Jerry Moos wrote:
I recently obtained form another list member a Hi-Lo Hi-E rear hub. Another delightfully weird bit from the demented mind of Harlan Meyers. This makes the Campy Hi--Lo hub look commonplace by comparison.
The non-drive side has a more-or-less conventional low flange with 18 spoke holes. The drive side, however, is a large flage with 24 spoke holes. Further, the 24 holes are not symmetrical, but have groups of three holes alternating with a lone hole.
Anyone have a clue what sort of rim this needed or how to spoke it? Don't suppose anyone has one for sale? Is there any way to spoke this onto any sane rim, perhaps by skipping some holes on a 48 hole rims? ++++++++++++++++++ Well, Jerry, you just don't pick your list members well. :-) At T-town, Joe B-Z was gracious enough to sell me a different Hi-E Hi-Lo. This one is easy: 16 on the left, 32 on the right, so an every-day 48 hole rim will do fine.
I don't think Harlan Meyer should be described as demented, but as uberlogical, carrying things to the logical extreme. In this case, in the era of 5- and 6-speed hubs, as a rough rule the left spokes had 1/2 the tension of the right ones. Rights always tensioned to almost the breaking point, lefts almost loose. Use a 2:1 right:left spoke count ratio, and the tensions balance out.
The 16/24 => 42 hole was a variant. As I recall it, the middle spoke of each set of 3 on the right is radial, and the other two can be cross 1, 2, 3, or whatever matches what you got. So at the (48 hole) rim you wind up with right-left-right-left-right-skip hole-right-left-right-left-right. Lefts are radial, of course, and 2 lefts balance the tension of 3 right side spokes. Why, as my old math prof would have said (damn him!), "it is intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer." (This usually said when he couldn't remember the proof, and wanted to forge ahead...or leave that one for the test).
So, next time you see one of them off-topic funny wheels with big gaps separating clusters of spokes, Harlan Meyer was there before them...
harvey sachs
mcLean va