[CR]overhauling campy hubs, or not

(Example: Framebuilders:Bernard Carré)

From: <RDF1249@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 23:55:33 EDT
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]overhauling campy hubs, or not

David Snyder writes:
> What symptom prompted the "need to overhaul" and the
> "necessity" to purge a Campy hub?
>
> I've ridden Record hubs for 15-20 years, with no symptom of any kind
> prompting me to do any service.
> If water gets in there, the hub's toast and needs parts, but in practice
> under normal varied conditions I've very seldom had this happen despise
> frequent delicate spray-offs with a garden hose.

You're kidding, right? If you use them, Campy hubs get contaminated from dirt and water getting in from the outside and will wear out in a hurry if not overhauled. It is like not ever changing the oil in your car. It will run fine until the day the engine siezes. Why ruin a fine hub by not maintaining it? I have a lot of Campy hubs. Some only get taken out on occasional rides and some get used a lot. Those I overhaul at least once a year because they really need it. The ones that only get used occasionally still need overhaul once in awhile because the grease turns to cardboard eventually. I have one set of "show" wheels built on the mid-70s Schwinn redrilled hubs that I built up about 1978 and have never ridden. I had to overhaul them last year because I could not even turn the axles any more. The grease had totally dried out and was hard to clean out of the hubs.

In and interesting comparison, I have a set of 30s FB hubs (Fratelli Brivio, the original maker of Campy hubs, see them at http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/FB-hubs_RF.htm), NOS in their original packing, that were lubed with some kind of heavy oil. They are still glassy smooth running. I will build them up and use as is. Would like to know what that oil is.

Bob Freeman
Seattle