Bob:
If he had used Maxi-Car hubs, he wouldn't have had to worry about removing the freewheel!
Chris Beyer $0 today if we're lucky in Bloomfield, NJ
Ebbikes@aol.com wrote:
> I too have ridden Phil hubs continuously since 1975, when I built up my first
> set for my Bikecentennial ride in '76. They performed perfectly, and I rode
> those wheels for another 5 years or so. Until about 8 years ago, the hubs
> were three-piece, with a steel barrel and aluminum flanges. They changed the
> design of the flanges somewhere around 1980, from machined to cast aluminum,
> and the flanges on the threads started shearing off under pressure from the
> torque of the freewheel. I had it happen on my first mountain bike and my
> tandem, around 1981 or 2, and saw several others. But of course they always
> took care of them under warrantee, and eventually went back to a forged and
> machined design, with greater thread contact on the shell. The current
> design, with field-serviceable bearings in an all-forged aluminum shell, is
> by far the best, and I still recommend them wholeheartedly. I have never
> figured out why Campy, Shimano et al never made hubs this simple and
> reliable. Easily-contaminated greasy loose ball bearings - We've come a long
> way since then!
>
> On Bikecentennial, a friend of mine had a broken drive-side spoke outside
> Virginia City, MT, and I saw him on the side of the road trying to get his
> freewheel off without the help of the little cup that Phil provided to
> prevent extracting the axle. You guessed it, he extracted his axle and had
> to hitch in to West Yellowstone to buy a replacement wheel. Had I known then
> what I know now, I would have just tapped the axle back in and he would have
> been back on the road.
>
> By the way, for many years Phil sold QR's with Campy Record ends and their
> own stainless skewers. They can't get the Campy ends any more, but they
> still will provide the skewers. I built a near-symmetric 130-spaced Record
> HIgh-Flange (yes, 28-spoke) wheel a couple years ago for my "Retro" titanium
> bike so used the Phil skewer with a flat lever. You can get them in any
> length that QR hubs are made in.
>
> Bob Freeman