Recommendation for strongest rear wheel

[Raph]

Raph
Glad you got sorted,I think you'll find atleast the rim and spokes will do the job very well,I've no experience of Hope hubs though except for friend of ours who had 40 spoke Hope Big 'Un's on his new tandem,he had nothing but trouble with them.Thats not to say all hope hubs are bad but his were aweful.

Maybe I've been lucky with Hope then, I've had nothing but total reliability so far with 4 ti-glides and various fronts between me and "er indoors" - tho always useful to know of other (different) experiences. Maybe I'll steer clear of the tandem Big'uns. It would be useful to know what the problems were that your mate had - was it anything like cracked shells or bent axles? The first Ti-glide I bought had rather dainty flanges and the drive side split - they immediately sent me a replacement shell with no quibbles and it's been superb ever since - bearings still perfect. All the others similarly excellent, even the ones in constant use over 20 years have only had one or two bearings replaced ever.

This new pro 3 mono is a quite a different design internally - hopefully as reliable... fingers crossed.

[reohn2]

Raph
Glad you got sorted,I think you'll find atleast the rim and spokes will do the job very well,I've no experience of Hope hubs though except for friend of ours who had 40 spoke Hope Big 'Un's on his new tandem,he had nothing but trouble with them.Thats not to say all hope hubs are bad but his were aweful.

Maybe I've been lucky with Hope then, I've had nothing but total reliability so far with 4 ti-glides and various fronts between me and "er indoors" - tho always useful to know of other (different) experiences. Maybe I'll steer clear of the tandem Big'uns. It would be useful to know what the problems were that your mate had - was it anything like cracked shells or bent axles? The first Ti-glide I bought had rather dainty flanges and the drive side split - they immediately sent me a replacement shell with no quibbles and it's been superb ever since - bearings still perfect. All the others similarly excellent, even the ones in constant use over 20 years have only had one or two bearings replaced ever.

This new pro 3 mono is a quite a different design internally - hopefully as reliable... fingers crossed.

His problems were premature bearing wear and clicking noises that he couldn't seem to get to the bottom of,it got at bit embarassing at at times the clicking was so loud

[lucotto8]

I've swapped Shimano freehubs between hubs a couple of times. They seem to be generally compatible between hubs but the sealing ring
seems to be specific to the hub so you might need to swap this between freehubs. Morningstar used to make a J tool for removing
this seal ring but it isn't available any more. I made my own from a 4" nail which made the job much easier:
Freehub_dustshield_remover.JPG
N.b. The nail was impossible to file/cut until I heated it up on a red hot electric ring to anneal it.

I also discovered 28mm o.d. pipe is the ideal size for pushing the seal ring into place. Unless you have
some lying around the cheapest source I found was a 28mm end feed reducer:
Wickes 28mm adapters
Cut this down so the seal ring is at the correct level when the bit of copper pipe pushing the seal ring is flush with the top of the freehub.

Thank you very much for this very useful post, but how do you actually use the "J" tool? Cheers

[dim]

https://astralcycling.com/products/leviathan-tandem and it's tubeless ready

https://phil-wood-co.myshopify.com/collections/track-hub-parts/products/rear-11-speed-touring-hub-135mm-spacing-shimano-compatible-classic-model?variant=6191539524

my post is a bit late .... but thats what I would have looked at

[RJC]

Thank you very much for this very useful post, but how do you actually use the "J" tool? Cheers

Use this as a lever to push the dustcap off the freehub

[lucotto8]

Thanks a lot.

You "hook" it from the drive side, right ?
And to push it back into place with the 28mm pipe do you press it down from the same side or do I need to turn around the shell and press it from the hub (inner) side?

Do you happen to have a sketch/diagram of the "J" tool you made? I guess it is important to built it right so that the lip engages the inside edge of the dust shield in a snug fit. Cheers

[Brucey]

the design/construction of the dustcap/seal in the RHS of a freehub body varies considerably from one to another; there is no 'one size fits all' tool for removing them. Often prying at the seal (by whatever means) will just deform it. I have a couple of top tips;

1) if you are dealing with a shimano pressed steel dustcap the best way of removing it is to get a smaller diameter piece of tube (eg a steel handlebar offcut) and first drive the dustcap further inwards. This causes the dustcap to deform in such a way as it becomes less tight in the freehub body, so that it can be more easily removed. If you don't do this then a significant proportion of such dustcaps snag on the screw threads and won't come out of the freehub body without getting mangled, regardless of the tool that you use. The dustcap can be reflared (e.g. using a socket with the correct diameter/corner radius) before it is refitted.

2) If the dustcap needs to be replaced there is a shimano part (costs little) that fits many freehub bodies and provided an efficient seal onto a ~17mm diameter cone. eg. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spares/shimano-fhm495a-rear-right-seal-ring-y3cr08000/ Because it is rubbery on the OD it is usually an easy push-fit into the freehub body and therefore both remains snug in service and can usually be removed without too much difficulty.

cheers

[lucotto8]

Thank you for the advice. I will get a couple of those replacement seals in case i damage mine and can't refit it properly.
But i'd still like to have a go at trying to make that hook-like tool. I like the idea behind it and it may be fun as well. Cheers

[slowster]

I've swapped Shimano freehubs between hubs a couple of times. They seem to be generally compatible between hubs but the sealing ring
seems to be specific to the hub so you might need to swap this between freehubs.

I'm confused. I thought that when swapping freehubs between different models of Shimano hubs, the solution to this issue would be to swap the drive side cone assembly as well.

[Sweep]

Sputniks are now called Exal SP19
Willem

Can someone confirm this?
Exactly the same?

[Sweep]

You can have the strongest wheel in the world, but if it's shod with a narrow tyre for the rim width (Sputnik is 19mm internal width), then with the loads envisaged I would think that the tyres are going to be vulnerable to side wall damage and possibly pinch punctures. Even the rims (brake tracks) will be more vulnerable to denting and scratching, not being protected by the narrower tyres as effectively as wider tyres.

r.

Out of interest, what's the narrowest tyre you would put on a 19 inch internal width rim?

[Brucey]

Sputniks are now called Exal SP19
Willem

Can someone confirm this?
Exactly the same?

similar...? -yes, very
identical...? -not quite





The reason for the similarity is not because one is a copy of the other so much as that both are based on a much older Alesa rim (I forget which, could it have been the 'explorer' model?). When Alesa was sold, it was not a clear sale, lock stock and barrel, more like a messy divorce, in which the assets were divided between at least two parties. So (in simple terms) parts of Alesa were continued under 'Rigida' (later Ryde) ownership and other parts were continued entirely separately under 'Exal' (Ex- Alesa, geddit...?) branding, in an alliance with Schurmann amongst others I think.

The net result is that both organisations make several rims which owe more than a passing similarity to one another. In addition there are Weinmann branded rims and I'm not sure how they fit into the picture, but there are weinmann models that are dead ringers too, some even with the same names eg you can get a model called ZAC-19 from more than one maker and they are very similar to one another.


Anyway SP19 and Sputnik are not the same, not (AFAICT) made in the same factory and differ a tiny bit in weight and (probably) tolerances too. The most obvious difference (apart from the sticker) is that the SP19 has an external wear indicator groove and the sputnik has an internal (breakthrough) type. I think you could re-rim wheels with either rim interchangeably, and I have used them to re-rim wheels built with the older Alesa branded rims too.

cheers

[Sweep]

Thanks as always for the reply brucey.
Sorry if being thick, got hold of the wrong end of the stick - are you saying the zac19 bears more than a passing resemblance to the sputnik as well? I ask as i got a wheel with that rim recently from Taylor Wheels.

[Brucey]

Thanks as always for the reply brucey.
Sorry if being thick, got hold of the wrong end of the stick - are you saying the zac19 bears more than a passing resemblance to the sputnik as well? I ask as i got a wheel with that rim recently from Taylor Wheels.

no, I am not saying that. I am saying that it is one of several different rim types that you can buy that are similar to one another from several different manufacturers. I didn't say it was similar to the Sputnik; a glance will tell you otherwise so you should be in no doubt about this. Most ZAC-19 versions (over time and from different makers) are about 100g lighter than a sputnik and have a different shape too.

cheers

[Sweep]

Thanks as always for the reply brucey.
Sorry if being thick, got hold of the wrong end of the stick - are you saying the zac19 bears more than a passing resemblance to the sputnik as well? I ask as i got a wheel with that rim recently from Taylor Wheels.

no, I am not saying that. I am saying that it is one of several different rim types that you can buy that are similar to one another from several different manufacturers. I didn't say it was similar to the Sputnik; a glance will tell you otherwise so you should be in no doubt about this. Most ZAC-19 versions (over time and from different makers) are about 100g lighter than a sputnik and have a different shape too.

cheers

Thanks for clarification/confirming.
I do indeed seem to remember weighing the zac and, comparing it to a sputnik, finding it significantly lighter - which was fine and dandy for the bike i wanted it for.