Weight Weenies

With the winter weather, I've got some extra time on my hands. I also have a garage full of NOS tubular rims that I'll never use in my lifetime and the bug to build a wheelset this weekend. Was thinking about doing up an ultra inexpensive/bombproof 36h training set as a gift for an ol' racing buddy's upcoming birthday (his 50th, old coger, but he's still winning signficant races which is more than I can say...) and happened upon these Miche Racing Box hubs for $72(!) through wiggle. Hell, for that price, the whole wheelset will run me around $120.

So, whattaya think? I know they're heavy, finish probably isn't great, sealed bearings are probably of marginal quality, etc. Still, for an inexpensive training wheelset the weight is a non-issue (if not a bonus) and I'm guessing the hubs will hold up for a season or two. I mean, how bad can they be?

There's an archived ww thread on these hubs but no one had any real world input other than one poster who said they built up nice. Anyone ever ride these hubs for any length of time or have any useful insights? Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks!

I am actually going to buy a set for a 32 spoke crit wheel. Being a 195 lb sprinter, these on a decent set of Aero rims should do fine. there has to be some Ceramic inserts for them. Maybe Boca?

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These are good hubs. A little on the weighty side but the bearings are nice and smooth and the finish is fantastic considering the price. I've never had any bother with long term problems from guys either - they seem to last a few years. You will find they will easily outlast hubs on lower-end Shimano wheelsets. 2 or 3x over!

Go for it.

If things follow the norm, then Campy/fulcrum probably has a hand in these hubs. If so they are probably pretty solid.

Just for future reference ( I realize this is an old thread ) my 32 hole rear hub weighs 285 grams and the front hub (32 holes) 146 grams, both without qrs. I haven't actually run the front hub but it is very smooth out of the box. The rear hub I have had for one season commuting every day for 30 km back and forth now with no problems whatsoever, it runs very smoothly, the noise level is dependent on how the freewheel is greased, noisier than Shimano but less noisy than lots of other hubs. The qrs seemed flimsy though so I just used my old Shimano qrs. The ugly stickers can be removed.
For a pair of sturdier campy wheels especially with a silver look these hubs are a very good deal. 2 5 mm hex keys are needed to open the hub.

I've been running these hubs on my main CX wheelset for a year now. Seen a lot of abuse, lots of mud, etc. Still spin smooth.

I run two set of these hubs one racing box and the other Primato (the only difference is the anodised finish). They use two 6001 bearings that are smooth and seem to have good life (I have not worn them out yet). They look great and the finish is excellent. The skewers are not light but look great with the red anodised finish that has proved durable. I forget how wide the axle is but it's not some thin lightweight affair. After 1000's of miles they still look just as good as they were when new but the end caps have rusted a bit.

They weigh 440g for the pair. Front is 150g and rear 290g. so they are a bit portly but lighter than ultegra or 105 hubs and look better and come in more drilling options. The flanges are good for radial lacing. The fronts are available in 24H drillings but rated for radial lacing in most drillings.

Acutal hub dimensions are front 40mm flange diameter and 32mm flange spacing. Rear flange dimater is 46mm and flange spacings are 17mm/37mm not the measurements given on the Miche site. Tension balance is 46% with these hubs.

My lighest wheel with these RG2/primato hubs are 28H front and rear RR415's with alu nipples and laser spokes and weight in at 1530g which is not that heavy. Even with that tension balance the rear wheel seem stable even keeping to DTswiss limited maximium tension.

I highly recomend these hubs for the money they cost. In fact I would rather use them over many more expensive hubs.

[quote="bm0p700f"]Acutal hub dimensions are front 40mm flange diameter and 32mm flange spacing. Rear flange dimater is 46mm and flange spacings are 17mm/37mm not the measurements given on the Miche site. Tension balance is 46% with these hubs./quote]

Building up a set of H+Son TB-14s for a friend on these, and wanted to check spoke length calculations (and yes, I'm violating rule one which is measure everything yourself, but while I"m waiting for hubs/rims to arrive I want to see if spokes I have on hand would likely work).

Using bm0p7oof's hub dimensions above as he seems very familiar with the Miche's, and using the H+son ERD of 610 as that appears to be on target from what I've read multiple places.

I get the following for 32 hole f/r:

Front: 298.4 for 3x
Rear NDS: 298.1 for 3x
Rear DS: 296.2 for 3x; 288.5 for 2x

So, round down for lengths?
Lace 3x all round, or is there any reason to try the 2x DS per some other threads about tension balance?

Thanks!

Yes rond down. 610mm ERD does not seem unreasonable for rim of that depth.

Miche have now brough out a 11 speed HG free hub for fitment to the racing box and Primato hubs. These are now even more verstiltle.

2x on the DS will make a little difference but not a lot. It is only worthwile on low tension limit rims. The TB14 will take 1250N. That sort of DS tension will give good NDS tension so I wouldn't bother myself but it certainly won't hurt either.

bm0p700f, I was hoping you'd catch this and share your expertise. I'm building for C11, so if you're referencing the S11 update that won't matter in this case.

Where did you find the tension limit for the rim? I'm not seeing it on the H+son website.

I'll go 3x all around based on your counsel. At 95kg for the rider, in the Sapim world would you go Race all around, or Race DS and Laser NDS? Laser on the front too?

The goal is a quality ride and dependability; hence the 500g rim and bulletproof hubs....

Thanks!

The tension limit yo will find when building the wheel. Above a certain tension it just won't feel right and you will see constant variation is truness after stress releiving. Back the tension of a bit and all will be well. Also while I have not worked with the TB14 yet I have worked with similar rims of similar mass and they all can take 1200-1250N. The rigida chrina's (510g rims) on my wife commtor have spokes at 1300N and no issues after 1.75 years and 7000 miles. If figre there won't be any. I just tensioned until I felt the rim was close to its tension limit.

I would happily build with Laser on the front for your weight. You should be O.K with laser NDS as well but if you were any heavier it would have to be Sapim race both side on the rear. Above 100kg the race spokes all round and a 36 spoke rear wheel would be a good idea.

I must just have crappy luck with hubs. My Miche racing box rear hub completely failed (between the freehub body and hubshell) after just a few months. Admittedly, I'm very tough on hubs though. I'm glad to hear others are having better luck than I did. I'd always heard good things about Miche. Thankfully I was able to repurpose the rim and spokes elsewhere.

Thanks, mods for moving to the wheel forum. And kudos for creating a place for wheel-specific discussions.

Sorry to hear about your luck, boolinwall. I'm still optimistic that this will be a solid build for a friend.

Thanks for all the advice from forum members.

That the forst miche hub failure I have heard of. Given the way these are built it must have been a manufacturing defect as they one of the more robust hubs.

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So I'm building up my Racing Box hubs, and the rear seems to stop spinning fairly quickly while in the truing stand. Will the bearings break in and spin more smoothly after a few miles/kms on the road, or should I think about adjusting the pre-load?