I have been looking at the velocity helios hubs 24F and 28R. they claim 70g from the front and 214g for the rear. I have been thinking about these for a wheel build usaing Kinlin XR300 rims. Does anyone one have experience of the durability of these as I am itching to try them out.

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www.thecycleclinic.co.uk

Good budget combo for weight and strength. I have a feeling the hubs would fall down with harsh abuse. If all the bearing are replaceable though it's not a biggie. If you ride smooth and your on a budget go for it.

Well that is something I would check first.

Who distributes alchemy hubs and the other lightweight alternatives in the U.K. I prefer to buy kit trade if I can.

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I think the Velocity hubs are made by Formula.

No one distributes Alchemy in the UK as far as I'm aware.

Our hubs have a decent sealed bearing and you can upgrade to SKF or ceramic as we have manufactured a pre-load adjuster for them.

The XR300s are ok (we've built a few pairs) but there are good alternatives such as the Velocity range available too.

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Strada Hand Built Wheels
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From a quick search they look identical to the Formula RB-68/RB-210 hubset I just built up. No idea about durability yet, but these hubs have been around for a while and I have not seen negative reports.

Well since Velocity state the bearings they use in their hubs I trhink they will be replaceble and that is hardly a problem. I make more enquiries on Monday. but I also can't find any negative reports about them either. That is at least good news.

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Cartridge bearings are easy and cheap to source, so no worries there.

I would guess that freehub availability is also good coming from a well-known hub manufacturer, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

You can get the same or similar hubs from ebay probably a lot cheaper.

Look at BHS as well- get their wide hub.

If you are a "larger" cyclist some of these hub sets aren't the greatest. The bearing sizes can be small, and the axles aren't very stiff (which can cause misalignment stresses in the small bearings).

If you look into the design of the Alchemy hubs, Jeremy was very concerned about bearing size and axle stiffness, as well as spoke geometry, and finally the weights came out pretty low as a final consideration.

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Your point about bearing/axle size is very valid I think - I am 85 kg. I normally steer towards a more robust hub like the Miche RC2 that I am currently using but these only come as pairs of the same drilling.

Maybe it will be the miche hubs or the novatec/ambrosio hubs that I also trust. I wish I had a bigger budget for some chris kings, DT swiss or goldtec hubs.

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