Bob doesn't mention that the Harden Hubs are also a great aesthetic design. The pictures are nice <http://www.classicrendezvous.com/British/Harden.htm>, but you have to hold them in your hands to really appreciate them. Ahem.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch, NJ
<heine93@earthlink.net> Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 6:49 PM Subject: Re: [CR]British hubs
> Jan wrote ;
>
> > But what about British hubs? Airlite, Harden, etc. Which are best and
> > why? What made them special? I have heard great things about them
> > through the grapevine, but never used them.
> >
> IMHO of course !
>
> Both of course from the post WWII era, the best annular bearing hub, has
to
> have been the original Harden, and best conventional cup & cone hub, the
> Duralite by Blumfield, at a time when Tullio was still pushing steel
barrels
> and alloy flanges.
>
> Why ?
>
> Hardens (by The Harden Tool & Gauge Co.) circa 1945 to the mid 50s ? for a
> simple and very effective approach to the application of annular bearings
to
> conventional hubs. The bearings were an interference fit into the all
> alluminium-alloy shell over a high quality steel spindle. Of particular
note
> were the alloy dust caps not only providing some pre-load on the bearings
> but also revolving with the spindle in a close tolerance recess in the hub
> and providing an excellent seal against water ingress. Someone mentioned
> earlier that they were fitted with oil nipples. For once however, these
were
> actually Tecalemit fittings intended by Hardens for lubricating the hubs
> with grease only. (Anything else originally voided the warranty).
> Originally they were supplied undrilled with plain large flanges, but were
> later supplied drilled, and also in a small flange version. There was a
cup
> & cone version - the 'Flywate' (sp?) that looked similar however these
were
> no better than the tradtional products from the likes of British Hub or
> Bayliss, Wiley, and of course at a much reduced cost.
>
> T.F.Blumfields 'Duralite' hubs were the high-end of traditional cup & cone
> bearing hubs in the post war period, and were available in small and large
> flange versions. Provided with high quality Dural shells, they had almost
> bulletproof profiled high-quality steel spindles and felt oil seals behind
> the dust caps, the finish and performance of these hubs is way beyond that
> of similar hubs of the period. Blumfields are maybe better known for their
> motorcycle components in particular gear cases, but like Hardens where
cycle
> components were not their core business, they appear to have taken a fresh
> look at the inherent problems of the traditional hub.
>
> British Hub & Bayliss and Wiley produced lovely looking hubs -
particularly
> the large flange models, but they were the Shimano of the post-war era UK
> cycle industry. Their products were well made and competent and very
widely
> used, but probably this had more to do with them being the defacto
> "standard" on the the archetypal 'club' machine, and clever marketing.
>
> Bob Reid
> Stonehaven
> Scotland