I just purchased a new set of (old stock) Dura Ace 7801 non-carbon wheels. On receiving the wheels found the front wheel hub to show as DA 7801. The back hub however says DA 7800 on the (I believe it is) the left side locknut. Is this normal or is it an early version of the 7801 wheelset? could they be mismatched. I've researched this w/o alot of luck. Can anyone help with this? It would be greatly appreciated as I need to return these if there is a problem w/ the wheelset.
FWIW. I can't say for sure, but I do NOT think you should worry about what you perceive to be a mismatch ...
about a decade ago, I had a set of Ksyrium SSC wheels ... it was apparently produced at the end of the production run because the rear wheel weighed what the subsequent SSC SL rear wheel was spec'd to weigh. Simply put, specs change.
Sight unseen (of your rear wheel), MY speculation is that the difference between a 7800 rear wheel & a 7801 rear wheel is the shape of the splines on the Freehub body (but, maybe not!?!) where the 7800 Freehub was considered to be "proprietary" and the 7801 Freehub would have been Shimano's concession to product line continuity and whose splines would have been the "same" as found on a standard Shimano rear hub ...
Presuming that your labeled-as-WH7800 rear wheel was updated with a WH7801-or-equivalent Freehub body onto which a 9-speed cassette can be sleeved, then you should consider yourself good-to-go.
Actually I talked to Shimano about this. The Dura Ace 7801 wheels (silver) came with a 7800 rear hub & a 7801 front hub. The DA 7801 SL (black) came w/ 7801 hub front & back. The difference is the 7801 silver DA's are 10-spd Shimano-only compatible. The DA 7801 SL black wheels are also in addition SRAM compatible.
Thanks for your replies. I hope this helps others needing this info. I should have called Shimano right away but no Ph #, just their tech docs. Got the phone # from a LBS I frequent.
