which fixed gear hub?

dan_s said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

thanks
dan

i'd go for one with sealed bearings if you're riding in the wet. suzue
do make a sealed bearing hub, but the majority of their hubs are
traditional cup & cone and they offer no defense against wet/grit
intrusion. unlike most sealed bearing hubs which use an ordinary deep
groove cartridge, the bearings on the surly are angular contact which
offer the same theoretical benefits as cup & cone, only with more
precision & better seals. in practice however, ordinary deep groove are
just dandy. and deep groove are cheaper when it comes to bearing
replacement. no need to spend too much on the hub unless you want prestige.

other than that, fixed wheels are easy to build, easy to maintain &
great fun to ride. don't get your finger or any clothing caught in the
chain.

On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 00:23:17 +0300, dan_s <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

thanks
dan

I'd look at Goldtec http://www.goldtec-cycles.co.uk/trackhubs.htm
which is about 25% more expensive than Suzue Promax sealed bearing
here, but it's the bike messengers' first choice hub in London. Lovely
hub, and it's double sided/double fixed, unlike the Suzue which
doesn't seem to have a lockring thread on the "other" side

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary

dan_s said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

Never heard of Star, I think Surley are 135mm, but the Promax Suzue is
tremendous as are Phil Wood.

Kinky Cowboy said:

On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 00:23:17 +0300, dan_s <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

thanks
dan

I'd look at Goldtec http://www.goldtec-cycles.co.uk/trackhubs.htm
which is about 25% more expensive than Suzue Promax sealed bearing
here, but it's the bike messengers' first choice hub in London. Lovely
hub, and it's double sided/double fixed, unlike the Suzue which
doesn't seem to have a lockring thread on the "other" side

Also Phil Wood, also about 25% more expensive and any combo you wish,
fix-fix, fix-free, free-free, single sided, etc.

http://www.irocycle.com/id67.html

$105 for a complete wheel with cartridge bearings ... can't be beat
anywhere.

I've got 2000 miles on mine right now with zero problems.

J.

"dan_s" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

thanks
dan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email hidden]>,

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

dan_s said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

Never heard of Star, I think Surley are 135mm, but the Promax Suzue is
tremendous as are Phil Wood.

_ Surly makes "New Track" hub with 2 sided lock ring setups
and 120mm( or whatever you want with spacers, the axle
is plenty long enough. )

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed-hubs.html#surly

_ In addition they also make a MTB style single speed hub with
fixed/free ( or free/free) threading and 135mm spacing.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/singlespeed.html#hubs

_ I have both and have had no problems with either hub,
however having said that it's hard to imagine much that
could go wrong with that kind of hub.

The other low budget option seems to be Formula hubs, but
I have no idea whether they hold up or not.

http://tinyurl.com/dqeto

_ If that url doesn't work try searching for Ben's Bike
on Ebay.

_ Booker C. Bense

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"Deliberandum est diu, quod statuendum semel." - Syrus
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 00:23:17 +0300, dan_s <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.
at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide.
please tell me your opinion and experience about ease of assembly,
action and reliability with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

While it's good to elicit hub recommendations, be mindful that not all
road frames will readily accommodate drivetrains that conform to the
common track chainline standard (~43 mm).

While hubs for designed for track racing normally fall within a narrow
window of specifications, the hubs for some fixed-gear and singlespeed
applications come in a vexing variety of chainline standards. I
suggest you defer actually acquiring the hub until you have the
candidate frame and its optimum chainline can be determined. You can
then select from the menu of hubs that are configured consistently
with the needs of your particular frame (and/or those that can be
modified to fit).

-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Comprehensive catalogue of track equipment: online since 1996.
http://www.businesscycles.com

dan_s said:

at my price range possible candidates are surly, suzue promax, and star
rear hubs. preferably 32holes and 120mm wide. please tell me your
opinion and experience about ease of assembly, action and reliability
with rear fixed hubs. which would you recommend?

I've got a pair of the Miche Primato hubs that I absolutely love They're
single-sided fixed, but they are smoother than the old Suzue I had.

Sealed-cartridge is definitely the way to go for transportation cycling
(the only real cycling, if you ask me).

I bought mine in one of my fair city's (Portland, Oregon's) fine bicycle
establishments, but they're exactly like the ones here:
<URL: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.aspx?ProdID=5360008116& >

No trouble with the chainline on my old japanese road frame and my Sugino
GP cranks (using the inner chainring and short stack bolts).

The only weird thing about the hub is the 14mm track nuts and non-Dura Ace
compatible lockring. But they ride like butter, are built like tanks, and
look like magic.

EK

dan_s said:

for my first ever fixie, looking for a suitable rear hub. to be used
with a road frame (havn't bought one yet), riding mostly in the city and
in the wet too.

Fenders? --D-y