Unusual Shimano Hub

[DaveP]

This is a Deore FH M555.I believe it is about 10 years old, so doesnt get a mention on the Shimano site.
The innards are conventional cup and cone, its the spoke attachment that is unusual.
It failed to supplant the traditional flanged hub so, presumably there was a problem with the design. Does anyone know what?
Would it be reasonable to view it as an ancestor of the radial spoked hub?

[gaz]

A quick google suggests that these hubs still use traditional spokes rather than straight pull. As such I can only see a light advantage in that it may be easier to change a single broken spoke by hand, especially cassette side than conventional flanged spokes.

That said I'd imagine that the machine-built cycle wheel industry has invested a lot of money in machinery to build up wheels on conventional flanged hubs. Perhaps they did not like this Shimano attempt to reinvent the wheel.

Just a guess, nothing more.

[andrew_s]

I'd guess that they were abandoned because the width of the spoke attachment was incompatible with 8/9/10 speed cassettes, with the inside spokes getting too close to the centre of the wheel.

[DaveP]

Gaz
If you've found out something by Googling you've done better than I did!
Yes, they do use standard spokes. The only relation to radial spoked wheels I was thinking of was simply that the spokes pull on the thickness of the shell rather than against the depth of a flange. I'm actually wondering if the lack of a flange amounts to a lack of reinforcement.

Andrew
This is actually an 8 speed wheel - Apologies for not making that plain.
I do agree that there is a much bigger "gap" between inside and outside spokes than you get on a conventional hub. Unlikely to be a good thing, I reckon

[531colin]

They could be a pain to build, unless there is something that holds the spokes in those "slots like Kermit's eyes".....until you get some tension on...?

The spoke slots are in a structural aluminium hub shell....there must be some kind of sleeve inside, otherwise the inside of the hub is open to the elements...I'm trying to visualise how the freewheel body would mount, and the nearside bearing, and I'm not getting very far......Perhaps its a double shell, the inner shell holds freewheel body bolt, nearside bearing, outer shell holds the spokes.....then what about the disc mount?

Perhaps the whole thing was just too expensive/complex.....or just too different?