

Yikes. Track components are built for a max load of 150lbs. The columbus tubing on my Moser says 150lbs max. That is a road race frame.
Next you will coplain that mavic krysium wheelsets are crap.

BostonFixed

Skeptic. If you are sekptical of bensbike wheels, then many others can be skeptical of your wheels, as you both make the same 'handbuilt' claims!

dolface

i don't think it's so much that nobody wants them as it is that none of us can afford them , at least i know i cant...

Rev.Chuck

Exactly true, which is why I try hard not to talk **** about other peoples work.

skitbraviking

Thanks for the tip. Good to know.

Rev.Chuck

"i don't think it's so much that nobody wants them as it is that none of us can afford them , at least i know i cant..."
I need to find that comprimise between price and quality. It is much easier when someone comes up and wants X to be built. Even educated guessing can be tough on the wallet. Oh well if no one picks up the wheels I have up now I will build up a road single for my wife. Already have a tcr frame and profile fork, just need bars, cranks and a singulator.

cavit8

Not to take the thread too far off topic, but you stripped a cog off the hub body? Did the cog come off while you were riding? I have basics and have to rebuild them every couple of months, but ripping a properly seated cog through the threads seems a little unusual to me. I've pretty much given up hope of getting my cog off this hub, but I can't imagine it stripping, 300 lbs or no...

BostonFixed

By my count, you have bagged on quality bike parts' wheels, NYC bikes' wheels and also ben's bikes' wheels.

BostonFixed

You mean ON topic!

Rev.Chuck

Oh no, no, no. Didn't say anything about Bens. I said NYbikes uses an unbranded hub(They don't mention brand and it has no visible label) and straight guage spokes (They do) I said Quality used a wheel lacing machine, they did, There is a picture of it in the 2003 catalog And I said lots of larger suppliers use a wheel lacer or have wheels laced and then hand finish them.
I Did say I do better work( I do better work than most.)

It is topic evolution. Like a fish on a bike.

cavit8

Not enough iron in my irony, evidently

Ceya

Back to the topic about the Suzue hub



S/F,
CEYA!

chrisgraham81

What method do you all use to overhaul a suzue?

I repacked a friends rear wheel yesterday and i relized it was missing a bearring on the track specific side of the hub (she rides ss). After i smothered it in grease the wheel was still pretty gritty feelling. Where can i get a replacement bearing?

After i replace the bearing, what else is done to tune it up properly?

Ceya

adjusting the cones properly, is the most missed peice of the puzzle.

S/F,
CEYA!

chrisgraham81

Yeah, after doing a search, i think that was my problem.

Rev.Chuck

When you pull the hub apart, clean off the cone and race and look close for any pitting. If the cone is pitted you can replace it. If the race is pitted you are out of luck but you can still stick it back togethr set it up just a little loose and keep on riding it. You can loose ball bearings from a bike shop and probably places like Granger, Granger would want to sell you 500 tho.

2speedfiend

You can go into Ben's Cycles (bensbike) just about anyday and you'll see at least one person lacing up wheels. All their wheels listed as hand-built are that - HAND BUILT - No machines involved at all.

mcatano

I've got a question: what's the difference between the low-flange SIW hubs that NYC BIkes sell and the more ubiquitous high-flange Suzue Basic/Jr? I've been riding an SIW hard for 6 or 7 months now and it has held up great. It's been out in the salt, slush and crud of our harsh maritime winter everyday for the past few months and no signs of disaster. This hub is cheaper than the Suzue Basic... any ideas?

Also, am I correct that SIW = Suzue Industrial Works?

m.

BlastRadius

The SIW hub has a steel body vs and aluminum hub with the Basics.

thechamp

back to the origional post, what we need is some 300 lb guys testing level hubs. no threads to strip. Maybe the company needs a couple of big testers, maybe they'd give you a good deal.

As for high quality wheels sold on ebay, anyone who is gonna pay $500 plus for a set of wheels is going to do so locally for practical purposes, ie included adjustments, warrantee work. No offense rev, but there's guys in every town who, when paid to do so, do all the things that make your wheels so special and they build just as nice a wheel.
Open markets generally do not favor quality, you're competing with the wrong sort of people when you compete on ebay. I'm not saying they're dishonest or that they are all low quality builds but everyone shopping for stock wheels on ebay is doing so for one reason - to get the cheapest possible price on the hub/rim combo they want. Your fine handbuilding, that you deservedly want to be compensated for, is unimportant to them and they will not pay for it. You can build wheels for this market but you can't make money at it unless you can possibly (through volume pricing) bring down your materials cost.