Hey Guys, I was recently hit by a car while biking. My whole bike was completely destroyed. While I am down and out for the next several months, I decided that I am going to design and build my very own hubset. In order to save some time and money, and plan on just purchasing a freehub and ratchet ring. My question is, does any body know where I can buy a Tune or a Zipp ratchet ring? Or does anybody recommend any other freehub systems? I am initially choosing Zipp or Tune because I really want to use a 17mm axle, and they do have very little drag. Any input is very welcome.

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http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=79668

My suggestion would be DT Swiss internals. I find them to be very simple and they fail gracefully.

You can read some of the Zipp documents online. They are up front and honest about how they totally underestimated how difficult it was to design and build a reliable rear hub. Some would argue that after spending millions they are still not there. Rear hubs do not look very complicated, but if you want a lightweight and reliable rear hub you would not be the first person to underestimate the task.

[quote="sedluk"]My suggestion would be DT Swiss internals.

This.

DT internals are widely used by many different companies, and I think they would be a good option for you as well.

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http://www.zencyclery.com

http://www.wheelbuilder.org

dt internals are generally available by any shop. that's the good news.
the bad news is that there are somewhat large compromises to get their star ratchet where it is, doing what it does. if you want to design and make your own hub as an experiment, that's fine. if you want to make something that you'd consider the very best over what's out there, i'd personally look elsewhere.

I agree that the DT swiss ratchet system and free hub would be super easy and some what inexpensive. I really only had one reservation that I had with them. I really wanted a 17mm axle, and I don't think I could fit that in the star ratchets. I might just do this though because I know it works well, and is easy to work with.

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http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=79668

See Fairwheel on getting Tune parts... they are the US distributor.

Do you have a CNC shop? What are you planning for other features of the hub?

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formerly rruff...

Chris King!

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I already checked with fairwheel, and I just got a response today that they have a hard time getting small parts from Tune. Looks like I may just end up doing dt. I don't have a CNC machine, but I have a few good connections with some shops. So I'll just be designing everything except for the freehub body and the ratchet system. Then I'll just send them the solid model and gd&t drawings.

Right now I am really wanting to do a 21h or 24h triplet rear hub. I've always wanted to try out the concept, but there aren't many hubs on the market (pre-manufactured Campy and Ligero wheels). For the rim, I'll just see if someone at Reynolds can custom drill me a set of 32 tubies. The front will be a nice wide flanged hub. I'm a bit of a fatty compared to the rest of the cycling world at 210lbs, so I really like nice stiff wheels that spin up quick. Hopefully I can get them sub 300g for the set, and still have them be extremely durable. I'll be doing j-bend spokes. I've never been a big fan of straight-pull. I feel like the threads and the nipple are a larger source of issues, plus I think I could make a stiffer and possibly lighter hub with j-bends.

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http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=79668

Pity about Tune. Dash uses their freehubs and drive rings, so maybe they could hook you up.

White Industries parts are very easy to get. 15mm axle, but it's fine... big bearings all around... Ti freehub is very nice. If I was you I'd just use their parts and work on your own hubshell.

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formerly rruff...